New Zealand and Australia -
- Spring, 2007
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5 - - Australia
Sydney to Coonabarabran and back - - The Deepest South Texas Star Party
We spent the first night in Sydney with Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki and his family and joined them for his birthday dinner. Karl's son had visited us last year during his walkabout in the US and said if we got to Australia we should meet his family. They were a delightful family, and most gracious hosts. Dr. Karl is a professor at the University of Sydney. Check out his interesting web site at
(http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/.
From Sydney, Cathy flew to Adelaide to visit friends and to make a side trip to Alice Springs and Uluru (aka Ayers Rock). Linda and I drove a rental car from Sydney to Coonabarabran to attend the star party. We visited Siding Spring Observatory then drove around the east coast back to Sydney. Linda flew to Adelaide to meet Cathy and they rode the train to Melbourne. I rented a BMW 650 Dakar motorcycle in Sydney and rode to Melbourne to meet them. That's considered an 850 KM trip, but I made it into one of almost 1300 KM. My winding route took me through the beautiful Snowy Mountains and several of their great national parks. It was a wonderful ride, a real highlight of the trip.
In Melbourne, Fred had arranged for us to see a demonstration of a special 3D projection system developed at Swinburne University for use in astronomy education. Next Linda, Cathy and I flew to Tasmania for two days and soon learned that it needed at least three. We ferried back to Melbourne overnight on the "Spirit of Tasmania." We drove another rental car around the southeast coast back to Sydney. It was as scenic as the area around Queenstown, NZ, but in a different way. We saw some of the most beautiful beaches on the planet. In Sydney we spent another lovely evening with the Kruszelnicki family and picked up the luggage we had left with them. We then flew back to Dallas, with an overnight stop in Auckland. The trip took four weeks and seemed way too short.
Happy birthday, Dr. Karl
The Kruszelnicki house
Dr. Karl's beachfront
Headed for the star party,
six hours northwest of Sydney
Two minutes later I was stopped
for a blood alcohol test. I passed. (It was 11 AM)
The Warrumbungles Motel in
the national park
Fellow telescope maker
Bruce Sayre
Our observing field behind
the rooms
Downtown Coonabarabran - -
Everything is located from the clock tower
Nice breakfast here, with
a French press full of coffee - - yaaaay!
Siding Spring Observatory
(the big one on top of the hill)
All routes pass the
planets coming here
The Anglo Australian Telescope
- - a true pioneer of color astrophotography
They do have a way of
looking at you
Fred offers refreshment at
our picnic
He has a sense of humor
and excellent taste in wine
and in friends . . .
Laichlan cooks up some sausage
and 'roo for us visitors
Why can't we enter the bus
though the window?
This guy was good
The surf beckoned . . .
And a
"Bluebottle" (relative of the Portuguese man-o-war) stung Linda on
the leg - - ouch
I searched all my life for
this place and found it closed
Is this Heckle, or Jeckyl?
At the big reptile park
north of Sydney
Featherless Boa
All babies are cute
Emu
Dingo
'Roo
Flying foxes
Sleepy Koala
Crocs are always hungry
Nice guys finish last
This one was no match for
me
What's on your monitor?
Green Iguana - - I would
see lots of these guys later in the Galapagos
Duckbill Platypus swimming
his laps
Back into Sydney