The Eagle Has Landed.

Flying has always been one pursuit able to completely captivate my attention - at least man's attempt to overcome the fact that we cannot. Instead we dream up incredible contraptions that seem to defeat gravity itself; the idealogy behind it seemingly being that even though man can't fly himself, he can make something that weighs more than a mountain (such as the 600,000 kg Antonov 225) soar like an eagle. However, our interest isn't exclusively held in the seemingly ridiculously large, but also the tiny.

Hang-gliding is one of those 'tiny' inventions. Whoever first thought to climb up a mountain and fling yourself off a cliff in the hope that you will be able to fly was insane - a genius - but insane. It's also one of the single greatest adrenaline rushes you can ever imagine.

In my quest to rediscover life, I went one step further. In the tiny alpine town of Porepunkah, approximately 325 kilometres from Melbourne, lies the tiny airstrip which hosts the Eagle School of Microlighting. The longest running microlighting instituation in the whole of Australia, these guys are quite amazing.

I hear you though, 'what the hell is microlighting?' It's essentially hang-gliding with one very, very noticable difference. It has an engine. This means it can quite literally go like a bat out of hell. 

My adventure started last night, Tuesday the 22nd of February. Luckily, my uncle lives in a nearby town so my traveling companion (my sister Sabrina) and myself could stay the night; rather than travelling the 300 required km at four in the morning. This was a massive Godsend.

We left sometime around six in the afternoon with the hope we'd get there without a hitch. 300 km, four hours, two pizza's and many, many loudly sung tunes later we had arrived. After the customary welcoming by my uncle and his wife, we went to bed as we were quite tired by the long trip (night-time driving always seems worse than during the day. Having to be at the airstrip by 8:30 the next day meant sleep was essential

Waking up the next morning with relative ease, we roared along the country highway until we reached the airstrip; practically jumping out of our skins with excitement. After signing all the indemnity forms and having the basics of the craft explained to us, we chucked on our flying suits and jumped in. Words can only do so much, so allow the photos to take over for now.

Specifically, take notice of the ridiculously large smiles of two certain individuals in the last photo. That's 7500 feet of natural high and I would do it all again tommorow if I could.

I seriously recommend it to anyone interested. Contact the Eagle School of Microlighting through here.

And that is that. I'm back baby, with a vengeance.

1. Play Laser Tag in a Suit
2. Play in my Church's Worship Band. 
3. Go on a spontaneous roadtrip
4. Watch the sunrise from the top of a mountain. 
5. Throw Darts at Paint-filled balloons.  
6. Go Paintballing
7. Go to the Zoo
8. Have a Picnic
9. Go wild whilist listening to Muse/Radiohead (whichever comes first) live. 
10. See three unknown/unsigned bands live.  
11. Finish an 80km bike ride in one day 
12. Go on a mission trip
13. Go campling with mates
14. Climb a big rock for no apparent reason
15. Go on a hike 
16. Go Microlighting