up, up and away

Recently, we had the Balloons over Waikato Festival.

It started on Wednesday 9 April, and a bunch of us at got together at work, pot luck breakfast and watched the balloons rise for their first flight. We have one of the best views in the city from our floor (just 1 floor below the Mayor!)

I pulled my sorry but out of bed on Thursday morning at 4.30am to be at the Lake for 5am. They had a free breakfast for the first 2000 people there, and as Camp Quality is the chosen charity of the event, we had to supply the ground staff. They did a Dawn Patrol. This is where they take off in the dark, and put on a show by being all lit up in the sky. It was an amazing sight.




The Saturday night was our biggest night. We had 150 ground staff. Of all the jobs, I probably got the most boring - watching the empty car park where the fireworks were to be let off. We had to watch it so people didn't walk through it (as cutting through the trees took them to where the balloons were being inflated). I did have a front row view of the fireworks though - even if I ended up deaf and with shrapnel being thrown at me. We managed to raise $8000 for Camp, which is fantastic!
Many thanks to my lovely friends who got roped in to help!!