I'm not a daredevil. I love adventure and trying new things, but I'm also not prepared to jump out a plane. So the idea of indoor skydiving has long appealed to me, and I finally gave it a go, with my husband and 13-year-old son.
When you arrive, you sit and watch others for a while, "flying" with their instructor in the big transparent wind tunnel that's in the middle of the room. Everyone gets a couple of goes – on the first go, they stay low, just to get an idea of how it feels to float in the air; the instructor stays standing with feet planted on the net below as air (a mix of oxygen and nitrogen) gushes up fast against the skydiver's body. He holds their body so they don't fly up to the top of the tunnel. On their second turn, if they want to, their instructor takes his feet off the net and together you zoom together into the upper part of the tunnel. Then "drop" back down towards the net.
Next, it's our turn to get the suits on and have some basic tutorials. When we say basic, we mean it – kids as young as three can do indoor skydiving, so it's not rocket science. Regardless, I'm a bit nervous and so are some of the other participants in our group.
The thing that surprises me most when I have my first turn is that, while you are suspended in the air "flying", the wind that rushes up against your body is so fast and powerful that it feels hard, like something solid instead of airy. So it almost feels like you're lying on something as opposed to floating. Regardless, it's the closest most of us will ever be able to come to feeling like a bird.
I'm reluctant to fly up to the top part of the tunnel with my instructor on my second go, but he convinces me it'll be fun, and he's right. I give him the signal to go for it, and he takes his feet into the air, so we both spin up into the top part, flying up and down for a short time before dropping back down (that drop is the most thrilling, stomach-in-mouth part).
Each flight is the equivalent of a free-fall skydive from 14,000 feet – so you'll notice if you collect your photos at the end that your "dive" brings with it those g-force cheeks.
It's the closest I'll ever get to sky-diving, and I reckon even the biggest non-daredevils should give it a go.
Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Sydney newsletter for more news, straight to your inbox.