Avon Valley Hot Air Balloon Adventure
Last weekend, myself and my Grandad drove for over an hour at 4 in the morning to go hot air ballooning in Northam, Western Australia, with Windward Balloon Adventures. I would recommend ringing to book, or using a red balloon voucher as I had trouble booking it through the website, with emails not coming through. It was down to the last minute that everything got full confirmation.
We started our journey in darkness with fog and temperatures of 2 degrees Celsius. It was a smooth drive up and when we arrived, we were greeted by a cute, little, cat.
We then got the chance to meet our fellow ballooners and have a coffee. We watched the team pack up the gear ready to take us to our flight zone.
At about 6am we got a debrief on what was going to happen and then got on the bus to make our way to the take-off zone. The team then set everything up for us to assist in inflating the balloon. I was absolutely amazed at just how big the balloons really are! The photos just do not give the size justice.
Once the balloon was inflated and the basket stood upright, we all climbed in (well struggled, but managed haha). I was quite nervous for take-off and what to expect. I don’t have a fear of heights, but I sure do have a fear of falling, and that was all I could imagine was having a rocky start and tipping out, haha. The take-off however was so smooth I didn’t actually realise we had lifted until we were a good few feet off the ground.
The flight started at 7:15am lasted for an hour. It was so beautiful and peaceful. I’ve experienced nothing like it before. The only way I can describe it, is that it is what I imagine floating on a cloud would be like. Getting to float around above the cloud and fog and seeing all the fields, was amazing.
The journey back down lead us into some really cold breezy air. Before that, it was cold, but there was no breeze, and the sun was lovely and warm on the skin. Landing was exceptionally smooth too. I was expecting to have a rough time landing, however it was just a couple of bumps and that was it. After landing we then had to help pack up the balloon, which was a lot of effort.
Once everything was packed up, they drove us back into the city of Northam, to, Riversedge Café for breakfast. The café is located on the Swan River and is where they start the Avon Decent, which is a paddle craft event in Winter in Perth, which spans over 124km. Fore breakfast they served us scones with jam and cream and a big breakfast, plus, tea, coffee, juice and champagne. Breakfast was enjoyable, however a little long for my liking. We were there for about and hour and a half. I would have liked breakfast to be an optional add on. Myself and my Grandad were surprised breakfast was at a café as it wasn’t mentioned anywhere. There was no real choice in the matter as once we left the field we are driven straight to the café for breakfast which is a little drive away from the airfield where we were parked.
My grandad and I went for a little wander after breakfast before we left and had a look at the river and the information bay across from the café.
I loved the experience and I especially love that I got to experience it with my Grandad. I would highly recommend experiencing a hot air balloon ride if you’ve never done one before. It was a magical experience and I can’t wait until I get to experience another one again (Cappadocia, I’m looking at you!).
