This morning at 3am I headed off to the Avon Valley and Northam to go hot air ballooning. I was really excited to be going in a hot air balloon as I’d heard so many good things about them. Well I’m hear to let you know that all the great comments about them are true.
They make a fantastic photography platform as you can lean over, shoot straight down, they are incredibly stable and move quite slowly over the landscape making it easy to get sharp photos in low light. If you haven’t jumped in one consider giving it a go.
What really surprised me was how quickly they can climb when you get a couple of the burners going full blast. We shot up to 3600ft in a matter of minutes when they cranked up the heat.
Setting Up:
Time To Burn:
Almost There:
We Have Lift Off:
Could We Get Any Lower Into Town?
Seriously, I thought these guys were about to stop into Merv or Pete’s house for a quick coffee and chat!
The Northam Palace:
Check it out its almost like we are drifting down the street just out of reach of a normal person’s reach. At one stage we were actually talking to some people on the ground. So cool.
Time To Land:
All good things must come to an end. We slowly drifted across the Great Eastern Highway and landed in a paddock just past the highway. It was a thrill and awesome and I’ll certainly be doing it again.
8 Comments
I thought I heard someone yahooing in the balloon as it passed over our house on Friday,You were lucky to get to fly over town. I bet Marc was your pilot.
I like the last shot by the way, The CBH silos let you know where you are as well.
By the way I met your Mum a few weeks ago when she went up for a fly.
Hi Pete. I’ll do some editing on that last shot soon. I think it might have been the mother in law she lives in Bakers Hill. There is no way my Mum would even think about hopping in a hot air balloon. We had some grumpy Russian dude as a pilot.
i would love to do that.. purely for the photography side, i’m not overly keen on heights
love that last photo
Hi Chloe,
I’m not a big fan of heights either and I must admit I struggled with the height a little, okay…….. a lot. The photography side of things though was awesome.
Jamie
Bummer I couldn’t make it mate…that would have been fun! I also like the last shot the best of this set!
Hi Mark, it was fun kind of. 🙂 I hope everyone knows the shots in this posts are just snapshots. Real shots will follow shortly.
well …. were’s the real photo’s ???
I’m getting there Merv! 🙂