Early morning and hot air balloons

Our great companions Sandra and Ran are here from Dunedin. David and Ran moved the earth and the stones left over from the entrace way being made with the tractor, while Sandra and I were onto the bike and down to the river to pick blackberries. Already autumn, the berries are now mostly red as we had picked the lush black ones last week. There's no longer enough sun for the rest to ripen.

Saturday morning we were down at Henley lake as the sun was beginning to warm the sky, the morning mist drifting over the lake, the ducks were waking up, and people from masterton gathered. At 7.15am the first orange giant could be seen peeping over the trees, followed by a yellow striped one, then a blue one. The ducks rose as a body, squawking in protest, knowing what was coming. The balloons, glorious in the morning sun, glided over the lake, dipped down to be perfectly mirrored in the water. The baskets touched the surface and then up they went, up and up, and drifted further on. By 7.45 there were 12 balloons in the sky, gliding, dipping, touching, swooping. We learned of box wind, where at different levels of altitude, there are different wind drifts enabling the balloons to navigate their paths. One balloon dipped between two trees and we learned that the shady side of the tree harbours different drafts from the sunny side of the tree. Magically, this balloon, after nesting close to the ground for several minutes, rose again, to dip onto the lake and off to the south.

The swans and geese were the first to return to the lake, the ducks more reluctant. and still the balloons came. Many of us were standing in awe and delight with the beauty of this early morning spectacle. We were part of a large crowd, many wearing jackets and sun glasses and cameras and still waking up, taking in this wonderful scene together. Not a cloud in the sky, the warm blue held these delicate giants carefully and tipped them along their paths. As we drove back to the farm for breakfast, we followed balloons along the country roads, and watched them as they drifting down to be packed up and taken back to their base camp.