First time at Lostock for Lyn and I and will definitely be coming back for more. Great to meet up with some of the personalities from IIS and soak in the atmosphere of such a scenic country hideaway (how's the serenity?) and see the potential for nice skies.(albeit only a few hours exposure this time)
Congratulations to Mike and all who put the function together.
Bring on 2009.
Cheers
Rickapoody
Had a great time at my first star party looking for the next one
Special to Mike it was brilliant.
Special thanks also to peterau for helping set up mount and the loan of his heq5pro!
Deeno, toes on left foot still tingle, should I worry?
Anna and I arrived home about an hour ago need to finish unpacking and organise everything so we can head down to Melb. tomorrow. (It's safe and ready Dave, I'll give it to Roger on Wednesday ) We'll post some pics and more later today or tonight.
Sure was a great 5 days regardless of the weather!
Well we had a great time in spite of the weather. Didnt quite get to meet as many of you as I would have likes, but it was nice just to get out and get some fresh air.
Also managed this fantastic shot of the infamous "Snake Nebula". As you can see the colours came through fantasticly... very vidid dark patches, and highlight areas...
well during the balancing routune when setting up. the 127ED, the 80mm guide scope and the finder scope and diagonal fell off the head of the mount - landed heavily on the ground destroying the finder scope and the 2" dielectric diagonal, dinted the tripod legs. the moonlight focuser was damaged as well. the scope currently sees double and needs collimation. i think I can live with the focuser - though the option of sending it back to be repaired is on the agenda. too add to this the eq5 pro that I lent Alan packed it in witha horrible grinding noise. that is off to Roger Davis in Melbourne to fix for me hopefully?:sadeye s:
Hi Dave
So sorry to hear about the accident – it must have been quite a shock at the time. No doubt you must have looked on with disbelief, much as I did when a German tourist ran into our car at the Green Mountains camp site in Lamington National Park.
Our Subaru was parked in the designated parking bay, the only car there, when a German tourist and his mates drove in on the peripheral ring road. It seems that at the last minute, he decided to pull into the parking bay park next to us, hit his brakes, skidded 5 metres on the gravel then hit the front passenger side of our Subaru.
I was sitting quietly at our tent (on the drivers side) when I heard the scrunching of gravel followed by a dull thud as he hit. I initially though “I must be dreaming, that did not just happen”.
The empty space around our car was almost the size of an Olympic swimming pool.
Our car was backed right into the designated parking bay, the only vehicle there.
There were no other vehicles in the vicinity.
There were no obstructions; the camp site is a huge, open space.
The skies were blue; the sun was shining.
He couldn’t have done a better job even if there had been a homing beacon on our vehicle and he was being automatically guided towards it.
The grazing pademelons shook their heads in disbelief.
There were 3 young tourists and the driver got out his insurance certificate immediately and I took his details, still in a state of disbelief. I took a photo of the skid marks and they look like the smoking trail of a guided missile that had locked onto the Subaru.
There was some cosmetic damage to the side of the front bumper and he may also have hit the front wheel, so we reported it to the insurance company and now await the tedious investigation and repair process.
What kept me from really going off at the guy was that I figured as daft as it does look, accidents do happen and although it appeared that he intentionally drove into our vehicle, the only car within 100 meters, in a huge open space, I’m sure he didn’t really mean to do so. No body was hurt although they looked quite shocked as they got out of their car.
I reported it to the Park Wardens and one of them said that a few weeks ago a guy had hit him, then got out of the car with a big tyre lever and threatened him! At least the German driver fessed up.
Anna and I arrived home about an hour ago need to finish unpacking and organise everything so we can head down to Melb. tomorrow. (It's safe and ready Dave, I'll give it to Roger on Wednesday ) We'll post some pics and more later today or tonight.
Sure was a great 5 days regardless of the weather!
thanks John - I have rang ahead.
I dropped (not literally) the 127ED into astro optical today, so I am hoping it will be ready within a few weeks - a good excuse to go to sydney and collect then to go back to the Pony club and test out
So sorry to hear about the accident – it must have been quite a shock at the time. No doubt you must have looked on with disbelief, much as I did when a German tourist ran into our car at the Green Mountains camp site in Lamington National Park.
Our Subaru was parked in the designated parking bay, the only car there, when a German tourist and his mates drove in on the peripheral ring road. It seems that at the last minute, he decided to pull into the parking bay park next to us, hit his brakes, skidded 5 metres on the gravel then hit the front passenger side of our Subaru.
I was sitting quietly at our tent (on the drivers side) when I heard the scrunching of gravel followed by a dull thud as he hit. I initially though “I must be dreaming, that did not just happen”.
The empty space around our car was almost the size of an Olympic swimming pool.
Our car was backed right into the designated parking bay, the only vehicle there.
There were no other vehicles in the vicinity.
There were no obstructions; the camp site is a huge, open space.
The skies were blue; the sun was shining.
He couldn’t have done a better job even if there had been a homing beacon on our vehicle and he was being automatically guided towards it.
The grazing pademelons shook their heads in disbelief.
There were 3 young tourists and the driver got out his insurance certificate immediately and I took his details, still in a state of disbelief. I took a photo of the skid marks and they look like the smoking trail of a guided missile that had locked onto the Subaru.
There was some cosmetic damage to the side of the front bumper and he may also have hit the front wheel, so we reported it to the insurance company and now await the tedious investigation and repair process.
What kept me from really going off at the guy was that I figured as daft as it does look, accidents do happen and although it appeared that he intentionally drove into our vehicle, the only car within 100 meters, in a huge open space, I’m sure he didn’t really mean to do so. No body was hurt although they looked quite shocked as they got out of their car.
I reported it to the Park Wardens and one of them said that a few weeks ago a guy had hit him, then got out of the car with a big tyre lever and threatened him! At least the German driver fessed up.
I dropped (not literally) the 127ED into astro optical today, so I am hoping it will be ready within a few weeks - a good excuse to go to sydney and collect then to go back to the Pony club and test out
Quote:
Originally Posted by GTB_an_Owl
did i hear that right ? - testing at the pony club ?
geoff
I'll bring some mattresses so we can lay them around Houghy's mount.