astronomy tour first day.
Assorted Paula comments, collected as wifi showed up.
We flew from Sydney to Tamworth on a prop plane, tiny. The flight was only about 40 minutes, but the time in the airport stretched it to about 2 and 1/2 hours. Then we drove toward the siding springs observatory, another two and a half hours. Fortunately it was a nice comfortable touring bus. Unfortunately it did not include a restroom, which caused some problems and delays.
The countryside is very rural, with the Great Dividing range on one side and a lot of flat farming land on the other. It is basically a two-lane road, with no real shoulder. Also very little traffic, although it is apparently a major highway.
After about an hour, we were stopped at a red light. Which says "stop here on red signal." There was at first no car animal or human in my sight except what's on the bus. Aha -- we eventually saw some utility equipment, and Dave said the signal was a portable one on a stand. So it probably came from the utility truck.
Lunch stop was good, except for the single bathroom for 40 rather desperate people.
Siding Springs observatory seems to be in a valley with a bunch of telescopes. It was impressive, and reasonably accessible. And up in the hills. The flat land was no longer visible. Too cloudy for night viewing, although we did get a bus ride to the airport and back to try. Kind of a rough ride. Dave and I are choosing to sit in the very back, where there are five seats we can spread out over and I can stretch my legs. It is probably rougher than the middle of the bus.
Next day drive was not as flat, as we move toward the southern part of the Great Divide. Still too lane roads, with not a lot of traffic. Perks observatory, which is the radio telescope was really lovely. And again, there are a bunch of telescopes in the general area.
Both of the motels that we stayed at during this trip were of "the yeah okay it's a place to sleep" variety. Rather run down, but wirh very nice people. I didn't see anything where impressive in the area. It is clearly mostly people who come to either see the observatories or backpack around the Blue Hills. The talks, both on the bus and at the observatories, were great. And the second night we had beautiful skies.
The drive back to Sydney, and the flight to Perth, are mostly in the category of "well okay that's over.". The dinners have been very long. Good, but tiring. In a little motels I can blame it on not being used to serving 40 people at once. Back at the four seasons they should have been able to do better.
Or guide and our bus driver handled my scooter very well. It is probably the first time I have ever described the scooter as " it's not red". There was another on the bus, and when the bus driver first saw me he was teasing me about it not being red. So when he asked which one it was I told him " it's not red.". Ever since I looked for some way to tie something red to it but failed. After the first stop, he was very careful to leave it where we could get off the bus easily and open the luggage door for us.
Lots of interesting people on the tour. I would guess it's about 1/4 PhDs. Many eclipse chasers and astronomers. Some of the people on the bus have seen a dozen or more solar eclipses. The whole pre-tour qualifies as definitely worth it, all of very tiring.
The cruise is a lot more people, more crowded talks, but less tiring overall. Still not my favorite kind of vacation.
A few things I've noticed: Australians don't drink coffee the way we do. 1 cup, with dessert, seems typical. A lot of people on this ship are actually from Perth, and are delighted to talk to us about things to see or do there. Driving on the left does not seem to mean people walk on the left. That maybe due to the large number of tourists around, but I could find no pattern for which side I should drive my scooter on. It is very difficult to find instant decaf coffee. Biological controls about moving fruit and nuts and such from one place to another are strict even from one state / province in Australia to another.
Dinner time. Other observations as I think of them. And pictures when our Wi-Fi is slightly faster. Dave has posted a bunch.
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