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Conquering Clouds
Conquering Clouds is the story of pivotal moments and experiences throughout Ruth Wilson’s life that led her to find the courage to pilot her hydrogen balloon over the snow-covered Swiss Alps at night to land in an Italian vineyard. At 75 this adventurer was definitely not swayed by her age.
Her fight to survive a marlin fishing accident in the waters near Byron Bay is riveting.
Ruth acknowledges that her rescue by a pod of dolphins is the reason she is alive today.
"An inspirational and fascinating account of transcending multiple limitations to reach heights of bravery and success while keeping heart, love, and soul intact. Ruth has lived a remarkable life – it’s time everyone knew about it." Carolinda Witt, award-winning author, ‘Double Agent Celery MI5’s Crooked Hero.’
"Ruth Wilson is a courageous, adventurous and very determined woman. Her fascinating story is unputdownable..." Amanda Hampson, Bestselling author of ’The Olive Sisters'
"Conquering Clouds is an unputdownable memoir of a remarkable woman. This book has it all – from impoverished childhood, death-defying adventures, failed romances and international fame as a balloonist, Ruth proves she conquered far more than clouds." - Libby Harkness ghostwriter of the best-selling memoir Turia Pitt’s ‘Everything to Live For’.
"A glorious story of passion and pain written with honest truth and a simple reality that invites us mere mortal readers to indulge in a life to share her pain and feel her elated freedom of her spirit as this passionate woman writes in her words and with her raw talent to achieve another milestone of her courage and fight for freedom from her demons…one of the greats in the history of this country…A triumph!” Bianca, Indiebook reviewer.
A Life of Notable Firsts - Ruth E Wilson
1959, Age 16: First female to play the Last Post on Anzac Day at her hometown, Bowen North Queensland.
1960, Age 17: Crowned the First Queen of the Coral Coast.
1973, Age 30: First Australian winner Squash Championship Kobe Japan.
1976, Age 33: First female balloonist in New Zealand.
1977, Age 34: First commercial ballooning company established and managed by a sole female pilot in Australia.
1979, Age 36: First National Champion of the Australian Open Hot Air Ballooning Championship.
1981, Age 38: First Australian female to compete in World Open Hot Air Ballooning Championship in USA.
1983, Age 40: First Australian female to compete in World Open Hot Air Ballooning Championship in France.
1987, Age 44: First Australian female to compete in World Open Hot Air Ballooning Championship in Austria.
1988, Age 45: Created & managed one of the major Bicentennial Celebrations, the Trans-Australia Ballooning Challenge; a 16 day fly/drive expedition from Perth to Sydney. Participants from 23 countries flew 78 hot air balloons.
1989, Age 46: World Record Night Sky Jump from her hot air balloon.
1995, Age 52: Responsible for pioneering media campaigns to Introduce Antioxidants, Omega Oil supplements to the Australian public.
1999, Age 56: First and only Australian female to compete as Pilot-in-Command in the prestigious gas balloon race, Gordon Bennett Cup, from Albuquerque USA.
2002, Age 59: Chief Operations Officer ARC Centre for Quantum-Atom Optics at the Australian National University – Pioneering Centre for this science.
2018, Age 75: First Australian female pilot-in-command to cross the Swiss Alps and the Italian Dolomites in a hydrogen balloon
Her fight to survive a marlin fishing accident in the waters near Byron Bay is riveting.
Ruth acknowledges that her rescue by a pod of dolphins is the reason she is alive today.
"An inspirational and fascinating account of transcending multiple limitations to reach heights of bravery and success while keeping heart, love, and soul intact. Ruth has lived a remarkable life – it’s time everyone knew about it." Carolinda Witt, award-winning author, ‘Double Agent Celery MI5’s Crooked Hero.’
"Ruth Wilson is a courageous, adventurous and very determined woman. Her fascinating story is unputdownable..." Amanda Hampson, Bestselling author of ’The Olive Sisters'
"Conquering Clouds is an unputdownable memoir of a remarkable woman. This book has it all – from impoverished childhood, death-defying adventures, failed romances and international fame as a balloonist, Ruth proves she conquered far more than clouds." - Libby Harkness ghostwriter of the best-selling memoir Turia Pitt’s ‘Everything to Live For’.
"A glorious story of passion and pain written with honest truth and a simple reality that invites us mere mortal readers to indulge in a life to share her pain and feel her elated freedom of her spirit as this passionate woman writes in her words and with her raw talent to achieve another milestone of her courage and fight for freedom from her demons…one of the greats in the history of this country…A triumph!” Bianca, Indiebook reviewer.
