Year of the Pig

It is the year of the pig (DingHai) and the Chinese are partying hard here in Australia.

I have come to Cairns for a week and a half to fly passengers for Hot Air, in what has to the largest passenger operation here in Australia if not the world. Chinese new year brings huge numbers of tourists into this area for a few crazy weeks of adventure activities and shopping on top of the already steady stream of tourists coming out to see the Great Barrier Reef and Daintree rain forest.

The flying takes place up on the tablelands at Mareeba, about a 60km drive over the range from Cairns. Up here the weather is generally kind for 340 days a year and pilots go to work on a roster like any other 9-5 job. Hot Air and Raging Thunder both regularly have 3 or more 350's or 400's or 450's out for double hops. Right now it is more like 6 or 7 for Hot Air which is why I am here. I probably can't go into detail on numbers but if you work backwards from the above with each balloon getting through between 30 and 40 passengers per morning you can get the idea of just how big these businesses are.

I have to say it is quite good fun and even challenging getting two half hour hops into a valley that will easily be 45minutes wide if you are not smart about your flight. The guys up here are absolute professionals at all levels and it great fun when a bunch of these big balloons all use the same field for our change over and then all land in a smaller one for the final landing - every one within a minute or two of the perfect half our hop.

Right now it is very hot and muggy which is best cured by lounging in a pool when not flying. Quite a nice way to spend a break from my day job at the factory and a great chance to keep in touch with how our big balloons are put work day in day out.

Last balloon for 2006

My real job is building balloons, not just flying them. The bummer of this is that more often than not, I get to go through all the excitement of getting up early, dragging a balloon out of the bag and inflating it but then don't get to do the fun bit...

You see it is normally someone else's new balloon. Instead of flying away - the bit that makes the getting up early really worth it - we go through a long and detailed check list to make sure it has not been sewn together inside out or upside down and that all the strings pull on the right bits. We then deflate it and put it back in the bag.

When the weather has been poor as it can be this time of year (for balloon nuts or anyone living near ready to burn bush..) this can mean coming in like we did on Sunday morning to do the test inflation because that is the only day that looks like a chance.

The kicker is four of us packing away a 300,000 cu.ft balloon designed to have 16 happy passengers stuff it in the bag. Talk about a great way to start a Sunday.

The photo is of the offending beast in the photo is for Bob Lye on the Gold Coast. It is leaving on a truck in the morning and will be cashing in Christmas balloon flight vouchers by the fist full soon after.