Ifearheights

I wish I could. But I get kicked out of the country in february. Backpackers can't stay for eternity. After Australia it's New Zealand, and then Canada. Hard to get any consistency if you're constantly moving

There's only one first skydive buddy. I am traveling and I wanted to do a bunch of crazy things. Skydiving, cage diving with a white shark, swim with a whale, do a bungy jump, and start a relationship with an aussie girl

Before the tandem I had no clue what the perspective was like at 14000 feet. I had to make an anchor sitting on the edge of the plane, and I could not even look downwards. I think I only started looking down after 20 seconds of falling. When the canopy opened, we were still 6000 feet above the ground and I did not have this sensation of " we're about to crash " which made me feel comfortable. Bungy is done at a height of 134m in NZ where I may make an effort. It seems way different. I'm no more than 10 meters away from the ground when I bounce back up, and you have to jump with your head pointing to the ground. Not sure if I'm gonna like that

I opened a few threads half a year ago, figuring whether I should do a tandem or not. I fear heights (everyone does to some extent) and thought it would be nerve wrecking and simply not enjoyable. I enjoyed every second of it. Here's a link to the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2QY6YJ3GR4&feature=plcp It's like people said. Despite the fact that it's 14000 feet, there is no perspective and during the free fall I didn't feel overwhelmed by anxiety. Doing a bungy jump, there is a perspective and my brain will tell me that I am about to hit the ground. Is it wise to face this fear and try to jump after all? Or is it something I may regret?

I'm comparing but all jumps are ridiculously expensive. As if they are making appointments together to keep the prices so high. Any jump from an acceptable height with outside view costs over $500 Yesterday I met an English girl who jumped in New Zealand. Outside view, 60s freefall for 350 ish I'll make sure I get a job and then see what happens

As far as I know these 2 links refer to the exact same skydiving company which is one of the very few on western Australia. I have called them and they canceled my jump.

I arrived in Australia 2 weeks ago and skydiving was on top of my to do list. Today is my birthday and I wanted to jump yesterday in Perth. I called them and they said I had to call back one day in advance to figure out if I could jump or not. Turns out there weren't enough candidates. I wonder why that is if you only charge $450 for tandem jump on video on your cheapest location at a low height... So my birthday plans were down the drain In Perth there are barely any jobs for backpackers and a local friend advised me to head to Kununurra which is 2000 miles up north and costs me $300 to get there. Can I jump near Kununurra? With outside view? I have been emailing dozens of skydiving zones and it seems that the only ones that offer outside view are on the East coast which is barely unreachable for me at this point. Australia is big but it seems that there are only few good zones to go skydiving. Coming to the east coast would cost me loads of money

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I'm comparing locations and prices for skydiving in Australia. As a backpacker I will cross the whole nation so I pick the best offer. Someone on a Australian forum said that whitsundays (Airlie beach) in Australia is the most beautiful location on earth to jump. I've seen the videos and the sight is breathtaking. But they only offer handycam DVDs and I insist that the jump is recorded from a distance Are there any other popular locations in Australia? I've asked it on a specific Australian forum but there's not much activity there

No I'm not, my sister is 22

I appreciate the fact that they care for me. But I do not appreciate the fact that they believe I am not capable of taking care of myself. I am 25 years old.. 25! The $600 is for a pack including 10 items such as taking care of a tax file number, help for opening a bank account etc. I have contacted many backpackers and told my parents how I would take care of this alone. For free But still, they refused to give me my responsability assuming it would go wrong. That's just how it goes at home. So I have very mixed feelings if one says I should show gratitude for it. It's not $600 for my well being, it's $600 to compensate for their lack of trust in me

I applied for a working holiday visum Half time working to cover most expenses. The rest is growing up, meeting people from all sorts of cultures and having a good time.

I had about 10 serious fights with my parents before they realized that there was nothing they could do to stop me from heading to Australia. When I decided to do so anyway, they paid a traveling agency $600 to take care of my social security and help me out if there are emergencies etc. They paid $600 for something that is COMPLETELY unnecessary since any other backpacker takes care of those issues alone and independantly. But that's the whole point. They don't let me do stuff alone and watch me 24/7. Dad is such a control freak he never sleeps before he is 100% sure I'm upstairs in my room. I have saved $25000 in my college period. Enough for 4 months in Australia don't you think? I want my own responsabilities and I don't wanna have to justify what I am doing 24/7. After arrival I'll probably say there is limited internet access and I'll send exactly one short email per week

QuoteSo keep asking yourself 'Am I doing this because I want to or am I doing it to prove a point?' Quote Is there one skydiver on this whole planet who takes his first jump because he likes to jump out of an airplane at 14000 feet? Seems to me that everybody does it to push themselves. For the adrenaline I want to do it because I want to push myself beyond my limits, and to be honest, to show family that I do have balls. I know how you feel about this but if any skydiver is honest I believe a lot of them did their first jump to make a point, and out of curiosity. @ women being no targets for romance. I used to think that when I was 18. Now I totally disagree. My past has shown me multiple times that deep genuine friendship with the opposite sex leads to big trouble. I developed romantic feelings for women I was friends with and it got me in shit. Other women that I had no feelings for developed feelings for me. Byebye friendship. And then there were some genuine friendships where the girl suddenly has a BF and it turns out the BF sees me as a threat. So now it's either very superficial friendship, romance or nothing. Since this is a skydiving forum I won't get into it. U can always send me a PM if you disagree Peace

