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Published: December 29th 2007
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Day 251 (03.12.07)
From the adventure of the skydive we were today going for the relaxation of a hot air balloon ride. This was a wedding prezzie from Mark's sister and brother-in-law Catherine and Pete so thanks a million - it was an incredible day!
The only bad thing about it was that it started at about 3:45am! With it still dark outside we stumbled bleary eyed out of the hostel where we were picked up in a minibus which was to be taking us to Mareeba in the Atherton Tablelands and our launch site for the ballooning. As it was getting light we made a stop for the pilots to make the final decision on the launch site and let us know where we needed to get to. The pilots obviously having figured out what the wind was doing we jumped back into the bus to make the quick journey to the field where the balloon was to be launched. We arrived to the sight of two balloons being inflated and were surprised at how big they were.
We watched as the balloons fully took shape and it was surprisingly tense as the balloons were raised from
the ground to billowing vertically above the baskets. Our group was split into two with the first half jumping into the baskets whilst our group watched as the balloons gracefully left the ground before jumping back into van for the chase.
The wind was pretty still near the ground and a little unpredictable which made following the balloon a little tricky so after watching it for a couple of minutes we went tearing off to our rendesvous point - someone's garden by the looks of things.
As the balloon landed in the field we ran over to get in for our flight carefully exercising the one off one on rule to clamber into the basket. The basket was really big and held 16 of us as well as the pilot. As the burners were lit and we drifted smoothly and quickly from the ground we got our first real feeling of the heat and the noise that comes off the four huge gas burners - it was quite a shock!
It was a magical feeling as we gently floated further and further into the air. As it was still only around 8am there was a stunning morning
feel to the air and a haze on the horizon that added to the already spectacular views. Drifting with the wind and rising and falling to direct us on the different wind currents we flew for over half an hour before our pilot made a few plans for landing sites. We watched the other balloon steal our 'Plan A' spot before coming down with a series of small bumps in a field only about 5km from where we had taken off. If you ever get the chance - hot air ballooning would come highly recommneded from both of us, it was a really amazing way to travel and the mlost relaxing way to see for miles around.
Once the flight finished and we were back on terra firma the fun was not yet over as we had the job of helping to pack the balloon away, all 400kgs of it! Everyone mucked in and we were soon on our way to breakfast. After a feast of just about anything you could possibly want (x4 for Mark) including a 'breakfast belter' of a Champagne cocktail we were back in the bus and back in Cairns before lunchtime.
After our
early start we had a bit if a rest after which we re-instigated our search for a van. Ringing an ad in the paper we found a van which sounded as though it would fit the bill. It was a little more pricy than we were initially hoping but still the cheapest we had seen around, seemed like a good engine and apart from looking a bit shabby around the edges, would look pretty good after a spruce up. We did a bit of bargaining with the owner to get the price down to a more acceptable level for us and decided to get it. After completing the paperwork we were now the proud owners of a 'new' Toyota Liteace van!
After deliberation we felt we had to name her, taking into account something that would suit her age, beige decor and unpredictability we settled on NORA. We did a little shopping for bedding and other things we'd need for our road trip to Sydney and then had another Rhino free feed on the guys from Raging Thunder. The end of a long and busy day saw us falling into bed exhausted.
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