The moon's a balloon

Hamilton has a Balloon Festival every year, which is pretty frickin' sweet if you ask me (or anyone else in my immediate family).

Here are some photos (remember to click for big):



It seems that Ella is dressed in her Brethren outfit more often than not these days:



No, wait - sometimes she wears a "normal" hat:



There were at least 16 balloons on the Saturday morning, undeniably spectacular:





We all become experts on balloons at this time of year. This one can fit 22 dudes in the basket. That's a lot of dudes:



See, look, it's like a minibus hanging there under the envelope (sorry, another bit of balloonist jargon there):



Say hello to Jack In The Box - Ella's not scared of him, but I am. That's why I'm standing further away, taking the photo:



I'm never too sure about panoramas, but this new camera sure makes them easier to line up:



Mushroom!



I could totally sell this if people wanted iconic Hamilton photos:



Underneath:



That thing was stalking us, I swear:



It tried to go for a swim:



Ella got to go in a balloon (that one behind her):





That's her on the right:



Here's another panorama of the early part of the Nightglow:



This is what Ella looks like, all lit up:



. . . aaaaand this is what a whole lot of balloons look like, all lit up:



The girls all went to see a few balloons land in the poncy high school near us on the Sunday morning:

the walls have eyes

No, I'm not on some kind of street art crusade, I've just been meaning to do this for a while, so here's some more.

The "sandpit" wall at Wintec (right on the corner of Ward and Tristram Streets) always seems to have some "proper" graffiti on it. I don't know if it's officially sanctioned, but I assume it must be. It changes from time to time - this is what's on here at the moment:


(that's F Block in the background, not allowed to knock that one down)

From right to left:


Fists?


"Pest" I think, then maybe "Dr. Eto"?


No idea about the two on the sides, but the middle one seems to be "Spel" hurrr.


"Tuff Love"'s been on the far left for years, "meh" for not much less time.

The next one's up on weird old Nisbet Street, right at the western end of F Block:


This little (about 20cm long) guy used to be everywhere, sometimes with rainbow stripes. The spectacles and unicorn horn are later additions.

The last one's opposite Mr. Zebracorn:


Some days feel a bit like this for everyone.

Send your own in please!