The geography and climate of the Ipswich, Scenic Rim and Somerset regions are ideal for ballooning, plus they provide fantastic and glorious views of this diverse area.

This tour always meets 40 minutes before sunrise. When your booking date is confirmed, The Supplier will give you a precise time with your flight confirmation details.

You can expect to be on the tour for 3-4 hours. The complete balloon program includes the passenger meet and greets, balloon inflation, flight, landing, deflation and restaurant breakfast. 

You'll float through the air for about an hour – the longest flight time for a balloon in the South East Queensland region!

The early mornings can start cool and warm up quickly – so we recommend wearing comfortable layers. It’s dark when we set off, so don’t forget sunglasses and a hat, plus wear sturdy and enclosed shoes suitable for morning dew or long grass (no sandals, open-toe shoes or high heels permitted). White clothing is not recommended – it gets dirty! Dress as though you are going for a morning bushwalk. Most importantly, don’t forget to charge and bring your camera!

The pilot chooses the take-off site according to the direction and speed of the wind that morning. Safety is always our priority. Our closest take-off site is a 3-minute drive from our meeting point, and the furthest is about 20 minutes away.

Like baking the perfect croissant, flying a hot air balloon calls for certain conditions. There needs to be some wind to fly the balloon, but the tour can’t fly if there is too much wind. Balloons need cool, stable, gentle winds to operate most effectively and we fly early in the morning as the winds are at their calmest. The morning air is tranquil, and a lower ambient temperature means that it is easier to get the balloon off the ground. We also don’t need to heat it to such a high temperature, which means we use less gas and can fly longer. The spectacular South East Queensland sunrise is just a bonus, really.

We have baskets for 4-6 or 10 passengers. The basket we fly depends on passenger numbers that day.

No, all passengers are required to stand or lean for the duration of the flight. As the flight lasts about one hour, passengers must be able to stand unaided for the duration of the flight. To clarify, no additional aids such as seats, walkers, sticks or crutches are permitted in the basket. If in doubt, a friend or relative must accompany the passenger to assist them.

It usually takes the pilot and crew about 20-30 minutes to get a standard tear-shape balloon ready for flight. Passenger participation and assistance is always welcomed and can help us get in the air faster! You can help unload the wicker basket and balloon envelope from the trailer, assist in the unpacking of the envelope from the bag, lay the balloon out, and hold the mouth of the envelope whilst the fans inflate it. Larger and special-shaped balloons can take up to an hour to ready for flight.

You must be very high before the air becomes cold – where we fly it is no colder than it is on the ground. In fact, standing under the very powerful balloon burners is like being next to a giant campfire and can be quite toasty and warm in the basket. Hot air balloons fly with the wind, so there is no wind chill factor either.

On an average flight, we go from treetop level up to 1000 – 3000 feet. The advantage of flying a balloon, as opposed to other types of aircraft, is its diverse ability to skim over rivers, brush over treetops and reach more than 1000 feet while providing those panoramic landscape views! How high we fly depends on the wind patterns of the day. At different heights, there are different wind layers, and these layers have different speeds and directions.

Flying in a high-sided balloon basket is not like standing on the balcony of a high rise. In a balloon you don’t get that vertigo feeling – it is more as if the landscape is unfolding beneath you. The basket does not rock or sway because we move with the wind.