I back-packed Europe as a youngster and it was one of the two best years of my life. Took a duffle bag, my guitar and $200 cash and roamed Europe for a year. While my motivation was different from yours, I found the experience very, extremely very educating with respect to my ability to take care of myself with no fall-back available. Good luck on your travels and I'm sure you, like me, will find something inside you that gives you great confidence in your personal independence. I wish I could do this for 2 years like you, but I have to get back home after 4 and a half months because of my last stupid exam. Do you think 4 months is enough time to make a change? My parents told me they have been discussing this with the family and they want to support me financially when I'm there. How on earth can I ever become independant like this? I have to report what I'm doing every few days so they know I'm fine. It's good to have people caring for you but it's also what makes me unable to care for myself at this point. When the 4 months are over I plan to go back for a much longer time

So far my life is a life of living by the book and a life of missed chances. " If only I had.. " I do fear heights and even looking at some vids on youtube makes me feel the adrenaline pumping. There is a decent chance I will faint if I decide to go for it I want to do this for 2 reasons: The first one is to push my own limits and take a chance instead of letting it pass by and taking the easy road. The 2nd one is to show friends and family that this is a new me who does take a chance. Not that I have a need to prove myself to anyone. I am traveling to Australia on my own to mature. And I figure this would be the ultimate challenge to push myself Just curious, how old are you? What kind of 'chances' do you think you've let slip by so far in your life? It's always interesting to understand what motivates people to do things like this...things that for some reason they haven't considered 'possible' before. Oh and I wouldn't dwell on the 'fear' thing, don't mind-fuck yourself into over-reacting. Observe, study, learn...the information available will give you confidence in the gear and yourself....becoming well schooled on the what, why and how ~ will tend to alleviate much of the fear, you fear you'll have.

So far my life is a life of living by the book and a life of missed chances. " If only I had.. " I do fear heights and even looking at some vids on youtube makes me feel the adrenaline pumping. There is a decent chance I will faint if I decide to go for it I want to do this for 2 reasons: The first one is to push my own limits and take a chance instead of letting it pass by and taking the easy road. The 2nd one is to show friends and family that this is a new me who does take a chance. Not that I have a need to prove myself to anyone. I am traveling to Australia on my own to mature. And I figure this would be the ultimate challenge to push myself

Every time someone jumps, it takes a few seconds before the instructor throws his first shute open so you maintain a horizontal position while falling, which seems to be comfortable because every first time skydiver is excited. I assume the first 2-3 seconds of the free fall are the most intense. Are you aware of your speed while falling after the first few seconds? Or does it feel like you are moving in a vacuum

I used to take one before my exams to calm down (it's called clozan). Never had any complaints. Why would it interfere with my A game?

I've seen quite some videos of first time jumpers now. From the look on their faces I can tell that they are afraid during the first seconds of the free fall. But once they are falling in a horizontal position the scary part is over and they start smiling. I'll just push my limit and do it. Maybe it's a good idea to take a soft tranquilizer

I have made up my mind and I am definitely going to jump. If not, I'd be wondering what it's like for the rest of my life. I have seen many skydive videos by now and noticed there is a difference in the way instructors jump out of the airplane. Skydive express in Australia seems to slide you to the edge of the opening (sitting position), and then tilt you forwards so you fall. Others are standing up and jump with their head downwards which seems scarier. I can imagine that I would get dizzy standing up and facing the height, and that I would create a counter force with my legs to stay in the airplane. Or does every instructor perform a first tandem skydive in sitting position?

I live in Belgium now but I'm heading to Perth (South West Australia) on february tenth. I'll reside in a youth hostel for 4 days and then I have to find my own place to live for 4 months. I don't know if I'll travel across the country with people I meet there or I'll stay near Perth for a while and then take a national flight to the eastern part of AU. I'll see what the future holds.

I'll post the video here after the jump. I don't need the canopy on video, that's just sightseeing. Free fall on tape and the arrival is enough

I have a Canadian chat friend and she says that skydiving is more expensive than this in Canada. I have also taken a look at other options in Australia but they all charge this much at the first glance. Can anybody prove me wrong? I'll take 8000ft for $300 but there's no way I pay more than $149 for a video I want to go through with this but I don't want to get robbed. I am a student, unemployed. Have saved some money but $500 is a week of hard work in my homecountry.

Thanks. All of you Never thought so many people would be willing to help me out so fast. Could someone tell me the difference between the types of video/DVD footage on this page http://www.skydive.com.au/html/tandem.html Their videos are all over youtube but I don't know which one is a $109, which is $149 and which is the full package of $269. $269 for a 2 minute video is really a retarded price and there is no way I am going to pay that Edit: I figure this is a full package video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjZuhei1Pb4 And this is a handy cam http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxJT6RAAeJo Correct? I also found a site that offers a jump at 6000ft for $180. Is that still above the clouds? It's $300 for a jump at 8000ft. Too much of a price difference in my modest opinion. Especially for a student like me