A Life of Notable Firsts - Ruth E Wilson
1959, Age 16: First female to play the Last Post on Anzac Day at her hometown, Bowen North Queensland.
1960, Age 17: Crowned the First Queen of the Coral Coast.
1973, Age 30: First Australian winner Squash Championship Kobe Japan.
1976, Age 33: First female balloonist in New Zealand.
1977, Age 34: First commercial ballooning company established and managed by a sole female pilot in Australia.
1979, Age 36: First National Champion of the Australian Open Hot Air Ballooning Championship.
1981, Age 38: First Australian female to compete in World Open Hot Air Ballooning Championship in USA.
1983, Age 40: First Australian female to compete in World Open Hot Air Ballooning Championship in France.
1987, Age 44: First Australian female to compete in World Open Hot Air Ballooning Championship in Austria.
1988, Age 45: Created & managed one of the major Bicentennial Celebrations, the Trans-Australia Ballooning Challenge; a 16 day fly/drive expedition from Perth to Sydney. Participants from 23 countries flew 78 hot air balloons.
1989, Age 46: World Record Night Sky Jump from her hot air balloon.
1995, Age 52: Responsible for pioneering media campaigns to Introduce Antioxidants, Omega Oil supplements to the Australian public.
1999, Age 56: First and only Australian female to compete as Pilot-in-Command in the prestigious gas balloon race, Gordon Bennett Cup, from Albuquerque USA.
2002, Age 59: Chief Operations Officer ARC Centre for Quantum-Atom Optics at the Australian National University – Pioneering Centre for this science.
2018, Age 75: First Australian female pilot-in-command to cross the Swiss Alps and the Italian Dolomites in a hydrogen balloon
286 pages, Paperback
Published March 1, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 31, 2022
I know from personal experience that a lone balloonist stands out as unusual in a crowd with stories of their exploits. However, it takes a Ruth E. Wilson to stand out among balloonists. The Australian’s sparkling eyes and broad smile welcome strangers as much as her fascinating career. Her story in her memoir Conquering Clouds I (Shawline Publishing Group) will captivate you from beginning to end. From a poor Australian family that struggled for years to a world-renowned hot air and gas balloonist, Ruth’s is a story of adventure and perseverance.
Born to a single woman toward the end of World War II who bore a son a year later and who struggled to provide for her children, Ruth lived with her grand parents for a while and her brother was sent to a foster home. “The terminology ‘love child’ was nowhere to be heard of. ‘Bastard’ was more prevalent,” she writes. When she was three, her mother married, and her husband adopted the children. Ruth would be well into adulthood before she learned that the man she knew as Dad was not her biological father. “I had my birth father’s name…I had to find him.” The search lasted the rest of her life.
Like so many women of the era, Ruth married and had two children. “I had left the poverty and unhappiness of my childhood behind for a better life, one with a bright home, two beautiful children and a husband who provided well. I should have been happy, but I couldn’t shake the gnawing feeling something was missing.”
Her husband’s career advancements saw the family living in America, Japan, and New Zealand before they returned to Australia. Each move opened the possibility of something that “would squash the feelings of emptiness that sometimes took hold of me.” She fulfilled her duties as wife, mother, and hostess. Baptized a Methodist as a child, she had no structural religious upbringing, but in Japan, she became curious about the eastern religions, Shinto and Buddhism. Her spiritual life grew as she learned to interpret her dreams, experienced out-of-body events, and learned to read Tarot cards. She began writing for an English-language paper which opened her world to more new experiences. One of the stories took her to Jim Greig, a balloonist.
“’What’s a balloonist?” I asked. Who knew that my life would be changed by one casual question?”
And so it began. It was the early 1970s and ballooning worldwide was in its infancy, perhaps more so in Australia as the earliest equipment had no instruments. (European and American balloons had temperature and altitude gauges.) Ruth was irretrievably hooked. Her stories of learning to fly, meeting other balloonists and eventually becoming an organizer of events, if there were balloons around, Ruth was bound to be there. One of her crowning achievements was organizing a fly-drive event across the country – The Trans-Australian Balloon Challenge – to celebrate the country’s bicentennial. (In Australia, it’s called the bicentenary.) Scheduled in conjunction with other events marking the occasion, it ended up being scheduled at the windiest time of the year. Many of the flights didn’t take place as a result, but as a participant in the event, I can assure you that it was spectacular. What a way of visiting parts of Australia tourists never see, meeting people in the Outback who welcomed us with open arms. In Kimba, for example, a local said the balloons were the biggest event to hit the town since water had been piped in some years earlier.
