Around My Neighbourhood 3 : Hot Air Balloons!
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During certain seasons of the year, if I'm out of the house at about 6:30am or earlier, I'll be able to spot hot air balloons in the distance! These rides cost more than A$300 but you'll get to see a lot of Melbourne from the air! Someday, when I own a Digital SLR camera and have learnt how to use it well, I shall go on that hot air balloon ride and snap photos like crazy!
Till then, I love to walk and look up at the hot air balloons. They are quite magical.
This past Sunday, it was an extremely exciting morning because as I walked down the quiet streets of Richmond, I suddenly heard a "Whooooooosh!! Whoooooooosh!!" sound! I looked around, and then realised that it was the sound of the hot air balloons blowing gas onto the flame to heat up the air within the balloons!! That particular Sunday, they were all flying so low, it was amazing!! I walked alongside them, 'chasing' them on the ground. I thought I was a tad crazy, until I bumped into an Aussie woman walking towards me on the same street, yelling into her mobile for her husband to wake the kids to watch the balloons because they are flying extremely low today!
Like me, she was also chasing them and snapping shots!
So, here they are, the low-flying hot air balloons!This one had turned the flame up a bit and ended up flying a bit higher... before I snapped out of my fascination and decided to snap shots, they were flying even lower!
ET phone home! ET phone home!
And two more hot air balloons popped up!
I wonder if the folks up there can see me running after their balloon!
At one stage, they looked like they were going to smack into the side of the high-rise block!!
Heng ah... it was just an optical illusion! 
Buh bye, balloons!!
This morning, before I left for work, I heard the ol' familiar "Whooosh!" sound of the flames being fed gas, so I threw open my door and... there were the balloons again!
It's really kewl! -
ahhh.. hot air balloons..
if they could harness my senior management, the balloons will be in outer space by now
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Wow! What a wonderful sight it must be, to look up in the sky & see these balloons! :D
I particularly like the red one.. lovely!
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nice pics. i wish i am there ...really..
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Originally posted by LOTUSfairy:
nice pics. i wish i am there ...really..
I think you'd be able to take much better photos than I can if you were here.
It's really fun to hear the "Whoooooosh!!" sounds of the flame and see the balloons at the same time! It must be really really loud if you're up there in the balloon box. I often wonder, what if the balloon caught fire?
I'm really glad that my mobile phone's camera is pretty alright. All these photos were taken using it.
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Originally posted by SydneyLibrarian:
Wow! What a wonderful sight it must be, to look up in the sky & see these balloons! :D
I particularly like the red one.. lovely!
Really? I love the Yellow one. It's kinda kewl and it has the word "Love" written in Red with some hippy design!
Quite... crass, but yet, hippily cute! -
Originally posted by the Bear:
ahhh.. hot air balloons..
if they could harness my senior management, the balloons will be in outer space by now
And your entire organisation will hold a massive celebration lasting an entire year!
Bear, out of curiosity, have you ever been to my part of the woods? And which other suburbs were you familiar with?
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Originally posted by Rhonda:
I think you'd be able to take much better photos than I can if you were here.
It's really fun to hear the "Whoooooosh!!" sounds of the flame and see the balloons at the same time! It must be really really loud if you're up there in the balloon box. I often wonder, what if the balloon caught fire?
I'm really glad that my mobile phone's camera is pretty alright. All these photos were taken using it.
i have taken the STARHUB air balloon (with engine), float from Pasir Panjang to Sentosa and u-turn back...
i ask the pilot if the balloon catches fire, how do we escape.?
he said : there is only one option. JUMP.
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Originally posted by Rhonda:
And your entire organisation will hold a massive celebration lasting an entire year!
Bear, out of curiosity, have you ever been to my part of the woods? And which other suburbs were you familiar with?
none.. the city of Melbourne has changed a lot since i was in uni.. which was about 15 years ago...
i only know about the city.. and even that has changed a lot..
i lived in the suburb of Armadale.. went to Malvern a lot.. and my campus was in Caulfield..
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Originally posted by the Bear:
none.. the city of Melbourne has changed a lot since i was in uni.. which was about 15 years ago...
i only know about the city.. and even that has changed a lot..
i lived in the suburb of Armadale.. went to Malvern a lot.. and my campus was in Caulfield..
Orh... quite ulu.
I've taken trains that passed by those areas before. I've been to Caulfield too. The Monash Uni campus is right there. There are always a lot of students at the train station.
Did you ever attend the Caulfield Cup? Seems like a huuuuge thing here!
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Originally posted by LOTUSfairy:
i have taken the STARHUB air balloon (with engine), float from Pasir Panjang to Sentosa and u-turn back...
i ask the pilot if the balloon catches fire, how do we escape.?
he said : there is only one option. JUMP.
Well, at least, he's honest! Harhar!Say, did you take tons of photos of Singapore from the air whilst you were up there?
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Pretty! You've made me want to post photos too.
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The last pic looks abit fake.
like u ownself add in liddat.
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Originally posted by seotiblizzard:
The last pic looks abit fake.
like u ownself add in liddat.
Izzit?
Well, too bad I don't have the software, nor the skills, to doctor photos.
I took another long look at it, and yeah... there's a sorta... surreal quality about the balloons! 
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This is the latest photo taken in dawn about two mornings or so after those other photos.
Imagine being half-awake and still dopey and sleepy, hearing that familiar "Whooooosh!!" sounds, opening your front door, and seeing this!! The Invasion of the Hot Air Balloons!!!
SIX of them!! Heeeelp!!!
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Apart from the one on your end of town, there's another set of launch sites out east. I can't remember exactly how much it cost, but for a little over a grand, I got a night's stay at Chateau Yering with dinner, plus the balloon flight for Sash and myself.
Weird things happen on those flights, though - I went up single and came down engaged.
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Ooooh!! More photos!! More photos!!
Wow... what a romantic way to get engaged!