Melbourne Hot Air Balloon Flight over the City at Sunrise

Melbourne is one of a very small number of cities anywhere that permits hot air balloons over its central business district, and this flight uses that permission at first light, when the air above the city is calmest and the streets are still close to empty. Where the balloon actually goes depends on the wind, as it always does, but on a morning that lines up you drift across the towers and the river with the whole grid laid out underneath.

Preparation is part of the deal. Passengers help the pilot get the balloon ready, which means watching the envelope fill and stand up while the fans and burners run, a process louder and more physical than the calm of the flight that follows. Then comes about an hour in the air, quiet apart from the burner, before the crew picks a spot to land and brings you down.

Breakfast afterwards is optional rather than included. By the time the balloon is packed away, a start in the dark and an hour on your feet in a basket tend to have made the case for it.