Ruth and her husband, Kevin, raised two wonderful boys, Mark and Grant, both of whom became accomplished balloonists, but the marriage did not last, though they co-parented well.
Ruth flew in some of the best known balloon events in the world: Chateau d’Oeux in Switzerland, Battle Creek, Michigan, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Dubai, and, of course, all over her home country. While her ballooning life was fulfilling, two of her greatest dreams eluded her: her search for a life partner and the search for her biological father.
Ruth writes that she shared her stories “some challenging, some joyful and others borne of pain that may have forged by evolving spirit…Sure, my fascination for the sky has brought me much pain and loss…but it’s given me power, self-knowledge, independence, and, above all freedom.”
Plan on staying up late to finish this book.
Born to a single woman toward the end of World War II who bore a son a year later and who struggled to provide for her children, Ruth lived with her grand parents for a while and her brother was sent to a foster home. “The terminology ‘love child’ was nowhere to be heard of. ‘Bastard’ was more prevalent,” she writes. When she was three, her mother married, and her husband adopted the children. Ruth would be well into adulthood before she learned that the man she knew as Dad was not her biological father. “I had my birth father’s name…I had to find him.” The search lasted the rest of her life.
Like so many women of the era, Ruth married and had two children. “I had left the poverty and unhappiness of my childhood behind for a better life, one with a bright home, two beautiful children and a husband who provided well. I should have been happy, but I couldn’t shake the gnawing feeling something was missing.”
Her husband’s career advancements saw the family living in America, Japan, and New Zealand before they returned to Australia. Each move opened the possibility of something that “would squash the feelings of emptiness that sometimes took hold of me.” She fulfilled her duties as wife, mother, and hostess. Baptized a Methodist as a child, she had no structural religious upbringing, but in Japan, she became curious about the eastern religions, Shinto and Buddhism. Her spiritual life grew as she learned to interpret her dreams, experienced out-of-body events, and learned to read Tarot cards. She began writing for an English-language paper which opened her world to more new experiences. One of the stories took her to Jim Greig, a balloonist.
“’What’s a balloonist?” I asked. Who knew that my life would be changed by one casual question?”
And so it began. It was the early 1970s and ballooning worldwide was in its infancy, perhaps more so in Australia as the earliest equipment had no instruments. (European and American balloons had temperature and altitude gauges.) Ruth was irretrievably hooked. Her stories of learning to fly, meeting other balloonists and eventually becoming an organizer of events, if there were balloons around, Ruth was bound to be there. One of her crowning achievements was organizing a fly-drive event across the country – The Trans-Australian Balloon Challenge – to celebrate the country’s bicentennial. (In Australia, it’s called the bicentenary.) Scheduled in conjunction with other events marking the occasion, it ended up being scheduled at the windiest time of the year. Many of the flights didn’t take place as a result, but as a participant in the event, I can assure you that it was spectacular. What a way of visiting parts of Australia tourists never see, meeting people in the Outback who welcomed us with open arms. In Kimba, for example, a local said the balloons were the biggest event to hit the town since water had been piped in some years earlier.
Ruth and her husband, Kevin, raised two wonderful boys, Mark and Grant, both of whom became accomplished balloonists, but the marriage did not last, though they co-parented well.
Ruth flew in some of the best known balloon events in the world: Chateau d’Oeux in Switzerland, Battle Creek, Michigan, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Dubai, and, of course, all over her home country. While her ballooning life was fulfilling, two of her greatest dreams eluded her: her search for a life partner and the search for her biological father.
Ruth writes that she shared her stories “some challenging, some joyful and others borne of pain that may have forged by evolving spirit…Sure, my fascination for the sky has brought me much pain and loss…but it’s given me power, self-knowledge, independence, and, above all freedom.”
Plan on staying up late to finish this book.
April 5, 2022
Conquering Clouds by Ruth Wilson is a riveting memoir about a life that no doubt had its fair share of adventure.
Ruth, a World War II baby born to unwed mother Joyce in 1943, Rockhampton Queensland grew up with a difficult childhood. The sky became her sanctuary, and she would often dream of being picked up by the wind taking her back to her earlier, happier years when she lived with her grandparents.
During her adolescent and moving forward to her adult years Ruth’s love of adventure never faded. There were many pivotal moments she had to overcome, one being a harrowing marlin fishing accident, she attests to a pod of dolphins saving her life.
