Aand we're back...

What? It's only been four years. Hardly any time at all. Of course there has been a lot of flying between here and the last post. The reason for restarting the blog was to reflect on the changes of the last four years. For a start the old ZK-FBQ (or APW as it was known) has been replaced by ZK-PUF, or just Puff as he is fondly known, a Kavanagh 90 entering its third year of service as an educational and awareness tool for the Asthma Foundation (with a bit of help from some corporate sponsorship). Actually it was a bit of a hammers and handles arrangement; FBQ was sold to Levin pilot Nathan Murray, while ZK-PUF was the result of an older Kavanagh balloon that Denis had purchased combined with a new envelope. While the extra basket space of FBQ is sadly missed, Puff has done many appearances at schools and festivals, proving a bit easier to handle, as well as the regular round of New Zealand Balloon Fiestas, except of course at the Balloons Over Waikato event, where we are not welcome (this is a separate post all on its own, but suffice it to say that you cannot criticize the organising team at BoW for treating balloonists shabbily and expect to get away with it. Nosiree). It's probably just as well then that the Hamilton event is no longer my "home" event, as I am now living in Wellington with my fabulous partner Sonja and her two boys, Ziggy and Stone and a mad cat called Tazzie. Working part time has allowed me to spend more time helping out organising the event in the Horowhenua, now known as Lift Off Levin, and I have joined the committee to assist with that in any way I can. And the momentum is gathering: the event is scheduled for the coming Easter weekend, April 9 - 14, just over a month away. It will be our main flying event this year, as the Wairarapa Fiesta has been reduced to a three-day event as the economic squeeze has found it hard to gather sponsors for the larger events. We were hoping to take Lift Off Levin into expanded territory also, but the "r" word has meant we have to keep it in a holding pattern for this year and can just concentrate on running a successful and fun event.

A step back first. The seeds of this expansion plan were sewn at last year's event. The NewArtland documentary and setting up on the beach on Oriental Parade in Wellington gave Denis the impetus to realise that there were many things that local pilots wanted to try beyond the standard flying events and enjoyed flying or inflating in new places.


Another event that further fertilised his active mind was a promotional exercise for the Asthma Foundation just prior to Balloon Day, where he (in Puff) and Chris Bransgrove in Remax inflated on a wide pier at the Viaduct in Auckland. 

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It made the New Zealand Herald, so was a very successful enterprise. It went kind of like the clip below:




Armed with this experience, Denis set about developing the idea of a balloon tour to be added to Lift Off Levin, making its way up the North Island, stopping and flying at various locations (including re-experiencing ourselves with Taupo), culminating in a Nightglow in Auckland. As it was coming together I arrived on the scene in Wellington, so was able to help out with the promotional material and we set about seeking sponsorship for the zero gravity tour. This included forwarding a DVD of our previous and planned exploits to potential sponsors.




But then of course things slowed down a little - okay, a lot. With the funding set for Lift Off Levin, and without a major naming-rights sponsor to back the tour, it was decided that we should do what everyone else was doing: tighten the belt another notch and steady-as-she-goes. That's not to say that there won't be some fun and excitement at this year's event - there is already another exciting little side trip to Wellington planned. More news soon.