Moving

[mithrandir]

I saw Phil Hart's note about moving and though I'd add mine. Yesterday Heather and I left our home of 19 years.

We didn't go far - only 3km as the crow flies - but we've seen the last of sodium vapour street lights lighting up the yard, huge trees, major road works, and the north-west rail construction site being 200m away.

We have much better eastern and western horizons. South and north aren't too bad if a few degrees higher. No chance of M31 now unless I build an observatory on the garage roof.

Now we are down to the last 50 boxes to unpack and I can go round to Mum's to fetch all the cameras and astro gear that I didn't trust to the removalists. My caution might have been unnecessary as they did a great job. They had to use one small truck to shuttle stuff up the steep driveway from the bigger trucks that couldn't get around the curve.

This is the third time the company have moved our stuff and I can't recommend them highly enough to anyone around Sydney. They're not cheap but they've been in business a long time and know how to keep customers happy. Rather than making this an advert, you can have the name on request by PM.

The one annoying loss? There's no ADSL here and no NBN, so I've had to switch to Bigpond cable. I'd been perfectly happy with FirstLink -> AlwaysOnline -> IfTelecom. Gary Kopff and I had - unknown to each other - been using the same provider since the 1990s and I'm sad to leave. At least they will continue to manage our email accounts for us.

[JB80]

Glad to hear that the move has gone well and you are settling in, it can be a stressful time if something goes wrong.



Personally I will never, ever let anyone else touch my equipment again after our last move.

While I was reasonably happy with the way the company handled everything else even if I suspect they drove our car down and not on a truck they certainly had no respect or even knowledge in how to handle telescopes. Thankfully no lasting damage was done but it was enough for me.
We were quoted that they would build a crate and sufficiently cushion the telescopes for transport.
This never happened, they just wrapped the tubes in bubble wrap and put them in the truck.

For whatever reason they removed the dust cap on the ERF for the PST mod and presumably ditched it, something they had zero right to touch let alone remove.
Thankfully there were no scratches but I was livid. There was also a minor issue with a finderscope but again no damage done.

Really in the end I should of and did know better but the lesson has been learnt.
Never trust anybody else who does not understand what equipment they are holding touch your stuff.

[Astro_Bot]

Glad your move went alright. Sounds like the new place is better overall. Besides, M31 is overated. Wait a few (billion) years 'till it's closer and get a really good shot. :P

I've never has a removalist that I'd rate as "great". Last time I moved, which was Sydney to Brisbane, I split the move and took everything delicate or valuable in a rented van myself, and left the bulky stuff (and about 75 PBO cartons) to the removalists. I'm glad I did, because the shape of some of those cartons on arrival was mind boggling. Thank God I didn't let them handle anything really breakable but even so, they still wrecked a couple of pieces of furniture (and this is a reputable company).

just in case anyone's interested, I rented a Mercedes Sprinter van through Europcar and found it quite easy to drive - I highly recommend it if you want to DIY.

[glenc]

Andrew, glad to hear that the new place is better for observing and quieter too.

[Larryp]

Glad your move went with no dramas, Andrew :)

[Merlin66]

In the past few years we've moved a few times....
Heathcote > Melbourne
Melbourne > UK
UK > Belgium
Belgium > Melbourne

I agree 110%, pack your own gear. No discussion, no debate!!!
The moving is pretty stressfull, but nothing as bad as having to "downsize" - THAT will break your heart!!!!

[04Stefan07]

Where about's in Belgium, Ken?

[Merlin66]

The Flemish part of Brussels, in Wezembeek- Oppem
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wezembeek-Oppem

[04Stefan07]

Not far from Brussels. I have family there.

[mithrandir]

Thanks for the good wishes everyone.



That's still to be proven Glen. I haven't picked up the gear yet, and the joggers going past tend to talk quite loudly. It was a compromise between better viewing and staying close to medical services. It looks like the best place to observe from is inside the pool fence which is all paved.



Ken, this place is a lot bigger (ie there's new furniture arriving), except the garage doesn't have a much wall space to put cabinets or hang tools and the spaces are just deep enough for our cars to fit. The next move will probably be the downsize one.

[el_draco]

Gawd... I'm less than three weeks away to moving myself. Gear all packed just waiting for the day. Its killing me slowly and I'll never do it again but this time... dark skies forever.....:D :D :D

[Merlin66]

Yeah right!.....don't believe it!!
I always though when we re-located to Heathcote - just a few Km from the ASV dark site that it was "for ever" - we built the house of our dreams on 100 acres over looking Lake Eppalock - majic - what more could you ask for???
Well rain would have helped!! After ten years of drought and spending up to $500 a WEEK to ship in water for the thousands of plants we'd planted ....we went bust...just ran out of money.....
Such is life!
Now we're back in the inner subs of Melbourne in a much ( like very small!!) smaller home, but close to work in the City.....
You never, never know..........