Day 11 - Up in the Air

When I woke up at 5:30 AM this morning (we've been doing that for a while now to see the balloons), we went to the oval right next to ours, where 10 to 15 "fiesta balloons (balloons that don't take part in the competition) were inflating. We were going to ask around and see if we could go up in one. Dad had already got a spot in the commercial balloon, but us kids wanted to go up too. Unfortunately, the commercial flight was fully booked so we couldn't get a spot there. We asked around, and at the last minute, someone said they could do it. So I got a spot. But Niklas was still on the ground. So we asked again at the commercial flights, and, luckily, there was one more space. So me, Niklas and Dad were up in the air, and Mum had been once before so she didn't need to go.
During liftoff at exactly 7:05 AM, I watched the ground slowly get smaller below me. It is a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience. Then we were up in the air! Canowindra looked much bigger from above.

Canowindra from above

Then we went over the fields, although not before gaining an altitude of 3,114 feet (equivalent to around 1km). Over the fields, we could see the neatly tilled rows of grain. We even swooped down to about 7m and I got a souvenir from the top of a tree. Then we landed at 8:15 AM. Time flies when you're having fun!

A stack of barrels taken from a relatively low altitude (we were coming in for landing)

After that we drove home again, although with a stop at Maccas to trade in our MacDonalds voucher.