And I nearly ended up in two weeks quarantine!
Picture the scene: you have booked a skydive at Gold Coast Skydive in Cooly (Coolangatta) to celebrate your three-year anniversary with your partner. You’ve been walking along the beautiful beach all morning attempting to rid yourselves of the fear of jumping from a plane, 12,000 feet in the sky – and lost track of the time. It’s 12.43pm as you arrive back at Greenmount Hotel, where you’re staying; skydive registration is at 1.15pm so you decide to book an Uber…but the wait is 20 minutes, so you opt to jump in the car instead.
Google maps says the destination is 8 minutes away, so plenty of time. What you fail to realise is that the Englishman talking to you (as a Pom fairly ‘fresh off the boat’ you still have the English version of Google maps) has obliviously taken you across the border into New South Wales. You are not carrying any proof of address and panic sets in.
Not only may you and your partner miss your impending skydive; you may also end up trapped in New South Wales, or potentially in hotel quarantine for two weeks at your own expense.Frightening thoughts of jumping out of a plane have disappeared as panic attacks set in around the thought of fourteen days cooped up in a hotel for no reason. The officer in front is calmly waving cars through and maybe she will do the same to you. Alas, she does not. You do not have a border pass: therefore, she points you back towards New South Wales and several other police officers.
One officer asks: “Where are you going?” “We’re Queenslanders”, my partner, Jade, insists, showing the officer our licences.
“We’re staying at Greenmount hotel just up the road” I point to our hotel, which is literally a stone throw away from the border.
“How do I know you haven’t come up from Sydney today?” The officer asks.
Me: [extremely agitated; beginning to panic] “Because we’ve been here all weekend and haven’t been out of Queensland since lockdown…erm since COVID…you know what I mean!”
Officer: “Yes but you need to prove that – have you spent any money anywhere on card today?”
At last, the weight lifted as we showed the officer a plethora of places we had been in Coolangatta, spending money over the past two days* (see the places to visit section below) The officer could see that we were genuine and allowed us to head to our Skydive. After spending the morning (and indeed most of the last week) worrying about jumping out of a plane, a seemingly routine car journey had caused significantly more stress and took the fear out of what was to come.
The team at Gold Coast Skydive were so welcoming. With all COVID-safe procedures in place, which includes having no door on the plane (yes, that’s right, no door!) to enable more than just a handful of people to embark (and keep a profitable business possible).
The owner of Gold Coast Skydive, Archie Jamieson, suggested that COVID has set his business back ten years, with 30% of customers being international and 35% from interstate. However, like any determined businessman, Archie is determined to come back stronger and is ‘back on the tools’ doing what he loves: diving out of planes! I was lucky enough to jump with Archie and his 16,000 previous jumps certainly provide an air of calmness. The guys at Gold Coast Skydive love a bit of banter, however, when they sense any fear (as they did from my partner, Jade), they put you at ease and settle the nerves.
We ascended into the beautiful blue sky, traveling at 100 mph, next to an open door, feeling the wind in our faces and watching the beautiful beach become smaller and smaller. Hotels looked like monopoly pieces; swimming pools – like distant dots of blue ink. This was surreal, yet abundantly very real!
After ten minutes or so, we had reached our target height of 15,000 feet and the light comes on. A nonchalant team member named ‘Irish’ swings around the door of the plane and hangs on to the side to take pictures and record part of the video – this is literally like something out of a James Bond movie. Archie shuffles me to the door and gives me the final instructions – rather than describe the exhilaration and euphoria, we thought we’d show you!
Both Jade and I feel that this is one of the greatest experiences of our lives and we cannot thank Gold Coast Skydive enough. It’s hard to believe that all Coolangatta has to offer is a short [just over an hour] drive from Logan – get in your cars or take the train to Cooly this weekend and have a weekend you’ll never forget!
*”Cooly’ places to go in Cooly!
Greenmount Hotel – the beautiful budget 4-star beachfront hotel – stayed on the tenth floor looking at the ocean – incredible value for money!
The Pink Hotel – rooftop bar for a lazy Saturday afternoon drinking amazing margaritas in the sunshine, laid on a four-poster day-bed overlooking the ocean, eating delicious food delivered up from Eddie’s Grub House (cheesy chips and spicy chicken wings to die for).
Bread and Butter restaurant, Kirra, where we ate delicious gnocchi on Saturday evening.
Kirra Surf Club, where we had a quiet drink on the ocean side (The Surf Club doubles up as a Bottle-o and charges less than many bottle shops). In most places, if you wish to purchase a bottle to take away with you, you would be charged the price it is to drink inside – what a great initiative at Kirra Surf Club, which apparently kept the club going through the hard COVID times.
North Kirra Surf Club – simply paradise setting, watching whales breaching, listening to awesome music on Sunday afternoon.
Three Sons Coffee Cartel, where we had eaten scrumptious croissants and drank delicious coffee only two hours earlier!
And, of course, Gold Coast Skydive: for an experience you will never ever forget!
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Sponsored article – Author: Chris Clegg
