‘Exhilarating’: 89-year-old aged care resident ticks skydiving off bucket list

Bob Craig, an 89-year-old aged care facility resident, has fulfilled his lifelong dream of jumping out of airplane.

Last week, Bob jumped from 15,000 feet accompanied by Allity Lilydale's lifestyle coordinator Maureen Hincksman.

The Scotsman took the leap wearing a kilt his wife of 67 years had given to him.

"She passed away, the kilt came, and I wanted to wear it during the jump," Bob said.

"Though it was a bit chilly, it was exhilarating – I've never experienced anything quite like it.

"When you go up that height, you're floating."

Maureen, who jumped afterwards, said she was 'happy to be behind him, not underneath him.'

Bob is no stranger to jumping from great heights.

During his service in the national military, he completed jumping course which saw him leap out of a air balloon and land 'without breaking anything.'

At the age of 21, he worked as an armament fitter for the Scottish air force and focused on demolition and explosives.

"As part of my duties, i was sent to Malaysia during the Malayan Emergency, a guerrilla conflict from 1948 to 1960, and spent 18 months in the jungle," he said.

"When Ms Hincksman asked me to jump out of a plane, I thought, why not?" Bob said.

Maureen, who is 58-year-old, said the jump was a momentous occasion for herself and the facility.

With a career in aged care spanning over 40 years, Maureen said she couldn't imagine doing anything else.

"It's the interaction with the residents and the outcome of when you're doing great things and making them happy every day," she said.

"It's important to listen to what they want to do.

"I wanted to bring the bucket list to Lilydale and hear from residents about things that interest them."

Bob said that Maureen's commitment to aged care work was similar to a greyhound.

"She just doesn't stop running around the place," she said.

After leaving the army, Bob became a toolmaker with Rolls Royce.

But one day in 1960, coming home from work, his wife Joan said, 'I'm fed up – I'm 25, got two kids, and I'm stuck here.'

"So, we sat down that night and wrote a letter to relatives in Australia, and three months later, we were living on a boat towards Queensland," Bob said.

"Joanne was seasick for five weeks out of the six."

They bought a house in Montrose, Queensland, where they lived for 11 years and welcomed their third child, a daughter.

By the time their children went to university, they lived in Bundaberg, and Bob was working as an engineer in the sugar mills.

In 1971, they moved to Melbourne.

Today, Bob has four great-great-grandsons, one great-granddaughter, and one great-grandson, who visit him as often as they can.

"Two of my family members, a grandson Robert, a paramedic, and his wife Tammy, a registered nurse, live in Perth and are rather busy," he said.

"That's still on my bucket list – to fly over and see them before I hit my 90th birthday in September."

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