Getting carried away for us was rising before 6am on a Friday morning to hook up the caravan and head to Carterton. We were keen to see hot air balloons lift off at 7am as part of the Wairarapa Balloon Festival*. The balloonists got carried away on a beautiful March morning, it’s definitely a sport for early risers, we won’t be taking it up any time soon.

Hot air balloons getting ready to rise in Carterton

Mike Pero’s flying house with a rooftop cat

Floating away in the early morning light

The big attraction at the 2014 event was ‘Patriot’ – a replica space shuttle. The balloon is close to 54 metres high, has a wingspan of 35 metres and weighs 449 kilograms. On occasion we’ve had trouble packing our four person tent back into its bag, packing and inflating Patriot is a job for at least 15 crew. It was the American owners first trip to New Zealand, and the balloon’s maiden voyage down under. Fortunately weather conditions were perfect for take off.

‘Patriot’ – a replica space shuttle

‘Patriot’ has lift off

Carried away in Carterton

The next day the balloons got carried away in Martinborough and lifted off from the Town Square at 7am. We were staying at Martinborough Top 10 Holiday Park, a top spot to view balloons in pajamas.

View of hot air balloons from Martinborough Top 10 Holiday Park

We were surprised by how close a couple of balloons came to the ground. We thought they were landing in the field but they were just dropping down to say hi before firing up the gas and continuing on their way.

Dropping down to say hi

*New Zealand’s other hot air balloon festival is Balloons Over Waikato. (This Pinterest page has plenty of unusual shaped hot air balloons).

USA all the way