Hamilton Nightglow 2010 at Waikato University - What happened?

Salam to all,

Yesterday I promised that I would further tell about the Nightglow which is the highlight of the Balloons Over Waikato Festival 24-28th March 2010. So, in this entry I'm going to share of what happened during last night.

The night event started from 4 p.m. but we only went there after the Maghrib prayer. yelah kami tak nak semata2 nak tengok benda tu, solat diabaikan.By 7.30 p.m. we left our house and walked to the Waikato University Sports Field. There were lots of people who were just arrived and we walked together with the other families (that we don't know) towards the same place. We could see rows of cars parked beside the road and there were some places like the Knighton Normal School which offered parking spaces (those who parked had to pay). 

15 minutes later, we arrived at the Sports Field. It seemed to be a bigger event compared to last year. Thousands of people had already been there since 4 p.m. We could see the Fun Fair park with some fun fair rides, food stalls and some stalls selling t-shirts, balloons, jade and Paua jewelleries and a stall that offered Air Brush Tattoos! Since we've walking for 1.1 km, Fathini was tired by the time we arrived and she asked for a drink. So, I gave her a cup of hot milo that I brought from home. (I was more prepared than the last time we went to see the balloons in the Innes Common!)

We didn't have to wait so long before the Inflation Music began. They turned off most of the lights on the field. The balloons quietly began to inflate in preparation for the Glow. My hubby didn't take so many photos during this time since we were actually standing quite far from the balloons. Our main purpose this year was to enjoy watching the show for the last time. I'm sorry if I'm not able to give more satisfied photos here. The glow started soon after that, when the announcer said "Enjoy the Balloon Movie Night". What we could see were the stunning light and sound shows featuring the OST from some popular movies like Ghostbusters, Mamma Mia, Pretty Woman and many more. Hafizah had fun listening to the songs rather than watching the show. She was dancing and swinging to the rhythm. Fathini sat on my hubby's shoulders and she didn't make any sound except when we asked if she was watching the show. The nightglow show was under the direction of Nightglow producer, Trevor Graham from UK.

About half an hour later, The Firework Spectacular took place. It was prepared and done by Waikato Pyrotechnic Master Martin Van Tiel. It was so stunningly beautiful and I was busy capturing the most stunning fireworks to be uploaded here. Once it was almost at the end, I didn't have the chance to capture it because I thought that I should take the photo of us. But it turned out that there's only my hubby in the photo! haha. By the way, Hafizah didn't cry this year and this actually her third time watching the huge fireworks. During the first year we were here, I was pregnant with her. Fathini looked amazed as always when she watched the fireworks. 

Most of people had already left the field even before the fireworks ended because they didn't want to be caught up in the traffic. We took our own sweet time after the fireworks ended. I even thought it would be good to buy two helium balloons to my daughters. (even though it costs about $4 each). Of course Fathini and Hafizah were so happy when they got the balloons. We met some of our Malaysian friends on the way back and stop few times to have a chat. Once again on our way, we walked back with the other people and those who came and parked their cars had to wait longer before they could even got out of the place. By the time we arrived home, we were tired and actually hungry. So, I made a slice of toast and also a cup of milo for each of us. sblm keluar rumah dah mkn nasi tapi lps jln kaki rasa lapar balik. hehe