One More Balloon Ride

I wanted to see the mountains one more time, but we really didn't get that close. Here we are readying the balloon. That's our pilot, Dean, exiting the basket. This is the largest passenger balloon available, and the envelope was huge!






















This was the view toward Aoraki/Mt. Cook. You can almost see it!






















We attained an altitude of 5000 feet in order to see the mountains, and for my second flight it was quite thrilling. Not TOO scary, either. The landing was well done - we didn't tip over - but the field was being irrigated, so we got wet feet. We sure scared some sheep that morning!




Here we are deflating the balloon. We did a lot of work! Of course, there was the traditional champagne but no breakfast. Man, were we hungry when we got back to the city.