Pics of my gear at last

[Scorpius]

Just spent the weekend at Dryandra Forest south of Perth with the ASWA campout. Here is the gear The scopes anyway 8" home brew and the new SW880 sitting on the EQ6ProGoToSkyscan V3 mount. Home brew tube rings, great weekend spoiled by my car blowing a cylinder gasket just before arriving setting me back $700 to get the car and trailer back to Perth. This is the third time after replacing the head 18 months ago. I am not happy.

And a shot of some light interference on Friday night Canon EOS 350D 3 min time exposure ISO200

[Dennis]

Looks like a great set up you have there Dave, as well as very dark skies. Bad news about the car, hope you get it sorted.

Cheers

Dennis

[iceman]

Great looking setup, Dave.. I love the look of the white EQ6's. Looks like a nice observing site too, nice and flat!

[Scorpius]

Dryandra Forest is approximately 125 Km SE of Perth. 25km north of the township of Narrogin. The WA "lions Club" have established a recreational retreat there. The original forest area was used for harvesting bark for the tanning industry, this has now ceased as other methods are now used.

Its a very large open paddock, with hard packed soil. Apart from the east, with a few trees, there is virtually a 360 degree view of the horizon. A small rake is a good accessory as the paddock is inhabited by a large number of Western Grey roos which have not been toilet trained: The area is about 5 minutes walk from the camp area.

Very dark in general the odd light coming from the "Lions" camp buildings but they are amongst the tree line and normally present no problem. Good facilities with Nissan hut accommodation, fully equipped kitchen, showers etc and a Telstra phone which doesnt work. The nearest town is Narrogin to the south. The area is noted for extremely cold nights, despite hot days, tho this weekend, Saturday and Sunday nights were the exception calling for shorts and Tee shirt.

Aswa holds two astro camps a year, one in March and one in October, average attendance is around 40 to 45 members. The cost per person for use of the facilities and accommodation is only $15 per night, with a $5 pp camp fee. (BYO food and sleeping bag)

Scopes that turn up are from small 3" to 17" reflectors, This camp this time saw quite a few refractors including a Meade 8" on a monster tripod weighing in, I understand at around 200lbs all up.. Some one made a comment that the south side of the paddock was refractor alley !

[PeteMo]

Hi Dave
Like the gear! So that's what you've been messing about with EQ6 mounts and your SkyWatcher dob for. Like the lightning strikes! Hope your limo doesn't set you back too much, as less on limo equals more on light buckets!

[digby dart]

I spent my time in Dryandra as a baby then as a toddler. It was a government forestry settlement then. We had an old Ford Prefect ute and my baby capsule was a cardboard Weeties carton in the back. The settlement only had a small generator for power, only one family was allowed to iron on any one night. Perhaps my astronomy interest spawned from looking up at the stars from the old ute.

I may go to one of these astronomy camps to see what it's like now. Thanks for rekindling the memory.:)

[ving]

nice looking gear :)