Commercial ballooning over the Avon Valley began in 1982, when wheat farmers discovered their fields could double as launch sites during the cooler months. The valley's topography — a river trench flanked by granite outcrops and cleared agricultural land — creates predictable morning thermals that lift balloons to 900 metres without turbulence. By the mid-1990s, Northam had become Western Australia's sole year-round ballooning hub, its operators logging more flight hours than any coastal competitor. The Avon River, which carved the valley over twelve million years, meanders 280 kilometres from its headwaters near Corrigin to the Swan estuary. From altitude, the river appears as a dark ribbon bordered by eucalypt corridors, their canopies unchanged since colonial surveyors first mapped the route in 1830. Winter flights reveal morning mist pooling in the river bends; summer departures launch into air already warm at 0400 hours. Kangaroos cluster near the watercourse, their grey-brown pelts visible against stubble paddocks. Liberty Balloon Flights, operating from 112 Fitzgerald Street East since 2003, maintains a fleet of eight-passenger baskets and three twelve-passenger models. Pilots hold Commercial Balloon Licences issued by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, requiring 200 logged flight hours and meteorology certification. Each envelope — the fabric canopy — is inspected every hundred flight hours and replaced after six years. The propane burners generate 3.5 megawatts, enough to heat the interior air to 120 degrees Celsius within eight minutes of ignition. Flights depart within thirty minutes of sunrise, when ground temperatures and upper-air currents create the stability needed for controlled ascent. The window closes by 0900 hours, after which thermal columns become erratic. Post-flight champagne breakfasts take place in restored woolsheds or riverside clearings, depending on the day's landing coordinates. Passengers receive flight certificates signed by the pilot, a tradition inherited from European ballooning guilds of the 1780s.