28 November, 2006

Balloon pics

As promised, here are some pics from my balloon ride. These are from August 2004 when things were a lot greener than now. One of the other passengers took these and kindly gave all of us a copy (and permission to post these).

We started the balloon ride in the very early hours of the morning (before the sun was up) and it was very cold. We helped to inflate the balloon and then got in and floated off.

This first one is in the pre-dawn light. It was very misty out.


Then the sun came up. Such a beautiful sunrise it was. The rays of the sun lighting up the mist was a sight to see.




I can't believe how green the hills and fields were.




Aerial train spotting...


We saw a lot of abandoned houses and buildings. Some burnt out, others just falling slowly to pieces.


Believe it or not, we brushed over the tops of these trees.


And this is how we landed. I was in the bottom right section of the basket. We had to crouch down and hold on tight when landing. It was a pretty smooth landing too.


We then helped flatten out the balloon, roll it up and went off for a champagne breakfast!

10 comments:

George said...

WOW! Those pics are beautiful!

molly said...

Have to agree with George...gorgeous pics!and Australia looks lovely....

Gina said...

Breathtaking!
Always wanted to do.

Unknown said...

That's so awesome looking! I would love to see that its something I've always wanted to do, but I'd be lying. Sure, in theory it sounds great, but I'm a chicken shit. haha

Hello Betty said...

wow... those are absolutely amazing pictures... I've always wanted to go on a hot air balloon ride, but I'm too scared to to do.

izzy

velcro said...

I love those dawn photos, they're so beautiful.

The Phosgene Kid said...

Great aerial photography. The countryside is gorgeous! Thanks for sharing the photos.

OldLady Of The Hills said...

How fanrastic to be able to take a ride like this...! I love the vantage point from the Balloon and seeing everything from up there...WONDERFUL!

I'm here from Michele and lovely to Meet & Greet you!

High Power Rocketry said...

Wow what a ride that must have been.

Anonymous said...

I am SO jealous!! I'm just dying to take a balloon ride. Especially over such a beautiful area as that!