Canterbury Plains Hot Air Ballooning

Float where the breeze may take you

Hot air ballooning over the Canterbury Plains has to be the ultimate Cantabrian adventure.

Imagine climbing aboard a wicker basket, lifting gently from the ground and floating high above the sprawling patchwork of the Canterbury Plains framed by the brown tussocked foothills and the jagged snow-capped peaks of the Southern Alps.

It's serene, it's definitely romantic and it all begins as you make your way to the meeting point, the overnight frost crackling beneath your feet under a canopy of stars.

You fade into insignificance as the balloon slowly inflates, growing larger and larger by the second until everything in its path is dwarfed, bar the Southern Alps. Then, the take-off, hands clenched on wicker, the gentle launch – so soft you hardly realise that you have left the ground, followed by the most awe-inspiring sense of peace, not to mention the bird's eye views!

Methven village is a matchbox, the Canterbury Plains a rich tapestry of multi-coloured crops, Mount Hutt looms before you, the peaks of the Southern Alps and beyond, and the air is so fresh and clear that you want to stay up there forever...

Then you're back on terra-firma, champagne glass in hand, enjoying a buffet-style picnic breakfast with a silver tray bearing waiter at hand.