It was 13th March 2009.
I made Gwen wake up at 4.30 in the Morning, making her shower and get dressed as we jumped into the car to head for The Langham Hotel in Southbank. In all the morning chaos, Gwen had no idea what I was doing to hear and time to time she kept on asking me whether I was taking her somewhere to sell her. Of course, my obvious response was "No La, Don't Be Stupid, the only worthwhile part is you noisy BIG MOUTH".
Arriving quarter past 5 in the morning, we weren’t the only dreary eyed people there, 8 others turned up for what Gwen started to make out was a Hot Air Balloon ride. All of us were met by the two Balloon pilots and were all bundled into a van heading to our Launching site. As hot air balloons have no motors nor any rudders, we basically are dictated and thus at the mercy of the wind. The wind blows us wherever it wants to take us, so on the way, the balloon pilots let off some helium balloons to see the direction, speed and the draft of the wind so we will know where we should launch from and roughly, after the 1 hour flight time, where we will land. Since the wind was blowing in a South-East direction, they decided to launch us from Mayer Park in Northcote letting the wind take us across Melbourne and landing in the South-East part of Melbourne, at Fawkner Park, a block away from our house.
As the balloon inflated and started to take shape, 5 of us jumped into each of the 2 balloons, and off we went into the horizon. As we rose up into the sky, so did the sun rise up bringing up the usual morning brightness over Melbourne. Seeing people waking up and getting out of their houses was a lovely sight, as was seeing Melbourne from a totally different perspective. We flew over many houses, with people waving at us, as if they haven’t seen a hot air balloon before, and at that point, they just stood there as if time stood still.
We flew across Victoria Parade Road, flying across the Yarra River at Punt Road/Hoddle Highway, a road both Gwen and I frequent alot, and we traversed most of South Yarra's finest houses, looking at the beautiful architecture, as well as seeing some hidden tennis courts and swimming pools. Finally, after almost an hour of flying, we landed in Fawkner Park, just metres from the Alfred Hospital, which not too long ago, was where I laid in a hospital bed-ridden for a week because of damage I sustained to my right kidney whilst playing football. The place, which basically, not only saved my kidney, but also my Life.
Flying on a Friday, we actually had to go for Lectures and PBL shortly after the full English breakfast that came after the Balloon ride. The lectures and PBL came and went and next, for a lovely Dinner, I brought Gwen to France-Soir, one of our favourite French restaurants and a place that holds alot of meaning to the both of us. We enjoyed wonderful food there, but more importantly, it was a wonderful place to have a romantic occasion. The ambience was perfect and the food was excellent, my steak done the way it should be done, succulent and not like a piece of rubber and Gwen's duck breast seared to perfection.
After France-Soir, we took a short walk back to the car, and leisurely drove around Melbourne for a while, intermittently stopping along Chapel street for a nice stroll before capping the night off washing up and holding each other in our arms as we fell asleep
