25 January 2008
Well, here we are in sunny Switzerland.
We drove down from Bristol, England, where Cameron Balloons had generously lent us a balloon complete with car and trailer, and we drove down through France to Chateau d'Oex. It's a beautiful valley, surrounded by huge snowy mountains. You can fly up or down the valley, fly along and down the next valley to Gruyeres and its castle, or go up high and fly over the mountains themselves. Absolutely gorgeous, breathtaking, fantastic, beautiful, stunning, exciting! You name it. We've already decided that once is not enough, and we have to come again. Soon. So, who would like to come and crew for us? Launch and packup is on snowy paddocks, so no muddy balloon. It's cold, though, especially in the last couple of days. We had one bad-weather day on Tuesday, but the rest of the time has been spectacular. The only thing stopping you from flying all day is the fact that you have to stop for more fuel from time to time. Oh, yes, and the crew wants to have lunch, too.
Paul was hoping to do a long-distance flight all the way into Italy, but with the winds the way they've been, it has not been possible so far, and it doesn't look like the next couple of days are favourable for such a flight either. We did nearly make it to France on Wednesday. We stay hopeful and keep packing passports, just in case.
15 January 2008
Well, we've arrived safe and sound after a looong plane trip into cold wintry Netherlands. Luckily we've hit a patch of reasonably good weather, and the locals say it's actually not cold at all, but for us Aussies coming from beach weather, it's quite a change. Good for acclimatising to Swiss weather, anyway. It's only going to get colder!
We've made a whirlwind of visits to Maaike's various family members, and we've got one more day of that planned before heading off to Bristol, UK, to pick up the balloon.
This is the old town hall in the new city that Dorinde (Maaike's sister) is moving to next month. Take a look at the bells in the bell tower! Very pretty sound, too.Other than that, Paul's been telling Maaike off for buying too much liquorice, "because our luggage is already overweight as it is".
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