Canberra Balloon Spectacular lands attention of frog-flying brothers from New York
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Twin brothers Scott and Todd Monahan have travelled from New York to fly a giant green frog through the skies of Canberra.
To the delight of huge pre-dawn crowds this week, ideal autumn weather has meant balloons have taken flight each day for the capital's annual Balloon Spectacular.
Kermie the Frog — not to be confused with Kermit the Frog — has been a star attraction this year.
For the Monahan brothers, a positive reaction from hundreds of kids has already made their trip a success.
"Kermie really is here for the kids," pilot Todd said.
As children, he and Scott spent hours chasing hot air balloons.
"When we were five years old we would get on our bikes and chase the balloons flying at the nearby balloon festival," Todd said.
"Our only hope was that they'd allow us to take it down and pack it up and offer us a ride.
"Now we get to take rides all the time."
Living the dream
The pair spend their year travelling the world to fly the skies as part of hot air balloon festivals.
"I have a bit of an addiction with collecting balloons," Todd said.
"We've owned 10 balloons.
"The first shape we ever had was a clown balloon, and then we bought a haunted house balloon which our crew hated us for because it weighed 850 pounds (385 kilograms).
"After that we had the fire truck and the firemen balloons, and then we sold those two balloons to buy the frog."
The brothers plan to fly Kermie at eight balloon festivals this year.
"We're going to two festivals in Canada, we're then going to travel all over the United States and we're going to end in November when we go to Mexico," Todd said.
While in Canberra, the Monahans have delighted in flying so close to the city's major institutions.
"In New York we could never fly so close to any sort of governmental place — that would be a real taboo," Scott said.
"Here the government really want the festival and everyone is so welcoming; it's a very unique situation."
And while they enjoy discussing what shape balloon they will fly next, the brothers are reluctant to talk about those plans publicly.
"We have a couple of ideas but we can't tell you because then someone would steal our idea and we'll never be able to build it," Todd said.
The Balloon Spectacular will take place from the lawns of Old Parliament House each day from 6:15am, weather depending, until March 18.
Topics: carnivals-and-festivals, community-and-multicultural-festivals, offbeat, human-interest, canberra-2600
