Wairarapa’s locally owned community newspaper
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 2019
INSIDE: Anzac Day ser vices P27-31
Farewell Claire P19
Busby the Queen’s Guard
ADVERTORIAL
to make his New Zealand debut at the Wairarapa Balloon Festival The Wairarapa Balloon Festival is always a magical experience and this years’ event, from Thursday 18th to Monday 22nd of April, will be no exception. This year it welcomes a special visitor from the UK - Busby the Queen’s Guard - as the special shape hot air balloon over the Easter weekend festival. Standing at 95 f t (29 metres), Busby is a based on the Queen’s Guards at Buck ingham Palace, and was manufac tured in 2017 by Cameron Balloons in Bristol, England. Busby is a relative newcomer to the balloon circuit, his maiden flight tak ing place at the Taiwan International Balloon Fiesta in 2017. Since then Busby has travelled across America, Europe and Asia, and will visit New Zealand for the first time to take flight at the Wairarapa Balloon Festival. When Busby takes to the sk ies, it is under the guidance of UKbased pilot Paul Burrows who has been flying hot air balloons since
he was 17 - the youngest pilot in Europe when he completed his qualifications. O ver 27 years, Paul has piloted passenger flights all over the world, flying some of the best k nown shapes in the world. He was the first British pilot to fly in Vietnam. Paul sits on the flying committee for the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, Europe’s largest annual balloon event, which attrac ts more than 500,000 people over the course of four days in August. Another unusual visitor set to make an appearance at the festival is a giant floating house, owned by M ike Pero Real Estate and operated by Auck land balloonist couple Di and Dar yl McKee. The upcoming Wairarapa Balloon Festival marks 20 years of the popular annual show brightening the region’s sk ies over Easter. This year ’s programme features a range of free events including the chance to see the pilots take off for early morning flights
throughout the Wairarapa (weather permitting), the Burner Parade through Car ter ton and Greytown, and a meet-the -pilots session at Te K airanga Vineyard following the Meander over Mar tinborough flight. Also on the agenda is the popular Trust House Night Glow at Solway Showgrounds on Saturday 20th April, where tethered balloons will light up to music. For those who would like to tr y ballooning themselves, visitors to this year ’s show will have the chance to take a scenic balloon flight with one of the countr y ’s top commercial balloon operators, Ballooning Canterbur y. • For more information and to book Night Show tickets or balloon flights online, see w w w.nzballoons.co.nz, and follow the Festival on Facebook at WairarapaBalloonFestival for updates.