If you have ever thought about doing a sunrise hot air balloon ride, there is only one thing to say… do it! Oh, and do it in Queenstown. It is guaranteed to be one of the most magical scenic experiences that your will ever dream to have.
I often thought it would be nice to do a hot air balloon ride. And then would quickly think, “Up high, flimsy wicker basket, high winds, scared of heights…” and maybe it is not so nice an idea after all. In my teenage years I always used to say I was scared of heights, but my feet had never actually lifted from the ground so I had never really put this reasoning to the test. I wasn’t sure if it was something I just said to get out of doing things that I didn’t want to do (changing light bulbs, cleaning gutters, etc.) or if I actually was. So it was with a little trepidation that I decided a hot air balloon ride was on my wish list of things to do on a romantic getaway with my cherry babe to Queenstown, New Zealand.
I love New Zealand, and I especially love Queenstown. It is breathtakingly beautiful. Add to the mix a balloon ride at sunrise and you will experience a magic that is almost unsurpassable.
I was ready to conquer a fear, that I may or may not have, and a balloon ride with Sunrise Balloons was booked in.
The first major fright was finding out what time I actually had to get up… insanely early… 4:30am… in order to make an early morning call to confirm the weather was suitable for ballooning (*read ‘not too windy’), and once confirmed, pick up was at 5:30am, in time for a sunrise lift-off. Thankfully weather was perfect so my early rise and prep was not in vain.
I had no real idea what to expect, and deliberately chose not to overthink it, in case I was a little more fearful of heights than I thought I was. At this point I was still waking up too, so thinking wasn’t that easily achieved.
It goes like this: you get picked up from your hotel and taken to a destination a few kilometres out of Queenstown. On this occasion, there were enough people for two balloons, and the balloons were all laid out in the middle of the paddock, waiting for us to help inflate them. I quite enjoyed this part, as it was all hands on deck (except for mine… I was documenting every second… my cherry babe was representing me). Our ‘craft’ for the day was the Lindstrand 260A and it was massive. You don’t really get a sense of how big a hot air balloon is until you are there next to it while the gas burners blast, what looks like an oversized patchwork tent, to capacity with hot air.
The firefly in me was a little bit excited (*squeal*) by the voluminous bursts of flame – it was quite mesmerising. Pretty toasty too, which was not unwelcome on this ‘brisk’ Queenstown morning. No illusions about getting too close to warm those numb fingers either – it would disintegrate a marshmallow in a nanosecond…
It does take a while to get all the prep sorted, but once the balloon was buoyant, we all piled inside.
Now, let me clarify that it is not a ‘flimsy wicker basket’, as stated before, it is heavy duty. And when I say piled inside – that pretty much is the case. Admittedly, initially I wondered how we were going to fit our twelve people inside, but fit we did, and it didn’t really feel like we were invading each other’s personal space either. The basket is compartmentalised with a few people in each compartment – it is tight, but comfortably tight, and also a little reassuring – I wasn’t about to topple over the edge accidentally. In fact, if you managed to topple out of the basket, it would have to be classified as a wonder of the world, as the basket’s height is half way up to your chest so your centre of gravity is well within the confines of the basket. Funny how you take note of these sorts of things to calm your mind…
Finally it is time to lift off…
Our morning was very calm, hardly even a light breeze, so lift off was actually quite gentle and the rising sun cast a gentle golden glow across the expanse below and beyond. It hardly felt like we were moving at all, which I think for a while we weren’t – we were just hovering over our departure ground while our pilot was adjusting our height to try and merge into an air current which would then determine where we were going to go. I was really quite surprised as to how gentle lift off actually was. I am not sure what I was expecting… something akin to Dorothy being blown to Oz perhaps… it wasn’t like that at all.
Funnily, there was no great sense of height either and it was difficult to gauge the distance from the ground other than to watch our shadow below minimise and maximise accordingly.
But the magic… WOW! The morning was pristine, subtle golden hues along the horizon line as the morning sun made its appearance. Light wispy clouds occasionally interrupting an otherwise cerulean sky. Mists weaving through the vales fashioning a sheer mantle that modestly revealed itself as the morning evolved
The landscape… double WOW! It is difficult to convey just how beautiful the Central Ottago landscape is. It is a magical (that word again) tapestry of vivid green and gold pastures, roads stitching their routes in between. Pointed poplars, pinnacled pines, tussocks and grasses, texture the panorama below – there was even a smiley face mown into a crop on a hillside. Coronet Peak, Mount Aspiring, The Remarkables, all standing proud, some even snow capped. Bunnies… lot’s of bunnies *squeal* scampered into their warrens as we brushed over the shrubbery. Then there is the backyard voyeurism and birds-eye views of some spectacular estates.
It is a glimpse that can only be seen from above, and the serene gentle motion of the this mode of travel allows you the opportunity to relax and breathe it all in… and take heaps of photos – just don’t drop your camera in the excitement of it all!
I will add, that it is a bonus if there is a second hot air balloon, as part of the joy is watching the other balloon and the shadows that you cast on the landscape below.
The great thing about ballooning, is you don’t really know where you are going to end up. It is not a controlled journey as far as the final destination goes. Your pilot is navigating in amongst the air currents. The back up vehicle follows below, eventually meeting you at your landing spot – with breakfast and champagne – yes please!
After about an hour of floating around in the troposphere we zoned in on our landing grid, which was a recently slashed paddock dappled with large bales of straw. Our landing was perfect – gentle and exact (thanks to the precision of our pilot), but depending on the ‘breeze’ this may not always be the case. It would seem Mother Nature was on our side on this beautiful morning and kept her fine weatherly friends in check.
With all hands on deck, the pack up was pretty quick… champagne and freshly baked Danishes our incentive.
So fear of heights? Pffft… obviously just a tactic.
And, I have decided that hot air ballooning is going to be on my ‘to do list’ for pretty much every scenic destination from here on in. It is without a doubt the most wonderful way to appreciate the scenery of any destination. I’m sold!
If you would like more information about Sunrise Balloons visit:
http://www.ballooningnz.com
This story was written by Petra Frieser – Pebbles + Pomegranate Seeds
