January 2 2010

Mid Canterbury may be a great place to live, but it’s also a great place to visit. It has a number of varied, interesting and fun tourist attractions that many who live here might not even know exist. Over the next few weeks, the Guardian will take a closer look at some of the attractions on offer. This week, reporter Erin Bishop takes a look at Mid Canterbury from a different point of view with Aoraki Hot Air Balloon Safaris.

George Currie has been a part of more wedding proposals then he can remember.

 That’s what happens when you operate a tourism venture offering rides in arguably the most romantic form of aviation.

 But it’s not just the romantics going up, up and away, Mr Currie’s hot air ballooning venture also set a world record for the oldest person to go hot air ballooning when it took Florence Laine, 102 years and three months old, for a ride.

 Hot air ballooning was not Mr Currie’s first career choice, but it’s one that has become his life.

 He started Aoraki Hot Air Balloon Safaris 17 years ago after listening to Ray Smith talk about hot air ballooning on Radio Pacific.

 He phoned him up and ended up going to see him in Auckland, with a pilot he’d found at the Ashburton Aero Club, and buying his two hot air balloons off him.

 While his pilot flew the balloons and organised everything at that end, Mr Currie did the promotion and made the Methven ballooning company what it is today.

 “I was the cog in the wheel that made it happen,” Mr Currie said.

 It was a big change for Mr Currie, who started off as a farmer. His son Andrew still runs the family farm and his dad helps out when needed.

 But in the 1987 recession, Mr Currie took on a job with Tower Insurance as a way to help out the farm financially, before he discovered hot air ballooning.

 “I’m not an aviator, I’ve never been an aviator at all, but I had this fascination with balloons,” Mr Currie said.

 He said the words he used to describe hot air ballooning and attract clients, were tranquil, enthralling, exciting and romantic.

 “Ballooning is romantic and people want to do it, while they won’t necessarily go parachuting, paragliding or bungy jumping,” Mr Currie said.

 Hot air ballooning dates back to 1783 in the South of France. The first flight was launched by Pilatre De Rozier, a scientist, and the first passengers were a sheep, a duck and a rooster. The duck came back with a broken wing, but that was only because the sheep panicked and stood on it.

 For many years it was a wealthy person’s sport, until modern burners were created in America and that started the modern revival.

 That was about 50 years ago, and from there, people realised the commercial value of hot air balloons if they took people for rides in exchange for money.

 The balloons got bigger and better, and the baskets that hang below them as they float across the sky can now carry up to 26 people.

 Methven is the perfect place for hot air ballooning, Mr Currie said.

 Christchurch and Queenstown are the only other South Island locations of ballooning businesses but they have restrictions due to their large airports which mean control towers have to be contacted if they’re to go over a certain height.

 In Methven, the restrictions are less and a 300km panoramic view of the Canterbury Plains, and right down to Mt Cook, awaits passengers as they float up to heights of 5500 feet and 9500 feet.

 They need cooler air, so trips take off early in the mornings.

 Mr Currie doesn’t pilot the balloons, but he’s a vital part of the experience.

 He puts on his dinner jacket and top hat at the end of the ride and treats clients to a buffet champagne breakfast, in the middle of the field wherever they land – something Mr Currie believed may be unique to his operation.

 He now has a local pilot, and has an English pilot who spends an eternal summer flying hot air balloons, in both English and Kiwi summers.

 Aoraki Hot Air Balloon Safaris operates all year round, and has three balloons on its books, but sees more locals in the winter and international visitors in the summer.

 Mr Currie said when he first started out in business, he was the poor country cousin of the ballooning business in Christchurch.

 But he soon realised he could offer more than his counterparts, with his breakfasts and his unique views.

 And that had quickly caught on and got him to where he is today.