THE THOUGHT of getting up at five on a freezing winter morning was horrifying. Four hours later however, and nearly 3,000 metres up in the air, I’m glad I didn’t give in to my inner sloth.

We’re floating slowly above the Canterbury Plains in a ZK-MET 10-person hot air balloon. It’s too hazy today to see the ocean, but our pilot Dean Ragg says often you can see across the Canterbury plains and out to sea. An incredible view in the other direction of the snow-covered Southern Alps and the sweeping Canterbury Plains will have to do instead. 

Our day started in the frost-bitten dark at the Aoraki Balloon Safari’s offices in Methven, a small village about an hour’s drive from Christchurch at the foot of Mt Hutt. Our small group of nine was bundled up against the cold saying little – either because it’s too early or we’re all too nervous. A mix of Kiwi, English, Australian and Japanese visitors, none of us has been ballooning before. 

Dean and his dad, Paul, who were partners in the business, recorded our names and weights, gave us some rubber overshoes to wear – “in case we land in a particularly muddy cow-pat covered field”. 

First things first, they send up a small helium balloon equipped with little flashing LED lights to check which way the wind is blowing. 

The winds are favourable, so we all climb into the truck and head for the launch spot – a paddock in the middle of nowhere. 

Ballooning is only a spectator sport once you are up in the air, before then there is work to do.

Grabbing some material that pokes from a large bag, Dean starts to run across the field and, like a magician’s trick, pulls out a never-ending ribbon of coloured nylon.

We’re then instructed to all grab on and walk backwards pulling the balloon outwards until it lies in a puddle like a melted rainbow in the golden dawn light.

Once the basket is hooked up, the burners are fired up and giant fans drive the hot air into the balloon. Within minutes, the puddle inflates and is suddenly the height of a ten-storey building and straining at the ropes that keep it tethered to the truck.

We have a safety briefing, climb in the basket, smile for a photo and then we’re floating away.

Once the burners stop there is total silence. It’s quite spiritual drifting on the breath of God over some of the world’s most beautiful countryside.

The early morning sun gives cows, hedges and trees weird shadows. Fields are abstract art with panels and squares of different colours, winding tractor tracks swirl through paddocks.

We are wonderstruck. No-one says anything. We are at a loss for words as we drift across the Canterbury Plains, the world stretched out before us.

All too soon, Dean breaks our reverie with instructions to practise our landing positions, which means crouching down and holding on tight. I feel sorry for my skinny compartment buddy who is wedged between my over-generous thigh and the side of the basket.

Suddenly, the trees are bigger, the cows are closer and scores of rabbits are fleeing the incoming balloon. With some expert manoeuvring, Dean jumps us over an electric fence and settles on a paddock.

A bit ungainly, we hop out of the basket and start to reverse the morning’s unravelling ritual, tucking the balloon back up into its bag.

Meanwhile, Paul emerges from behind the truck dressed in tails and top hat. He hands round glasses of bubbly and jam and cheese croissants before Dean recites the Balloonist’s prayer:

“May the winds welcome you with softness, may the sun bless you with its warm hands ... and set you gently back into the loving arms of Mother Earth – and daubs us with a bubbly-soaked cork – the winds definitely welcomed us with softness but it is good to have my feet solidly back on Mother Earth.”

Sadly, Dean and Paul no longer run Aoraki Balloon Safaris but there is another provider and the experience is just as magical.

Adventure Balloons New Zealand

https://www.adventureballoonsnz.com/

Methvan-Mount Hutt Scenic Hotair Balloon Flight – NZ$380 (takes about 4 hours)

ENDS 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR – Kim Triegaardt

Kim Triegaardt is a journalist, corporate communications specialist and – as regularly as she can manage – travel writer. Kim’s professional career has taken her around the globe, but she calls the New Zealand city of Christchurch, in the South Island’s Canterbury Region, home. Kim is the founder of the corporate communications company Totally Write, which she continues to operate.