anewman13: Up up and away!!!

Afraid of heights, who's afraid of heights?
Me, nahhh ehhh ahhh, ok maybe a little.

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do."

So a chilly Melbourne morning we embark on an adventure, an experience, an eye-opener!
Our pilot Chris gives us a wakeup call at 5:15am and picks us up from the lobby of the Langham at 6am to transport us to the meeting point where several other courageous travellers await.

We are lucky on this particular day as the company we are flying with (Balloon Flights over Melbourne) and the other company we joined up with (Global Ballooning) went ahead with the flights as scheduled.
In the lobby of the Langham was the Balloon Sunrise group of 15 or so which were not so lucky as their flights got called off due to the weather.

The weather and notably the wind direction determines the launch site and we headed off to Kensington to set up for our adventure, Hot Air Ballooning requires a little hands on help with setup and pack up. Here's Deb helping with the inflating of the balloon.

And Deb gettin warmed up whilst still holding onto the side of the balloon.

And we are off the ground, now for someone who isn't a big fan of heights I've got to say after the first 5-10 meters it's pretty easy after that - besides it's too late much past that and it's some serious injuries if you bail out.

The reflection of our balloon.

The burners sure did let out alot of heat, especially when all three were cranking!

The two balloons of Global Ballooning that we flew in formation with.

A tight squeeze in the basket.

Enjoying the views as they slowly disappear and we are engulfed by a cloud.

Sensational views of Melbourne from above.

We landed on the second oval on the right hand side, the first one was a bit muddy. Our landing was just over a kilometer short of the original plan, due to a incoming rain cloud it was a good call by the pilot as we had just packed up the balloon and returned to the mini bus when the rain came down.