Station manager Graeme Hoffmann was mixing feed for cattle early on Wednesday morning, when the face of Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh appeared from above, high in the sky.
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Not long after spotting the hot-air balloon depiction of Van Gogh, Mr Hoffman, who works on a property about 12 kilometres out of Albury, was greeted by pilot Paul Gibbs who had Prosecco in hand.
"I'd seen the balloon earlier in Pemberton Street, and I was trying to work out whose face it was," Mr Hoffmann said.
"My stock agent reckoned it was Jason Akermanis but it didn't take me long to work out it was Van Gogh."
The balloon lifted up from Hovell Tree Park around 8am, travelling across the sky above Albury to promote the upcoming King Valley Balloon Festival on the Queen's Birthday weekend.
"It's unusual having a face as a balloon," Mr Hoffmann said.
"Every neighbour turned up.
"It drew attention and looked really good."
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While Mr Hoffmann was tending to the feed Mr Gibbs was in the air above, piloting the unique balloon.
"I could see there was a paddock with no stock and the farm manager seemed to be fine so we elected to land there and they were wonderful people," Mr Gibbs said.
Mr Gibbs, who has more than 31 years experience flying hot air balloons, said people were delighted to see the unique balloon as it floated above Albury for about 55 minutes on Wednesday.
"A lot of people were excited, it was great to see," he said.
"The people who arrived to watch it inflate or land were really stoked.
"He's a fine work of art.
"There were lots of photos put on social media and people simply couldn't believe his face, the way it looked and the brushstrokes."
Mr Gibbs said the morning's fog was within limits so there was no problem flying and once they were in the air it was beautiful to see the fog across Lake Hume.
From here, the balloon is headed to Melbourne before returning to fly alongside 20 other balloons every morning from 7am to 9am at the King Valley Balloon Festival.
Mr Gibbs, who is also the festival founder, said the annual event was gaining momentum and its second year would be bigger and better than before, with pilots and spectators from further afield expected to make the trek to King Valley.
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