I'm dressed head to toe in an oversized sky-blue jumpsuit that is zipped to the chin inside iFly Penrith and about to be launched vertically into an air column moving at 200kmh when I catch a glimpse of myself in the glass. I look like an overstuffed bolster cushion. Either that or Augustus Gloop.
After watching the safety video, I'm looking at the instructor, who is running through the hand signals I need to remember once I am airborne: chin up; straighten your legs; bend your legs; chill.
Four commands. Entirely achievable. I file them carefully in the part of my brain that promptly goes blank the moment my legs leave the ground.
The tunnel is roaring as I lean forward into the air stream and start to fly, weightless and free, and as triumphant as a sparrow.
Then, without warning, the wind catches my cheeks and rearranges my face into something that feels less like a graceful bird and more like a basset hound with its face out the window of a car barrelling down the highway.
My instructor, Aaron, is patient and professional, flashing the signal to straighten my legs before he grabs a fold of my jumpsuit and takes me soaring into the upper reaches of the chamber.
Although I've done three tandem jumps out of small planes over the past three decades, this iFly Indoor Skydiving adventure taking place in one of the world's largest glass chambers is up there in terms of getting the adrenal glands going.
On a wing and a prayer
The world is about to land on Penrith's doorstep with the October opening of Western Sydney International Airport. And it's been getting ready.
iFly is part of the Panthers Precinct that helped transform the Western Sydney suburb and will continue to draw visitors when the $309 million redevelopment of the stadium is complete in 2027.
Within a short walk from iFly's front door there's also Cables Wake Park, Aqua Golf and the $110 million 152-room Penrith Pullman. The precinct is the kind of place that makes both Sydneysiders and visitors reconsider what a weekend in the NSW capital might look like.
On the water
Cables Wake Park sits at the edge of Ropes Creek, a calm stretch of water that looks deceptively manageable until you are strapped to a board and the overhead cable snaps taut.
My husband, a keen surfer, is booked in for a lesson while I watch from the dock with a coffee as instructor Albie Leary runs him through the basics with the cheerful precision of someone who has done this 1000 times and still enjoys it.
Albie is a great instructor. Within the hour, my husband is doing ollies, jumps and spins on the surface of the water. A heelside-frontside 180 follows, then flat-water tricks that he makes look pretty easy. Albie grins at me over his shoulder. "He's a 50-something frother," I explain.
Tee time
Before picking up our bucket of balls, we quickly stride out along a section of the Bridge to Bridge walk, part of Penrith's eight-kilometre Great River Walk. We watch the Nepean Belle with its scarlet paddlewheel ply its way up the Nepean River, one of Sydney's most vital arteries.
The Aqua Golf sits within the footprint of the Panthers Precinct, and the aim of the game is to hit a golf ball into one of the netted targets to win prizes.
I am terrible at it. The only positive is that I manage to hit the ball rather than air swing. My husband, emboldened by years of chasing a little white ball around golf course greens, is a lot better.
Competitive spirit aside, it's heaps of fun and we share a lot of laughs (mostly at my expense).
Back at the base
The Pullman Sydney Penrith hotel sits at the heart of the Panthers Precinct. It's close enough to everything, meaning you can walk from your room to the Wake Park in five minutes.
After a day of action and adventure, lunch at Tori Cafe and dinner at Marcel Bistro are both well-earned rewards. The club sandwich at Tori Cafe is a big recommendation.
And the set menu at Marcel with optional wine pairing is the kind of experience that reminds you what a great evening looks like: considered food, wine paired with each morsel and nowhere to be until the morning. The lavish degustation adds to the (epicurean) adventure.
Penrith has always had the river and the mountains at its back. What it has now, with this precinct anchoring the western end of its CBD, is a reason to stop for a while, and not just pass through. Stay, eat well and wake up with a smile after an excellent weekend in a new epicentre of adventure.
The writer was a guest of the Panthers Precinct