hahahaha i totally cracked up at this comment of urs:

"we saw a mother and her toddler waving at us and we waved back so if you live out in preston and you were waving on that saturday morning may 24th 2008  i was one of those people in the balloon waving back!"

LOL

oh and this was funny:
"it was fascinating seeing everyones backyard neat vegetable patches swimming pools trampolines. the poor dogs were barking like crazy cars parked in the street "

hehe you're very amusing, annie !
that's a compliment :)

but yeah, the balloon ride looked great...
i wanna go for one now ! hehe

if you are planning a honeymoon  you could surprise laurence and organise it .

let me warn you its a very early rise you meet about 6am but you have to be awake at 5am at least to make one final call to the pilot to make sure that weather is permitting for balloon to go up

it is a little expensive  my boys paid $350 dollars for one person and that included breakfast at the hilton(in melb) brekky i think would be about $30 less because if we wanted family members to join us in the brekky it was extra

cheers annie

thanks

my son helped me upload them from my digital camera i also have a great sunrise that i took and another where there is a little cloud with the blue sky but i have to find time when my son has time to help me upload it

cheers annie

it was dark when we were launching and there were 3 balloons from the company we flew with and 3 other balloons so 6 all up.

they have the basket upright with the actual balloon on the ground and cold air goes in first then  bursts of hot air . its very spectacular when the balloon fills then we are ready to climb in the basket. the timing is so right  by the time we are ready to ascend the dawn is breaking.

it was just a wonderful sight as each "balloon " was ready to ascend

cheers annie

apparently we go with the wind and it happened to be in a northerly direction so north it was we left from bundoora. it looked like a  parks reserve. we went around the preston area . we actually dont fly oveer the city buildings that would have been the closest we got to.

i zoomed it in a bit on digital camera our pilot said they dont like flying over the city because if they did need to come down in a hurry it would be hard to find somewhere to land.

i do remember an icident years ago that a hot air balloon actually landed behind the art centre where there was a park narrowly missing the road.

i guess nowadays there are more high rise buildings so they are more cautious

cheers annie

oh janice i was afraid to go up a lighthouse i wouldnt stand at the rail to see the view and then when we went to tasmania to tahuna i was afraid of the swing bridge

but i loved the hot air balloon now absailing and parachuting now thats a different story!

cheers annie

i still cant believe i did it! it was so smooth i dint evn notice going up

i was on a high for days

cheers annie