The Hororata Glow

Saturday 10 May - part deux

Saturday afternoon - everyone gathered at the Hall second time that day, and at 1.30pm we were officially escorted into the balloonists area of the Hororata Domain for the Glow.

Everyone was asked to volunteer with assorted duties until the Glow itself began around 6ish. First task for us was the attempted tether of John’s Carling Black Label tin can balloon which proved extremely tricky in the breeze (and very stinky as it reeked like sweaty gym socks having been in storage for several years!) Esther and the team gave it their best shot and it was almost upright for a minute or so before we gave up and it farted all its rancid air at us!!

Louis and I helped out at the Ballooning Canterbury walk-through balloon for a bit - this was hugely popular and very cool. There was an enormous red balloon for all and a smaller yellow & red one for families and small children - being inside the envelope was kinda fun, and the insta guys were loving it as much as the regular punters!

Then, somehow approved by H&S, our intrepid chefs set up the burner BBQ and cooked sausages, lamb leg, steak and even Josh’s duck breasts over the Dutch 🇳🇱 Oven burners!!! So much fun, so much flame and such a delicious outcome!

Before we knew it, it was time to set up for the Glow itself. Eleven balloons lined up in a very tight row, conducted by Darren to blast their burners at coordinated intervals in time to classic pop & rock songs. It was super cool - Jez, Ettie and Louis were in the basket and Abby and I hung on like grim death to keep them on the ground and try to prevent them being pulled around by the breeze!

It was very clever how they coordinated the glow - each balloon had a sheet with a series of words on it which denoted combinations of balloons in the line up - so Odds/Evens, Shape (Owlbert)/Other, Alpha/Bravo/Charlie/Delta (first 3, second 3 etc), Whisky/Yankee/Zulu (every third balloon) so that Darren could call a word over the radios and a different combination of balloon envelopes would light up for each command.

After it was all done & we had packed up the balloon (Scott introduced the hands up and sit on the bag to squash the air out tradition which his family have), Louis & I checked out the rest of the event and the Glow Walk before dinner at the Hall and celebrations to conclude a very successful event.

Collapsed into bed after the longest day… but alarms set for another flight in the morning 😴