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Story: Aerial recreation

Balloons over Canterbury

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Balloons over Canterbury

Christchurch and its hinterland is a popular centre for ballooning, and commercial companies offer early morning flights for tourists over the Canterbury Plains. It is claimed that nowhere else in the world can a balloon take off from a city with the sun rising out of the ocean and fly towards snow-capped mountains.

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How to cite this page

Nancy Swarbrick, Aerial recreation – Ballooning, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/6089/balloons-over-canterbury (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Nancy Swarbrick, published 2 March 2009.