Canowindra Balloon Festival

April each year sees the Balloon festival at Canowindra and we have visited the last two years, so had to go again as it is great fun.

We travelled up on Thursday, after the Anzac Day event.  The autumn trees are still looking good, although coming to the end of their show.

This time the bare paddocks we saw were planted to crops.  Fingers crossed they get enough rain for them to provide a harvest later in the year.

After we got ourselves set up on our camp site we went for a wander up the street.  Supplies of nibblies were required.

Their War Memorial was completely surrounded by wreaths.  It was quite a sight.

We came across the side fence of a house festooned with balloons.  It's good to see people entering into the spirit of things.

Last year where we camped was quite steep, so this year we opted for the camp sites on the edge of the showground main area.  It was a great spot.  Vans ringed the entire area, in addition to the rest of the showground being full of campers as well.  The evening light was nice and soft.

On Friday morning I got up nice and early to go for a walk.  I didn't get very far initially, as over on the sports ground balloons were getting ready to fly.  The competition balloons had left much earlier for somewhere out of town.  These are called the "Fiesta Balloons section". Mick had stayed in bed, but a quick phone call had him come over to see them all too.

This blob intrigued me.

Meet "Iwi the Kiwi".  He was the only novelty shaped balloon present this year.  It appears that he was stolen late last year, but fortunately was recovered.

They all looked lovely as they took off in the early morning sunshine.

While I finally headed off on my walk, Mick went back to the van, just in time to see "Iwi the Kiwi" land in the middle of the showground, right in the centre of all the vans.

It's funny walking through a town with hot air balloons hovering over the top.

Canowindra has some really beautiful homes.  It must have been very prosperous in its early years.

Such a lovely morning to be out and about, and perfect for ballooning, being nice and still.

When I got back to camp the sky started filling with balloons again, as the competition section arrived back in town.  Unfortunately, no one hit the target, as they were blown slightly off course.

After a very late breakfast Mick suggested we drive out to Eugowra for lunch, which was a great idea.  More on that later.

The wind picked up in the afternoon, so no more balloons on Friday.