Hot Air = Number 1

Of all the adventures I had in Australia my absolute favourite, without a doubt, would be the Hot Air Balloon Ride I took. Even though I had to get up at 4am (and if you knew me you'd know how much of a sacrifice that was) and hop on a bus for almost 2 hours to get to the take-off spot... it was SO worth it.

We went up right as the sun was rising over the mountains.

At one point we went over a pond and got a good look at ourselves.

It's the most amazing experience... Truly gliding through the air. Because you go with the air currents it doesn't feel windy... it's so quiet (except for the occsaional popping sound of the gas burst and the hyper driver/pilot)... You don't even realize how fast you are moving until you see a bouncing kangaroo on the ground and try to get a picture of him... /grin

And in case you doubt I could do such a thing:

After half an hour in the air we landed (rather bumpily) and switched with the people in the chase vehicle. At the end of their ride we all "got" to help pack up the balloon... there was a big train of people wrangling the balloon and it really was fun and funny.

To see my hot air balloon lift off and hear a bit of the enthusiastic pilot go to: HotAirBalloonVideo