Sky diving is no for the faint hearted that's for sure, however, if like me, you want to give it a go, but are not quite brave enough to launch yourself in to the skies alone, you can always choose to go tandem. I got the urge to throw myself out of a perfectly good plane, somewhere between Perth and Sydney, in the heart of the Australian bush and after a brief introductory course, I found myself boarding a tiny plane which was to take me to and altitude of 12,000 feet. I was accompanied by three other jump virgins, as wells as my instructor Chip, to whom I was most securely attached. (Tip: If you are scared of crashing to the ground in the case of parachute failure, pick the largest bloke available, and shield yourself from the ground by using him as a cushion.) The temperature at 12,000 feet was 0oC, which I found incredible considering it had been a blistering 46oC on the ground.

Having chattered away nervously for most of the ascent, I suddenly realised my companions had succumbed to the skies, and that I was last to depart from our plane. In the split seconds it would have taken me to voice my inner cries of "No, bloody way mate!" I had been expertly maneuvered so that I was now hanging on to the side of the plane and my body was being buffeted by incoming air. Chip then srceamed "1-2-3, Whoo-hoo" and my I felt my clenched hands being plied from the bar I was gripping. Nobody actually explained to me that when you skydive, you do actually dive, and my brain went in to panic mode as I found myself going down head first. After a few seconds we amended our position to horizontal, and I began to relax, as much as was possible whilst fighting the resistance of G-Force rushing past my face. We descended rapidly for 45 seconds, during which time we covered a distance of 9,000 feet. When we reached an altitude of 3,000 feet the cord was pulled and we were whipped backwards as the parachute opened up. I was then able to relax fully and enjoy the rest of our controlled descent towards the ground, not that the scenery was very exciting, since there was nothing to be seen except bushland and srcub. Landing was much smoother than I expected, and I was astounded to find I had returned to earth intact, despite my earth shattering experience.

Where to go and how much to pay:
In Scotland, you can go skydiving at Errol airstrip, near Perth, or at Strathallan, near Luchars. You can expect to pay anything between one hundred and twenty to two hundred pounds for a tandem dive, depending on the altitude at which you jump.
In Australia, the best jumps, are reputedly centered around Queensland, where the prices are cheap, and the scenery is more interesting than my jump in the bush. I paid $280 (AUS) for my jump, but in Cairns and Brisbane, it is possible to jump for as little as $140 (AUS) all-in. New Zealand jump prices are comparable to those in Australia, however, the aerial views are much more spectacular, especially around Rotorua and Queenstown.