During the drive to our desert launch site from the hotel we got to know the crew as they made final weather checks and explained the routine for the morning. Arriving at the ballooning departure point we could easily make out our transport’s location ahead of us by the bright orange flame, silhouetting figures surrounding a basket and behind the flame, a brightly coloured balloon slowly being inflated as the heated air rapidly filled its belly.

Before long, we found ourselves clambering into the woven security of the basket and were set free. Slowly, we climbed towards the heavens. My wife, Sandy, who is scared of heights at the best of times, wasn’t looking too happy. Clutching the guy wires though, she managed to smile at me bravely and gingerly looked below.

“Oh, wow! Wow, wow, wow!” was all she could say, and then really smiled. With tears of joy now running down her face, she turned to me and said, “This wasn’t such a bad idea after all. It’s fantastic! It’s so quiet up here you can almost hear the rest of Australia waking up.”

I too looked down and took in the scene, gazing towards the blue distance where the rugged MacDonnell Ranges and other sights we had visited overland during our stay, were beginning to appear. Spinifex grasses, mulga scrub, and cattle stations covered the landscape below and the earth gently stirred to life as we drifted through the cool air. It truly was a spectacular sight.

The sun rose slowly, seeming to join our assent and in so doing, gently woke nature from her night’s rest. Camels and big red kangaroos (the most common of the kangaroo species in this area) took to their sparse, wind blown pastures and parrots by their hundreds rose from their evening perches in noisy screeching flocks, their brilliant hues flashing in waves of colour below.

As we drifted higher the majestic mountains, dressed in varying shades of green, blue, red and gold, came closer till they were directly below our cradle haven. Yet more kangaroos came into view, the countryside seeming to undulate from their masses, hopping here and there, feeding or generally stretching their legs in a morning bound.

In the distance a road train shed a trail of dust on a track that seemed to point forever northward, passing a fence that also went on till land’s end. In many places the ground was pockmarked and on asking our flight captain what the marks were, was told they were either old rabbit burrows, areas where the local aborigines had been digging for roots, grubs and other delicacies or where trees had once stood.

Driving to a bush campsite we were served a freshly cooked breakfast accompanied by champagne and tropical fruit juice cocktails, completing this perfect start to the universal day of romance. I turned to my wife and toasted her, not only for the times we had shared but for the challenges, like her overcoming the height of today’s air borne voyage, that we had experienced together, our commitment to each other and our love.