Balloons lifted off from Carrington Park in Carterton this morning to mark the start of the 15th Balloons Over Wairarapa festival.
The rain of the past few days cleared to allow about 20 balloons to rise from the park at dawn, watched by a large crowd of spectators.
It was a better start to the festival than last year's event, when balloons could inflate but not lift off due to poor weather.
Balloon captain Rob Noble was one of the pilots to lift off, and has been ballooning since the 1980s.
"I regularly take up children and I often blow bubbles out over the edge and tell them to follow them with their eyes," he said. "They drop and bob around in the direction of the breeze and that's exactly what we do."
