Off to Canowindra

Now that life is going to settle down a bit it is time to do a bit of a catch up on what we have been up to over the last few weeks.  

Autumn is the best time of the year in this part of the world so there are always lots of things going on, and we like to take in as much as we can.

Let's go back to Friday 27 April, when we headed off in our caravan once again, travelling all of one and a half hour from home to the lovely little town of Canowindra.

The trees are meant to be sporting their colourful foliage by then, but this year being so hot and dry they were only just starting to turn.  

We set up camp in the  local showground, along with many other vans, for the annual Canowindra International Balloon Festival.  We attended last year, but only travelled up and back on the Saturday.

Once we were set up we went exploring on foot.  Canowindra is a place we often call into for a cuppa and a wander up the main street.  This time we ventured further afield.  There is a disused railway line and we found an old turntable.  Looking at the number of goods sheds it must have had quite a substantial rail precinct in former times.

The main street has lovely old buildings and is famous for being crooked and for the bushranger Ben Hall and his gang holding up the town and partying in the pub for three days.

In the hall we came across some markets where there were some very clever people.  Maybe some bits and bobs came away with us.

The town really embraces the balloon festival, with children's art festooning some of the shop windows.

Eventually, we headed back towards camp, through this park.  We've often driven past, but never been in the park before, with its lovely palm trees.  For a small town, they have two great parks.

The reason we were heading back is that the balloons were due to have an afternoon flight.  It was a tad breezy, so some opted not to fly.  It is quite a job rolling them out and untying them prior to inflation.

Then they wait for the OK to start proceedings.  The red flag means not yet.  As it was breezy, they were wondering if it would be followed by a black flag, which means that the proceedings are cancelled.

However, it was followed by a yellow flag which means start in five minutes.

And now it was all systems go.

And we huff and we puff.....

And keep huffing and puffing...

Nearly there...

And we have lift off....

And we're away.

The team on this balloon seemed to be speaking French, and having watched this take off, I decided it was my favourite for the weekend.

Meanwhile the oval was full of balloons getting ready to take off.

And they're on their way and it was all over from our perspective.  Several people will chase them, but we went back to camp.

The day ended with a lovely sunset.

After dinner, we joined our friendly neighbours around a fire.  What a wonderful way to end a fun day.