High-flying at 72, retired Kloof accountant Peter Liddiard has shown that age is only a number by skydiving from 9 000 feet last Saturday.
“I can cross item 10 off my ‘bucket list’,” said Liddiard, who in 2006 drew up his list of things he wanted to do.
His jump took place above the Skydive Centre in Eston, and it took him seven minutes to get to the ground.
“I wasn’t scared. I would say that I was nervous and full of trepidation, but as we flew down it was so exhilarating. By the time I landed I was shaking with excitement.”
Liddiard first planned to go skydiving in 1960, but after one of his friends had an accident while parachuting, his nerves got the better of him.
He mustered the courage to try skydiving this year, but his family was concerned that something might go wrong. However, Liddiard was determined to complete every task on his list.
“Once it’s on paper, it has to be done,” is his golden rule.
If he follows his list, he will be going to the Royal Hotel in a stretch limousine, visiting Cape Town by train, going on a sailing cruise, and flying to Holland and Belgium next year.
Liddiard has gone quad-biking in the mountains, flown in a gyrocopter over his roof, visited a game reserve and completed less adventurous tasks like revamping his garden.
He said he challenged himself to cross one item off his list every year.
He didn’t do anything last year, so he plans to make up for it by taking on the additional task of flying in a glider in the next couple of months.
Of all his adventures one stands out for him.
Thirty years ago, while sailing the Mozambique Channel, he walked on the projecting summit of an underwater volcano, an experience he says was “amazing”.
Liddiard said he would recommend a “bucket list”, or “wish list” as he prefers to call it, for everyone.
“There are stacks of people who don’t do anything with their lives. I say you should do whatever you want to do and not have any fear.” - The Mercury