As we couldn't build a house straight away we got busy doing other stuff that had been on the back-burner for some years!
SKYDIVING IN FLORIDA! - FEBRUARY 2008
First dream was to learn to "Skydive" so we went to "Sebastian" in Florida for 8 days for an "Accelerated Freefall" (AFF) training course....Scarey?....YES! First time I jumped out my brain couldn't compute what was happening for the first few seconds, I "FROZE", although still very aware I was plummeting to the ground at a rate of knots....fortunately the brain thawed quickly and I did eventually reach for the rip cord!
We've got all the kit, but have we got the nerve?...
Smiling through the fear!!!
Guy about to jump out!
......there he goes..."I'll be right behind ya!"
....here I go!
......"whaaaaaaaaaa!"
....."Ello there, actually you know this isn't so bad, I'm the right way up at least!!"
..."should be an airfield to land on around here somewhere!"
"This is cool! The view's Gr8!"
....."That's the chute pulled out, now, how do I fly this thing! I wonder if Guy"s on the ground yet?"
Gliding in South Africa - January 2008
We spent a week with Dick Bradley (Super nice guy!) who along with Reb Rebbeck (another Super nice chap!) run "Soaring Safaris" in Bloemfontein South Africa. We both hired a glider from Dick and had a ball! It was Jan 2008 and the weather was good, 5 days of good gliding weather and climbs in excess of 10,000 feet on some days, 300-500km tasks with few difficulties. If you LOVE GLIDING, you'll LOVE IT HERE!
A typical view from the cockpit, beautiful....no built up towns in view, very few airspace restrictions, blue skies and clouds to show you the way....FANTASTIC!
....Guy (centre!), telling "how he did it!"
Guy and his glider hired for the week (ventus)
Karina and her hired LS6c glider, a 17m wingspan with tips....Real nice :-), love it, thanks Dick!
Guy with Reb Rebbeck
Guy waiting to launch
"HAPPY DAYS!"
Guy being towed into the air, he'll release from the tow plane when he feels a good strong thermal, about 1200-1500 feet was normal
12,500 feet and still going up! The power of thermal activity is just amazing to me, even after all these years of gliding!
Above 10,000 feet we went on oxygen ..... this set-up looks REALLY funny, but it's Gr8! I much prefer it to using the black mask that covers your mouth and nose that I've had to use in the past! This one allows you to talk on the radio!.....Mmmm, I reckon maybe the other pilots wished they'd given me a black mask to wear!
Both of us outlanded, never made it back to our original airfield, we got cut off by thunderstorms and 15 min later we felt their force!
Guy walking over to see me
Looking up at the sky above bad weather brewing
2 min later I took cover in my glider as the thunder cloud did its worst
Darkness fell as we waited for a retrieval, the ground beneath the gliders had become a bog and we were covered in mosquitos, they formed a crusty surface all over our bodies, it seemed we were their supper! When Dick arrived with some others the gliders were in their trailers in a flash and it was time for food!
BOTH FLORIDA AND SOUTH AFRICA WERE A BLAST!
GETTING MY BASIC BIKE LICENCE! - JULY 2008
Me on my first bike a Suzuki Van Van 125cc
Great bike, loved it, LOVED IT!
July 2008 got my Compulsory Basic Training (CBT) done, L plates on and I'm ready for some new adventures!! It all started just a week beforehand, I was bored one lunchtime at work, so bought a book about two chaps travelling through Africa, they had done it on bikes, a form of transport which I had never tried and shown absolutely no previous interest in AT ALL! My skills on 4 wheels are not great, ask my poor parents who tried to teach me! Also any of my passengers!...But hey, you only live once...if you want to do it.....
JUST DO IT!....So a week later I did!
