After several reschedulings, we finally got to go hot air ballooning at the beginning of August. It was a special treat for our 15th anniversary.

We got up at 5AM and they drove us to Yarra Bend to inflate the balloons. It was exciting! The giant flames were awesome, and warm!

We ballooned west towards the city, over Fitzroy Gardens, nice and low, for some epic pink sky views of the CBD.

And then we went south over the sports district. You can see the MCG, AAMI Park, Olympic Park, all the tennis stadiums like Rod Laver Arena, and more!

Then we went higher and sort of zig zagged back and forth over Richmond.

They had a GoPro hanging off the side of the balloon. It kind of got in the way of some of my shots, but worth it for this epic balloon selfie!

Then we landed in Fawkner Park. The landing was quick!! There really wasn’t a lot of space. We almost tipped over but the ground team managed to push us back upright. The basket left a huge skid mark.

We helped pack up the balloon which was basically like stuffing the worlds biggest sleeping bag.

It was a really cool experience! We were in the air for about an hour, which felt like enough. It was really peaceful up in the air, and not too cold since you don’t feel the wind, and you get the top of your head warmed up by the flame. Rosemarie asked me if it was like Google Maps in real life, and I think that is pretty accurate. The guide said that Melbourne is the biggest city in the world that still lets them balloon over the city.