sallyhammond.com.au

UP, UP AND AWAY

 Judy Lynne was just a young reporter when she took her first balloon flight. Leaning over the edge of the wicker basket as she and her companions floated high over farming country she couldn't understand why her very long dark hair stayed in place.

 "Where's the wind?" she  asked, then (typical woman), "Why isn’t my hair messed up?" The unforgettable answer changed the course of her life.

"You have become the wind," he said simply.

Today Judy and her partner Peter Vizzard, both champion balloonists, operate Balloon Aloft a company that organizes flights from all parts of Australia. Their rainbow fleet of 'lighter-than-air-craft' bob up in international competitions, regularly winning awards, yet more routinely can be spotted on dewy clear mornings decorating the sky over any of a dozen or more locations around Australia.

If you think taking off in something out of a nursery-rhyme is risky, you should know ballooning is one of the safest and most relaxing means of air transport available. You are a guest of the atmosphere, but a skilled balloonist can read weather conditions accurately and capitalise on them, bringing the balloon down almost exactly where it should be. 

Recently we traveled to the Hunter Valley, NSW, just a couple of hour’s drive to the north of Sydney. We stayed at Tower Lodge www.towerlodge.com.au itself a destination. We could have happily stayed and played here (think, spacious five-star suite – one of just 12 in the luxurious Mediterranean-styled building – massages, 18-hole pitch and golf putt course, wineries galore within easy reach) but our mandate was to get away from it all, quite literally!

Up, up and away, they told us. Read on

So, shortly after dawn, we found ourselves packed into a large Balloon Aloft wicker basket with a dozen other eager passengers, our heads just inches from the jets of flame that filled the mighty balloon above us with the vital hot air we needed to rise. 

Scary? Not at all. The occasional whoosh of the burners was the only sound as we drifted high over bushland and vineyards. Far below us in the dewy morning we could hear dogs yapping at the strange sight we must have made, but that was all. Later, after a feather-soft landing we congratulated each other on our bravery, though secretly we knew this was one of the easiest and loveliest ways to fly.

Most balloon flights are made in the early morning when the air is cool and stable, before air currents that could make for a bumpy trip, arise. And of course that leads into the other most important part of the event – the Champagne Breakfast to celebrate a safe flight and return to earth. 

The history of champagne in connection with balloons is interesting. Early  balloonists in France did not have the sophisticated weather and direction instruments available today and often they would be forced to touch down on a farmer's land. In those days balloonists thought that it was smoke that caused balloons to rise and they lit sooty fires in their baskets. The black aliens that emerged, terrified the simple peasants who took to them with pitchforks, sometimes killing the intrepid travellers.

Later, as ballooning techniques became more sophisticated, they carried champagne, quaffing it openly in a hope they could fool the locals into imagining they were unexpectedly entertaining royalty, or at least the gentry, as these were the only people who could afford such luxuries. Bad call, again. For this was during the French Revolution and the peasants were even more irate to imagine they had discovered members of the hated upper-classes on their land. 

Finally, someone had the bright idea that giving a magnum of champagne to the farmers was a much more politically correct move and so the tradition was established. Today's balloonists still pack a bottle of bubbly as a thank you for whichever farmer is fortunate enough to provide their landing space. The passengers themselves enjoy a more sedate brunch of bacon and eggs, meats, orange juice, fruit, yoghurt and fresh country-baked breads –  washed down with champagne, of course!

Soft adventure. That's what Judy Lynne calls ballooning. And indeed anyone can enjoy a whisper-soft ascent through early morning mist or fog to brilliant sunshine, with perhaps the balloon-shadow rimmed by a rainbow on a cloud below. As you skim across treetops, over fences and fields, there is a sense of wonder and a peaceful quiet, broken only by that occasional loud burst of the burners to keep you aloft just a little longer. 

You'd never complain about that noise though, would you, as who would want such a magical experience to end too soon? 

(Sally & Gordon flew up, up and away courtesy of Balloon Aloft www.balloonaloft.com)

HISTORY LESSON:

 French brothers, Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier noticed that pieces of paper would fly up the chimney, and concluded the smoke had some magic property to make things fly. The first free flight of a hot air balloon was in 1792, when they launched a duck, a rooster and a sheep into the air. The next year, two Frenchmen using burning straw, piloted the Montgolfiers' balloon five miles over Paris. 

SOME FACTS ABOUT BALLOONING IN AUSTRALIA:

The average hot air balloon is as tall as a seven-story building and nearly 60 feet across at the widest point. Many hot air balloons exceed 100,000 cubic feet in volume. The average balloon holds up to four adults while large balloons may carry up to 12.

Balloons usually travel at a height of about 1000 feet (305m). All passengers are fully insured. Flights only take place if, in the pilot's opinion, the conditions are safe for both take-off and landing. The balloon itself is made of over 1000 metres of 'rip-stop' nylon similar to the material used for yacht spinnakers. The basket sides are woven from strong wicker and are about 120cm high, or about chest-height.   Oxygen is never needed as the altitude flown at is too low to make it necessary. 

For more images of ballooning in Australia click here

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