Balloon Spectacular 2019

 
In March for about ten days my city goes a bit balloon mad.  Each year we have a Balloon Spectacular (which starts as Enlighten finishes) and up to fifty balloons are launched each day.  Bliss.  There is always at least one 'feature' balloon. 
 
Weather permitting they take off from the lawns of Old Parliament House shortly after dawn, and as well as the fortunate riders, it has become a tradition for people to come along and watch them inflate and take off (another free treat).  Some mornings there are hundreds of spectators.  Breakfast is available, and the crowd is happy.  

The balloons are weather dependent and sadly most days this year they were grounded.  My heart goes out to the participants some of whom have come considerable distances.  I suspect the costs are large too. My youngest brother is, like me, a balloon tragic.   The first day of the Spectacular was also his birthday and of course we were there.  We were lucky and the balloons did take to the air.  I showed you the feature balloons in a Sunday Selections.

Here are some of the others.

The smaller portion missed that day (he was visiting his sister in another state).  There were only a few days left of the festival when he returned, so naturally I rousted him out of bed on a cool grey morning to see if the balloons would fly.  Sadly when we got to the venue we were told that it was too windy.  Some of the balloons would be inflated and tethered and a few would attempt to fly from other unspecified parts of the lake.

Bah humbug.  Tethered balloons don't do it for either of us.  So we headed off around the lake foreshores, hoping, hoping, hoping.

And we were lucky.  He didn't see the feature balloons (which we assume were tethered, but did see quite a number of the others.  From a distance it is true, but we saw them.

I wonder whether the early morning rowers saw the balloons as a treat?  I hope so.

 I loved the kangaroo and the balloon in this final shot.  The roos were unperturbed.  The same cannot be said for the cockatoos who were shrieking their resentment at the invasion of their skies.

Sunday Selections #371

Sunday Selections was originally brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, as an ongoing meme where participants could post previously unused photos languishing in their files.
 
The meme is now continued by River at Drifting through life.  The rules are so simple as to be almost non-existent.  Post some photos under the title Sunday Selections and link back to River.  Clicking on any of the photos will make them embiggen. 
 
Like River I usually run with a theme.   And this week those of you who know me will not be shocked and surprised to learn that it is balloons.  We did go to the Balloon Spectacular last week, and were fortunate enough to see them inflate and (mostly) take to the air.  

Himself is a decidedly 'spring out of bed at the crack of noon' person so he wasn't happy to learn that I wanted to be out of the house before six.  After seeing the balloons he admitted (grudgingly) that it was worth it. 

And it was.  There are many, many photos so some today, and some later in the week.

 It was still dark when we arrived, but it was obvious that the balloons would at least be inflated, though a decision about whether they would fly hadn't been made.

When you see someone standing up inside a balloon you get some idea of just how big they can be.

Up, up and away.  And the crowd cheered each time another balloon took to the sky.

If you look closely at the balloon above you will notice there is no basket.  The pilot operated it from a seated position.  It didn't look comfortable.  

 And the balloons weren't the only flyers of the morning.

There were feature balloons (as usual) and they will appear in the next post.