Does any one know when the canberra balloon festival starts - I have tried googling this and different sites seem to say different things - some sites say it starts today (5:30 at manuka oval) and other sites say next saturday morning early morning at parliament house - I really want to take the kids but don't know when it starts!

Try

www.tams.act.gov.au

This site has info of whats going on all around the ACT.

Peta

It starts on the 19th and runs til around the 26th.

Todays Canberra Times reports that it starts today 5.30pm at Manuka. Although I think I have read somewhere that there are actually two (competing) balloon festivals this year - something to do with ACT Govt funding cuts/changes?

The Balloon Spectacular replaced the Balloon Fiesta - that's the one I mentioned the dates for. I had heard rumours that the organisers of the Balloon Fiesta were trying to organise an independent event as soon as they were dumped by the ACT Gov't ... perhaps this is their event this weekend?

2008 Balloon Festival

so Helen was the balloon fiesta the one that use to leave from the lawns of old parliament house??

Sorry I get confused easily lol!

If so why did the ACT gov dump it?? Surely all the tourists etc it helps bring in??

Is it just me or didn't the gov, way back when, also use to be involved with skyfire but pulled the plug on that also leaving fm to pick up extra sponsors etc???

Yep, the Balloon Fiesta was the one that was based on the lawns of Old Parliament House. As far as I've been able to gather from everything I read about it's dumping, it had everything to do with the Gov't deciding that they wanted to reduce funding for the event to a pitiful amount, and then assumed that the Balloon Fiesta people would have been struggling to put it on at all. They then just handed it to the commercial balloon crowd down here AKA Balloons Aloft with next to no warning (a very blunt email apparently) to the Balloon Fiesta people.

The new Balloon Spectacular will leave from exactly the same area as the Balloon Fiesta did. But (also) from what I've read, the big difference will be that it will concentrate on encouraging visitors to actual pay for flights rather than just come to see the balloons. A Balloon Expo more like it IMO ... may as well be based at EPIC and we pay an entry fee, lol.

We'll still go take a look but they won't be able to hawk for any flying business from us unless they want to take a 15mo (pram and all, lol) and 4yo too.

I'm astonished at the prices of the balloon flights...

Weekend flights: $340 per person or $250 per child aged 6-12.
Weekday flights: $290 per person or $210 per child aged 6-12.

So 2 adults, 2 kids on the weekend would be $1180! Memorable, sure, wow... I can think of many things to spend that kind of money on....