Siding Springs Observatory

 Got up at 5am today. The plane we were about to take had stricter weight limits than we are used to, so anyone in the group with heavy bags was asked to repack; so we left half our stuff at the hotel (we'll return there in a few days). Breakfast was 6 to 6:30--the hotel opened breakfast half an hour early so we could take a 6:30 bus to the airport.

At the airport, Paula agreed to let them take her scooter, then none of the six wheelchairs requested by the tour guides ever showed up. Way to go, Quantas! Tim (one of the group leaders, along with Elise) finally managed to get a wheelchair for Paula for the last half of the walk through the airport. I don't know how the other disabled group members managed, but we did all succeed on getting on to the plane.

Next was a 2.5 hour bus trip to where we had lunch at the Tibuc Gardens restaurant in Coonabarabran. I took a picture there of a nearly white (with little blue flowers) silky emu bush.

Silky emu bush

Then we went to the observatory. It is huge--not as big as the vehicle assembly building in Houston, but still huge. 

How we spent most of our time


Sliding Springs Observatory

Siding Springs Observatory

Some of the smaller domes

Wandering around the observatory area








Inside the dome






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