Spectacular start to the party

As the sun rose over the dark lawns of Old Parliament House, so did the immense hot air balloons. At 6am the crews pumped the balloons full of air to viagra tab astounding shapes and sizes. Whooshes of the torch flame shooting into the heart of the balloons were followed by cries of amazement by child and adult alike.

41 balloons were registered to fly in the festival which runs from the 9^th to the 17^th of March.

The highlights for the spectators were the various shaped balloons, particularly the ominous Darth Vader head-shaped balloon from Belgium. As it floated up into the air, cheers were let our by onlookers as the Darth Vader theme song was blared over the loud speakers across the lawns. Other interesting shapes included a peacock, turtle and lion, all of which had travelled from overseas to be at the festival.

Canberra’s ‘Balloons Aloft’ had five balloons in the festival with 68 passengers up in the air yesterday morning. Members of the ‘Aloft’ team, Allan and Sue, said that working with the balloons is a fun and rewarding experience.

“We get lots of interesting things happening up in those balloons. We’ve had a guy running on a treadmill; we’ve had an orchestra; singers with speakers attached to the bottom of the basket so that everyone below could hear. There have been a few proposals as well,” says Allan.

“It’s quite an expensive operation,” says Sue “to purchase a balloon you’re looking at about $200,000 to $300,000.” At $360 per person, rides aren’t all that cheap either, but it looks like a fantastic experience.