Throughout her life she achieved extraordinary feats from becoming the first female commercial balloon pilot in Australia, 1976 including owning and operating her own balloon. In 1979 she became Australia's first National Ballooning Champion. At age 75 she was Australia’s first female pilot-in-command to cross the Swiss Alps and the Italian Dolomites in a hydrogen balloon. Her passion has seen her travel through Europe, Japan. Canada, USA, and New Zealand.
The author’s writing style is simple and uncomplicated, and I found the anecdotes funny, gripping, and fascinating. Ruth lays the details of her life bare for all to plainly see. Any reader who has an interest in memoirs, or just a uniquely written book in general, should absolutely give this book a read. You will find it enlightening, and full of details about aspects of life as diverse as the world of pilots to traveling to interesting parts of the world.
Ruth’s passion to never give up and chase your dreams regardless of age and her sheer pleasure in her passion for life and aviation shone through on every page.
This book reminded me that even among all the bad things in the world and one’s life, there are still things to find beautiful and inspirational. I highly recommend.
Thank you., Beauty and Lace and Shawline Publishing for the opportunity to read and review.
Ruth, a World War II baby born to unwed mother Joyce in 1943, Rockhampton Queensland grew up with a difficult childhood. The sky became her sanctuary, and she would often dream of being picked up by the wind taking her back to her earlier, happier years when she lived with her grandparents.
During her adolescent and moving forward to her adult years Ruth’s love of adventure never faded. There were many pivotal moments she had to overcome, one being a harrowing marlin fishing accident, she attests to a pod of dolphins saving her life.
Throughout her life she achieved extraordinary feats from becoming the first female commercial balloon pilot in Australia, 1976 including owning and operating her own balloon. In 1979 she became Australia's first National Ballooning Champion. At age 75 she was Australia’s first female pilot-in-command to cross the Swiss Alps and the Italian Dolomites in a hydrogen balloon. Her passion has seen her travel through Europe, Japan. Canada, USA, and New Zealand.
The author’s writing style is simple and uncomplicated, and I found the anecdotes funny, gripping, and fascinating. Ruth lays the details of her life bare for all to plainly see. Any reader who has an interest in memoirs, or just a uniquely written book in general, should absolutely give this book a read. You will find it enlightening, and full of details about aspects of life as diverse as the world of pilots to traveling to interesting parts of the world.
Ruth’s passion to never give up and chase your dreams regardless of age and her sheer pleasure in her passion for life and aviation shone through on every page.
This book reminded me that even among all the bad things in the world and one’s life, there are still things to find beautiful and inspirational. I highly recommend.
Thank you., Beauty and Lace and Shawline Publishing for the opportunity to read and review.
Read
June 28, 2022We begin with the Prologue - a 75 year old woman flying a hot air balloon in the Swiss Alps....and it's not fiction!!
This one follows Ruth Wilson through her many adventures, struggles and achievements throughout her life.
Beginning with her childhood she takes on the role of looking after her baby brother, cooking dinner and cleaning the family house. From a very young age she is making decisions about her an her life.
Following her story we see Ruth married, her two boys, travelling and life as a corporate wife.
Then she meets Jim Grieg- a balloonist and she realises she too wants to be a pilot.
Then, literally her ride begins!
Sponsored by Tupperware, featured in magazines, she faces sexism and discrimination but she persists.
She has so many adventures and readers are right there with her- world records, charity work and travelling the world. There are so many emotions in this - sad, happy, scared...and so many awesome moments. Wind gusts, clouds, mountains and sea you are flying along with Ruth the entire time and what an adventure!
Thank -you Shawline Publishing for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.
This one follows Ruth Wilson through her many adventures, struggles and achievements throughout her life.
Beginning with her childhood she takes on the role of looking after her baby brother, cooking dinner and cleaning the family house. From a very young age she is making decisions about her an her life.
Following her story we see Ruth married, her two boys, travelling and life as a corporate wife.
Then she meets Jim Grieg- a balloonist and she realises she too wants to be a pilot.
Then, literally her ride begins!
Sponsored by Tupperware, featured in magazines, she faces sexism and discrimination but she persists.
She has so many adventures and readers are right there with her- world records, charity work and travelling the world. There are so many emotions in this - sad, happy, scared...and so many awesome moments. Wind gusts, clouds, mountains and sea you are flying along with Ruth the entire time and what an adventure!
Thank -you Shawline Publishing for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.
Read
October 4, 2022An insipring story! I felt privileged to be allowed into the author's life to hear about her successes, setbacks and triumphs! A ten-out-of-ten read.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews