Mackay & Back : 1900 km's in 35 hours

[Gargoyle_Steve]

Howdy Folks ..... Details to follow, but AstroRon and myself have returned from our lightning fast overnight run from the Sunshine Coast to Mackay and back again. Ron is on his way home now from here to his beloved dark skies at Cambroon (which will take him about an hour).

The readers digest version of how to spend 35 hours:
Left here at 7:30 am Saturday morning, 3 fuel stops and 2 or 3 other food/comfort stops later we drove into Mackay at around 6:50 pm.

45 mins to locate our pre-booked accomodation, 30 mins showering, etc, then met up with Chris (Chrissara) who is such a great bloke! It was a genuine pleasure to meet him, and hopefully we will all catch up again when he is down this way around Christmas with his wife Sara.

We spent about 90 minutes in his driveway playing "spot the alignment star" through cloud cover that looked more like swiss cheese than anything. We managed to obtain a basic alignment in the Argo Navis, just enough to get Chris's 12" dob pointing at something - basically the only thing we saw much at all was the moon, as viewed through my new favourite eyepiece, my Hyperion 13mm (Thanks so much Gary Beale!).

Packing up all the new goodies that Chris has sold to me, Ron and I took our leave and went in search of some much needed food. Bought dinner (Domino's pizza) at around 10:30 pm, we went back to our cabin to eat and quaff a couple of well deserved drinks.

I remember laying on my bed around midnight or so with the Argo Navis main unit at hand, exploring it's menu system. I think it was a close thing - I could easily have fallen asleep with it on the pillow next to me :-) but somehow I managed to put it back on the table before slumber took over.

I woke surprisingly early, and clear headed, around 5:40 am. I lay in bed for a while thinking about scopes and ArgoNavis', etc. I actually got out of bed around 6:30, Ron and I were packed and ready to leave by 7:30 am again. 3 fuel stops and 1 or 2 comfort stops later we arrived back at my Caloundra residence just on 6:15 pm, having tried to race sunset but missing by about 10 minutes (it was covered in cloud anyway).

Other details & photo's to follow .....

Thanks so much Chris, you are a champion! I look forward to spending some observing time with you around Christmas.

Thanks Ron for making it an epic and memorable journey!!

[drmorbius]

What a whirlwind trip... but sounds like it was worth it. Can't wait to have a look at the next Cambroon night.

Now go try and get some sleep... ;)

[h0ughy]

LOL great trip guys, they should make a movie of it. Glad you will be enjoying your new scope

[[1ponders]]

Well you can't use distance as an excuse not to go to Lostock next year then Steve :lol: Well done the pair of you :lol:

[Dennis]

Sounds like a great day out for the boys - terrific adventure and write up. Ron's a great bloke - you couldn't ask for a better travelling companion.

Cheers

Dennis

[spacezebra]

What an adventure - good to see you got "some" dark skies in there.

Cheers Petra

[gary]

G'day Steve,

Thanks for the enjoyable road-trip account.

Now we've had plenty of people tell us they love their Argo Navis but
it is probably the first account we have heard of someone nearly falling asleep
with one on their pillow. :)

Welcome to the extended family of Argo Navis owners. Don't forget to join the
Argo Navis User's Group at http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/argo_navis_dtc

It seems Ron does not shy away from the odd road-trip. We saw him turn-up
at the South Pacific Star Party after an all-night drive via back-roads from
Qld not too long ago and then again he dropped into the IceInSpace Lostock
event in January this year after having driven from West Australia enroute
to Queensland including some massive detour because of a road closure.
I think we should sponsor him to drive in the 24 Hour Le Mans endurance event
June 2007.

Best Regards

Gary Kopff
Managing Director
Wildcard Innovations Pty. Ltd.
20 Kilmory Place, Mount Kuring-Gai
NSW. 2080. Australia
Phone +61-2-9457-9049
Fax +61-2-9457-9593
sales@wildcard-innovations.com.au
http://www.wildcard-innovations.com.au

[Gargoyle_Steve]

Thanks Gary ..... I wasn't aware of the user group, I will be sure to join.
Congratulations to you Gary on designing and marketing the single best astronomical add on since God made "night".

Of course it has been cloudy every single night since we returned from Mackay .... completely expected, but still frustrating, now full moon is looming. I've been getting to know the Argo's menu system inside the house until such time as I can actually USE IT outside one night.

As you say Ron IS a bit of a traveller, I think he has been Everywhere! he has a wealth of knowledge about all kinds of things in all kinds of places, almost like a built in tour guide. (Great trip Ron!)

I still have some 20 odd pics I'd like to post here, have been resizing and triming them this week, will have more about the trip posted this weekend, as soon as I can get some time away from work again.

Cheers folks!

[[1ponders]]

So its your fault Steve :lol: :poke:

The cloud that is ;)

[Gargoyle_Steve]

Oh heck yes Paul .... I thought you would have realised that! :P

I was expecting to be abused for the clouds before Ron and I even made the trip. I'm just hoping it clears before the morning of the 9th so we can see the Mercury transit.

By the way - here's a quick snap of the new dob settling in with his smaller brother ... sadly the 10" is about to go up for sale so the new 12" will be an orphan again soon.

Steve