A friend of mine offered to take me up in a hot air balloon, funnily enough Jay (pictured above) is a crewman for a company called Hot Air. The deal was to meet him at 4:40am in Mareeba, which is an hours drive from Cairns so we could capture the setting up of the balloons.

1stly they put up a couple of party balloons you know the small ones at your kids party and attach a candle to check the winds direction and speed at different altitudes. Once decided on a launching location the guys lay out the baskets, rigg the balloons checked the burners, stretch out the balloons, fill them with hot air and just as the balloons were rising the excited clientele rocked up all keen and eager to jump in for there morning ride. These guys have this so finely tuned you could almost call it art.

The balloon ride was nice, although having done a heap of extreme sports myself it felt like the travel before you get to the climax of action. There was a mix of clouds on the horizon which the sun popped through occasionally being a less than average sunrise. Out of the whole experience I enjoyed the setup and early morning rise knowing most were still tucked in there warm beds.

After landing Jay latter told me while  a crewman in South Africa that, the lions would often watch the balloons like they were chickens in a basket.