Diary 7th January 2001 & Images
Ballooning at Methven.

Sunday 7^th January.

It seemed like five minutes later that I was awakened by someone tapping on my door. When I pulled myself together I realised it was Colleen giving me my early morning call. She had the door slightly ajar so her voice could penetrate without waking up the other guests.
"Iain. Iain. Iain." I heard this voice calling me.
"Yes."
"George says you need to the at the information centre at 0530 not five o'clock." I heard her tell me.
"Right. Thank you Colleen. What time is now?." I inquired.
"It's 10 to 5 so you have plenty time to get there." She answered and closed the door.
I got myself ready and left at 25 past five, arriving at the information centre in Methven right on time. The two coaches arrived almost at the same time each towing a balloon and basket in a trailer. The other participants started to arrive and we were all briefed and kitted out with rubber overshoes before leaving at 0630.

When we arrived at the launch site everybody turned to and got the balloon and basket unloaded from the trailer.	After the balloon was unrolled and laid out the basket was turned on its side and the balloon ropes attached.	The balloon mouth was held opened whilst motor fans blew air inside to begin the inflation process
Alistair and his girlfriend had volunteered for the job of holding the balloon open. The large Aero 245 balloon has a capacity of 245000 cub/ft	Inside the balloon members of the Aoraki team can be seen working at the far end. When inflated it stands 93 ft high and is 81 ft in diameter 255 ft in circumference at its equator. The fabric in the crown is ripstop nylon 115ºC is a common temperature at the top	Once sufficient cold air is trapped inside the burner is lit to heat it up and the basket tipped back into the upright position. an average hours flying will use about 160ltr of LPG andproduce 18000 horsepower of energy
As soon as the balloon base of the ground and supporting itself we are encouraged to get into the basket as our weight helps stabilise it	There were two balloons launched on this morning and the others were away first so enabling me to get this picture from the ground	Once we were airborne the splendour of the mountains could be seen and our shadow followed us everywhere
Back in the paddock the buses waited to see which direction the balloon would take so that they could follow on	We continued to rise upwards almost vertically though it had been hoped we'd catch a breeze and float over to the Rakaia river to see the fantastic braiding as it spreads out meandering over the double beds. However as can be seen here the valley was covered in mist so there was no chance of seeing it this morning	We watched the other balloon hoping to see it pick up some breeze or thermal currents but unfortunately none was found
None of those in the balloon had flown before and they were absolutely delighted and enthralled by the experience	Our pilot Don Begbie informed us that we could see Mount Cook as one of the snow-covered peaks in the distance but it would need an experienced eye to know which one of the peaks it is.	As well as the braided river I had particularly wanted to see the vast expanse of Canterbury plain but I was greatly disappointed to find that over 80 percent of it was covered in low cloud
After 50 minutes in the air and we descended landing in the next paddock. We were told it was most unusual for this to happen as there is normally some thermal currents or some breeze to give us motion and drift across the landscape but there was nothing that could be done about the weather.	Once down we all set about deflating the balloon then it was folded and put back into its canvas cover before being loaded onto the trailer.	While that was being done other members of the Aoraki team prepared the champagne breakfast.
George Curry, the owner, had been with the other balloon crew but by the time we had our balloon folded and stowed away he'd had time to change into this fetching outfit. He gave us our history of company and ballooning and we all enjoyed our champagne breakfast	Alistair had worked very hard and is now replenishing his energy with this jam and cheese filled croissant and champagne flute.	Indeed we were all hungry after the flight and here Martin Holm can also be seen stuffing his face.

The ballooning turned out to be a disappointment to me due to clouds covering most of the Canterbury plain and no wind to carry us in any direction at all. We went straight up, drifted no more than 300 meteres in all, spent 50 minutes looking at much the same scenery although the pilot gave us a very good comentary by way of compensation and came straight down. We had fun and enjoyed very much the champagne breakfast beside the vehicles in the paddock before driving back to Methven.

Back at Green Gables I went to the dining-room where Colleen had the table laid for breakfast. I told her I had had a Champagne breakfast already but cereal and a cup of her delicious filter coffee would be reviving and I needed more energy for the drive ahead.

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