Missing in the ether from Wed 9th Jan

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This blog failed to publsh for some reason so I'm trying again.
We're travelling slowly up the east coast trying to find some sun. Coff's Harbour was wet most of the time so we didn't see the best of it and went to the cinema and bowling to pas the time. I was as useless at bowling as I normally am; got one strike only, although twice I did manage to get all skittles down on the second ball having sent the first ball down the side channel. Kev beat me once, thrashed me twice and I beat him in the last game.
On Sunday we moved onto Byron Bay via Grafton, a sleepy mainly 19th century town with an art gallery housing a pleasant restaurant. The rain held off till the afternoon so after setting up camp at Byron Bay we walked down to the beach where a few people were fishing or paddling. Byron Bay has a strong hippie elemnt which gives a slant on the usual laid-back Aussie atmosphere. We went round the lighthouse and museum which is on the most eastery point of mainland Australia - nothing between here and Chile - except the beautiful ocean, which looks so deadly with rough waves, and knwing that it contains rips, sharks and box jellyfish.
Cinema again - to see Atonement - powerful film, gorgeous James McAvoy and I can't remember the book - I'll have to reread it when I get back.
For the first time it was warm and dry enough to have the back door of the van open at night, so I had to get up and put mosquito repellent on, and got bitten in the places I missed.
On Tuesday we intended to to drive to Tweed Heads but instead went inland to Nimbin - Kev had heard two people talking about it and it sounded interesting. Inland from Byron Bay across countryside like the Peak District - a lot of it greener than usual and flooded - it is set in the Warning Mountains and is Australia's hippie capital. It reminds me of a festival, but instead of brightly coloured stalls, the clapboard shops are painted or grafitti'ed. The museum is a cacophony of visual images, hippie slogans and yellowed newspaper articles peeling off the walls, carmmed with several old camper vans and papier mache models. I couldn't tell you what it was about beyond Peace and Love but it had a great atmosphere. The hep Embassy has a communal 'Share a bud' at 4.20 pm each afternoon in bid to change the cannabis laws, and offers coffee, fruit tea and the internet. It felt like my spiritual home and the pub down the road felt like Kev's, so we stayed another night.
What alo happened on Tuesday was that I did a skydive at Byron Bay. i was in tandem with an experienced parachutist, Damion, and we jumped out of a plane at 14,000 feet and freefell until about 5,000 feet. We set off in the plane, me next to the open doorway. 'There isn't a door,' said Damion in response to my querulous query. I held on to the door jamb with one hand and looked around for something else to hold onto. The independent cameraman sitting ooposite me was wearing a silver handle that I took hold of to steady myself. He grabbed my hand in fear, I'd nearly pulled his ripcord and aborted the whole flight. They shut the door and all relaxed, except me. I was now worried about throwing up. There had been some cloud about and we'd been told there would be a wait so I'd had a coffee and it was sitting heavily, not quite in my stomach. One f the dive masters had said some people dive after a heavy night's drinking and thrrew up, with unfortunate consequences for the dive master attached behind.
I was terrified that I would regurgitate my coffee all over Damion. We flew up over the sea and back towards the land, me breathing deeply, willing the coffee to go down and stay down.
We sat on the floor of the plane, me between Damion's legs, roped tightly together so I was snug against his crotch. He slid up the door of the plane and swung his eg out. I had to swing my legs out and tuck them under the plane, lean my head back against his neck, cross my arms over my chest as if I was already dead, and he pushed off with his other leg. This all happened much faster than I can describe and only gave me a split second's terror and then I was face down and flying above the birds, the land spread out below me like a map, with my arms and legs outstretched and leaning backwards ('like a big banana'). It was lile the best fairground ride ever with out the stomach churning and the fear of rivets coming loose. We span and dipped for 70 seconds until Damion pulled the cord and the parachute ballooned up above us and slowed us down. Flooded fields, new rivers, houses and roads floated towards us and we landed on our feet, 'a dry landing'. I watched and bought the DVD and bought the t-shirt, and have certificate.
A memorable day.

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