Today we (Troy & Barbara, Peter & his dad, Olivia, Sam & I) flew a hot-air balloon over Melbourne. I managed to take some spectacular pictures, but we didn’t fly as close to the CBD and Eureka Tower as I hoped we would. We called the go/no-go hotline at 4.45am this morning, gathered at the Langham Hotel to leave at 6am and drove to the Monash University grounds for take-off. After helping the pilot for a few minutes, we were up in the air much quicker than I expected. The wind took us for 60 minutes over Melbourne and I am waiting for the GPS route to be send to me to show exactly how we travelled.

After packing up the balloon on the landing site, we were driven back to the Langham Hotel, where we were treated to an amazing breakfast buffet and at 11am I was back at my desk in the office. I am writing this with my eyes half open, ready to get a good night sleep. Anybody who reads this and wasn’t part of it, please call Balloon Sunrise and book your flight, it’s worth every dollar!

On the next day we drove via Bright to Falls Creek, which lies 1600 m above sea level, and checked into our apartment at Huski. Falls Creek is mainly a skiing village, but in summer people, not too many though, come to hike the Bogong High Plains. On Saturday, we went for a short walk to some Alpine Huts and saw Wallace Hut and Cope Hut. The huts here have been built long time ago for the people who herd the cattle to live in. They are now used as emergency shelters. One can only light a fire, sleep in there in emergencies, otherwise one camps around the hut.

On Sunday, we went for a nice 22 km day walk to Roper’s Hut, which is currently being rebuilt, after the bushfire destroyed it in 2003. For some part of our trek, we walked on the Australian Alpine Walking Trek (AAWT), which goes from Canberra to Walhalla, which is around 650 km!