2013 Hot Air Balloon Festival celebrates the Centenary of Canberra

From March 9-17, 2013, hot air balloons will lift off from the picturesque lawns of Old Parliament House to soar across Lake Burley Griffin and over the suburbs of Canberra as part of the Centenary of Canberra celebrations.

Balloons inflate from 6:00am with entertainment and breakfast until 10:00am, weather permitting. The Canberra Hot Air Spectacular is an annual event in the nation’s capital, and this year is a special event for Canberra’s 100^th birthday on March 12, 2013.

Unfortunately there are not 100 balloons for 100 years. Nevertheless, visitors can see a flying Darth Vader from Star Wars, a turtle, a lion, and a peacock among other colourful balloons. A myriad of signs on the hot air balloons advertise the European Union, Aquamate Water Tanks, Questacon – the National Science and Technology Museum, Bruno’s Truffles, Rengain Consulting, Cathay Pacific Airlines, Harvey Norman Furniture, Taitung Australia, the Royal Australian Air Force, Deerland, Hunter Valley Ballooning, Goodwin, Capital Chemist and more – including 100 Canberra 1913-2013.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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