[cs_content][cs_section parallax=”false” style=”margin: 0px;padding: 45px 0px;”][cs_row inner_container=”true” marginless_columns=”false” style=”margin: 0px auto;padding: 0px;”][cs_column fade=”false” fade_animation=”in” fade_animation_offset=”45px” fade_duration=”750″ type=”1/1″ style=”padding: 0px;”][cs_text]This past long weekend was the annual Balloon Aloft Hunter Valley Fiesta in the Hunter Valley. Over 30 hot air balloons from all around the country launched together at sunrise to fly over wine country each morning.
The only catch I have found with hot air ballooning – is the crazy early start time, 3AM for me! So this year I decided to take someone with me who 1/ is not a morning person and 2/ completely terrified of heights, Shannon! I also wanted to share with you not only some pretty photos, but also a bit more about entire process from getting the balloon ready for launch all the way through to packing it up.
Each morning there is some uncertainly about where the balloons will take off, as this is totally dependent on which way the wind blows, and for take-off I really don’t know where we were! But for landing, we touched down at the beautiful Spotted Gums on Hermitage with owner Bruce to welcome us back to earth. While in the air, we gained 5.5 thousand feet and plummeted down 1,200 feet per minute – WOW. We were in the air for 73 minutes and travelled 16klms at speeds of around 38 kilometres per hour.
During our flight we were captained by Craig & Sarah from Take Off ballooning who had both travelled up from Canberra for this year’s event. Huge big thanks to our crew both in the air and on the ground, ballooning is team event, and it would not be possible without everyone working together.
Bring on 2019!!
Click here to check out last years hot air balloon fiesta. [/cs_text][x_gap size=”50px”][/cs_column][/cs_row][/cs_section][/cs_content]
