During certain seasons of the year, if I'm out of the house at
about 6:30am or earlier, I'll be able to spot hot air balloons in
the distance! These rides cost more than A$300 but you'll get
to see a lot of Melbourne from the air! Someday, when I own a
Digital SLR camera and have learnt how to use it well, I shall go
on that hot air balloon ride and snap photos like crazy!
Till then, I love to walk and look up at the hot air
balloons. They are quite magical. 
This past Sunday, it was an extremely exciting morning because
as I walked down the quiet streets of Richmond, I suddenly heard a
"Whooooooosh!! Whoooooooosh!!" sound! I looked around,
and then realised that it was the sound of the hot air balloons
blowing gas onto the flame to heat up the air within the
balloons!! That particular Sunday, they were all flying so
low, it was amazing!! I walked alongside them, 'chasing' them
on the ground. I thought I was a tad crazy, until I bumped
into an Aussie woman walking towards me on the same street, yelling
into her mobile for her husband to wake the kids to watch the
balloons because they are flying extremely low today!
Like me, she was
also chasing them and snapping shots!
So, here they are, the low-flying hot air balloons!
This one had turned the flame up a bit and ended up flying a bit
higher... before I snapped out of my fascination and decided to
snap shots, they were flying even lower!
ET phone home! ET phone home!
And two more hot air balloons popped up!
I wonder if the folks up there can see me running after their
balloon! 
At one stage, they looked like they were going to smack into the
side of the high-rise block!! 
Heng
ah... it was just an optical illusion!
Buh bye, balloons!!
This morning, before I left for work, I heard the ol' familiar
"Whooosh!" sound of the flames being fed gas, so I threw open my
door and... there were the balloons again! It's
really kewl!
