Luke McWilliam has skydived over an island in Denmark, free-fallen over Zimbabwe and in formation for the Avalon International Air Show – all of which have been heady and memorable experiences – but on a clear day, nothing beats Barwon Heads.
       Imagine this is as your working day: you rise in your Barwon Heads home, leave for work on foot, arrive at the office 3 minutes later, spend your day skydiving from a hot-pink aeroplane from 14,000 feet, and then walk back home in time to cruise into town for dinner. Just another day at the office for Luke McWilliam, owner of Skydive City which operates out of Barwon Heads airport.
        The home Luke shares with his partner and baby girl is deliberately close to work – consisting of a portable, a training area in a hanger, planes including the new pink Cresco, gravity and the gaping sky – as he often works up to 70 hours per week. Luke is focussed and chattily confident – after all this is a person who holds four national formation gold medals and two Guinness Book of World Records for the largest formation free fall, 218 in Slovakia in 1994, then 297 in Russia in 1996. This is a person who has faced his fears. It is not surprising that he is so calm and economical as there is little room for error and none in the air.
          At 35 years old, Luke doesn’t think he has a real job, ‘not in the sense of a desk job for instance,’ he says, ‘because sky-diving is such a passion.’ Eight years ago, the environmental scientist decided not to go back to work after some holidays and instead became a professional skydiver. Does skydiving ever get, say, like a day in the office? ‘It is exhilarating every single time,’ says Luke, ‘And not just jumping. I feel privileged to be able to take beginners through their first jump, something that is a life changing experience, to hear what they say when they get back on the ground and see their faces.’
          Luke didn’t exactly try to jump from his parent’s roof in a superman outfit. ‘Why would I when I had my motorcycles and I could fly through the air into a quarry.’ Naturally. At seventeen, Luke sold his motorcycles and took his first skydive. At the time, he was the third person in Australia to do a tandem jump (where you are harnessed to a skydiving professional). Luke’s two older brothers also jump and collectively have completed over 22,000 jumps. ‘I don’t think it’s unusual. It’s in our blood. We like adventure sports. My brother races motorcycles, and we’ve been into rock climbing and hang-gliding in the past so I don’t think it’s unusual. We’ve always been doing crazy things since day one so it’s just normal.’
         Luke is as nimble on the ground as in the air. Four years ago, he decided to base his operations at Barwon Heads. ‘You’ve got the most spectacular views from up there and on a lovely day nothing beats it.’ Luke daily negotiates his way through a multitude of strategic options for his business as well as the typical management, financial and human functions demanded by a business sure of its future growth. ‘It’s a lot of hard work running the only seven-day-a-week skydiving centre, but it’s starting to reward itself now, so yeah it’s starting to feel good.’
        Fellow jumper, Pauline Richards describes Luke as having ‘great vision. He understands the potential of skydiving outside of the traditional markets, and he is starting to make inroads with groups such as the backpackers market.’ Skydive City now attracts people from all over the world, some who have never leaped from a plane before and others who charge through the air as though it is second nature. The business has steadily grown to the extent where now 50% of all first timers in Victoria will jump with him, and attracks over 15,000 visitors to Barwon Heads a year. With all of this buzz and energy, Luke unwinds by fishing, surfing and having a quiet beer, ‘just like anyone else. And jumping can be enormously relaxing.’ Naturally.