B is for Balloons

Every year in Hamilton they hold the "Balloons over Waikato"
It is spectacular every year and always brings out 'ohs & ahs' from young and old.
It has just been here for the last 5 days and we have been lucky enough to have awesome weather to allow the balloons to fly each day.

On the first day we drove to work only to oh & ah our way there as the skyline in front of us filled with at least 20 balloons of every shape and colour.
Sadly no, pictures of the skyline as no camera with me at the time!

Sadly the only other time we managed to get to see the balloons was at the Night Glow, which is a big huge concert that is put on free of charge on the Saturday night. The balloons are all there and they inflate and then light up whilst music is playing. It looks spectacular.
I managed to get some pictures but they are not the greatest but they give you the idea of the whole evening....

The balloons start to inflate

Part of the 80,000 there

other half of the 80,000

more inflation and up they rise

Iwi the Kiwi rising from the ground

Iwi the Kiwi

The kangaroos going up too

all a glow

everyone a glow

They ended the display with fireworkls as usual. It is awesome to see and such a privilige that we are able to attend free of charge. There is not much nowadays that is still free to attend.

Up, Up and Away

It is that time of year again for the wonderful festival of 'Balloons over Waikato'
For 4 full days there are hot air balloon activities.
The boys love watching the balloons and seeing the different novelty ones that come here each year.
We managed to attend some of the displays and as usual it consists of balloons and more balloons.
So here is my picture story of what we have seen......

Take one balloon, lots of people and some hot air

A Shroom with a view

Hello, is there anyone out there??

Boo, it's me Jack

Jack N D Box

Ben even got to have a little lift off in a balloon. The balloon stayed tethered the whole time, just lifted off the ground 10 metres.

Today we didn't manage to get to the common where it is all held, but we did get to stand at the top of our stairs at home and watch 15 balloons sail over Hamilton at 8am in the sunny blue sky with the mist and fog just lifting, it loked beautiful.

Is It a......?

Is it a bird? No

Is it a plane? No

It is a turtle.....

Yep that is right a turtle, and it is a hot air balloon, which is part of the Balloons Over Waikato.

An annual ballooning event held here in Hamilton. This is the 10th year they have held it and it is such fun seeing the balloons floating past every morning on the way to work.

However yesterday moring they were right outside the front door. I almost felt like if I was taller I would have been able to reach up and touch them!

This shot is very deceiving, this was taken from accross the street and they definitely were not that close to the houses! Just looks that way!

In the background you can just make out a birthday cake balloon trying to get over the trees. This was in honour of the 10th birthday of the Balloons Over Waikato.


Here you can just see the Ladybug balloon creeping out from the trees.

Balloons

Hamilton is famous for having a wonderful festival each year called "Balloons over Waikato"

For the last half of last week there was stuff going on each day.

On Wednesday morning we woke up to this sight out of our window. There were over 25 balloons flying past.

On Wednesday afternoon I took the boys down to the common to watch some of the balloons inflating and taking off. Ben thought this was fabulous. We actually stood right next to the 3 main feature balloons (Darth Vader, Spooky House or Nightmare as it is really called and the Pirate one) and watched them inflate, man are they large!

The boys just loved the Spooky House and the Pirate one, although the Darth Vader one was very impressive. I love the Pirate one with his little flag and his cat because he didn't have a parrot!

On Thursday morning I was stupid enough to get up at 5.15am and go and watch the Dawn Parade, (I snuck out of the house, leaving the rest of the family sound a sleep in their warm beds!) this involved about 10 balloons taking off just before sunrise. As it was still dark it was like watching chinese lanterns light up the sky as they fired up the gas.

They were able to do this in the dark because not long after, the sun came up and this gave the pilots the ability to see where they could land, so all very safe.

Unfortunately for them, but not for the people of Hamilton, there was no wind on Thursday morning, so as everyone made their way to work they had the pleasure of witnessing 20 odd balloons just hovering over the lake area. The sky was filled and it was a spectactular sight.

The boys daycare is next to Steve's work and looks out over the lake, so you can imagine what all the children were doing in the room, glued to the window watching this amazing sight before them. Again the Spooky House and Darth Vader were floating the skies for them.

On Saturday evening there was a big free party at the University Grounds. It was an amazing turn out from everyone in Hamilton. Just as the sun had gone down they did a Night Glow. The balloons formed a semi circle and staying tethered to the ground (or cars because of the weight) they kept turning on the gas to light the balloon up in the dark. It was well done, but of course the fireworks that followed were even better. The boys just loved all of it.

Me I found the whole 5 days really great and made me love Hamilton even more than I already do.

Roll on next year, we are ready and waiting!

Hot Air

One morning last week as Steve got up for work, he told me about the balloons in the sky. As Alex was snoozing with us he woke too and so him and I went outside in our Pj's and watched the balloons going over.
It was so quiet and peaceful you could hear them turn on the gas!

Balloons

It is amazing what will keep children happy.

Last week my cousins came to visit to say hi and bye before we move down to Hamilton. Ben and Alex got out all their balloons and everyone proceeded to have balloon fights.

The boys had so much fun.