From the official website at www.nzballoons.co.nz:
"Hot air balloons and their pilots from around the world take part in five breathtaking days of competitions in the beautiful Wairarapa valley against a backdrop of the rugged Tararua ranges - the perfect stage for one of New Zealand's most spectacular events.

Balloons launch at dawn each day from locations in Masterton, Carterton or Martinborough. Weather permitting, some late afternoon flights may also take place."

And now back to this website. On the Friday morning a certain individual left Tawa shortly after 5am to drive to Martinborough. The hot air balloons were scheduled to hit the skies (so to speak) about half past six that morning. With the sun not having risen above the eastern hills at that early hour, the temperature in Martinborough was rather cool but with the promise of turning into a nice day.

In a park-like setting (the local domain or sports fields, I'm not quite sure), the first balloon had been inflated when I arrived, and it was soon on its way upwards. [See the first four photos below]. Another one or two had started to be filled, with others being laid out on the ground ready for the process to begin. An interesting setting in which to be. The sun started to rise, and so did the balloons once they were full inflated.

Balloons on the ground ready to take to the air, and clusters floating slowly across the sky all made for a very colourful spectacle. Some didn't appear to rise very high. In fact they looked quite low over residential Martinborough. Presumably that was intentional - I really don't know.

What I do know is that a great many photos were taken within a 60-minute period. There's a whole heap of them below. Some are quite similar to others, but it's up to you, the viewer, which ones you choose to click on to see 'full size'. That's the nice thing about a web page. You can choose what you look at, unlike a slide show or viewing a friend's holiday photos. If none of these shots interest you, you can simply move on and we'll be none the wiser. Admittedly 'opening up' all 60 photos could be a little tedious, but it was certainly fun being there in person and actually seeing all the sights set out here (in a whole lot of detail!). And one of these days when I'm willing to part with $275 I might even get to go up in a hot air balloon myself.

- Malcolm Sparrow

P.S. I was back in Tawa by a quarter to nine.