Sorry, I have to stop doing those awful illiterations for titles. But here we are, 10 balloons airborne over Levin. That may not sound like many, but NZ's first fiesta in Hamilton had four balloons attend - so I think ten on the first morning is a pretty good effort. I heard the comment that the Mass Ascension somehow sounds religious and rude at the same time - I'm not going to say any more about that one. It was quite a tough time for the new crew volunteers who had not done any inflations before (our theory was how can you train crew when every pilot has variations on their inflation methods - teach 'em yourself on the job), but everyone came through admirably. Not all the balloons are in the photo (these are off my phone if they don't look the best, but it was all I had), but as Mass Ascensions go this one was pretty impressive, because all the balloons lifted off together and then bunched in the sky with a little nudging goin on(more pics at http://flickr.com/photos/madballoonz/sets/240808/), before gently sailing away to landing sites not too far away from one another on the northern edge of town. It was all good fun and jolly and somehow that much more special for being a part of making it happen. What was especially great was seeing the kids from Foxton still in their pajamas watching the sight of the balloons flying over in close formation heading for the countryside. I lost where they headed to, but was delighted to find out later that they had made their way to the landing site and had all posed in front of balloons and baskets and had a great old time. That makes it special. Also important was that Denis flew our major backers, the owner-operator of the Levin New World Supermarket and also the Mayor and his wife. Oh and Brian Boland flew to 7000 feet then landed on the beach. That's just cool.
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