Barambah Dark Sky Camp April 2008 - registrations now open!

[Gargoyle_Steve]

Darkness begins anew : Saturday 5th April


:welcome:

The organising commitee is pleased to announce that registrations are open for the Barambah Dark Sky Camp to be held from Saturday the 5th to Wednesday the 9th of April - that's 5 days of socialising / relaxing with like minded individuals, and of course 4 nights of the darkest skies that we could find in South East Queensland!

You should be able to find all the information you need on the official website :

http://www.darkskycamp.org.au/index.shtml (http://www.darkskycamp.org.au/index.shtml)

The Dark Sky Camp is again being held at the Barambah Environmental Education Centre, which is located a couple of hours NNW of Brisbane and is situated on the edge of a large tract of State Forest. The Camp lays NW of nambour, SW of Gympie, N of Kilcoy and NE of Nanango.
(see image below)

The Barambah facility offers clean and comfortable dorm style accomodation that can house roughly 60 people, a fantastic and fully equipped kitchen (totaly renovated and extended only last year), a generous dining hall that also comes with a 2.4 metre square projection screen / DVD player / PC input to screen / 5.1 ch surround sound system, and is surrounded by miles and miles of bush/grassland/forest, making for VERY dark skies at night!

For those wishing to do astro-imaging please note there is no mains power available on the field so you will need to bring adequate battery power to supply your own needs. There is however ample power outlets available in the buildings (even in the dorm rooms) to allow you to recharge your gear during the days.

Although there's been a small rise in the cost of hiring the facility we have kept the cost of attendance as lean as we can:

....................Adult (over 15) ...........Child (15 or under)
One Night.........$26.................. ........ $11
Two Nights....... $38.......................... $22
Three Nights......$50.................... ...... $33
Four Nights.......$61................... ....... $44


The online registration form is here (http://www.darkskycamp.org.au/form.shtml)but we suggest you read this page first for additional information re forms of payment and so on:
http://www.darkskycamp.org.au/register.shtml (http://www.darkskycamp.org.au/register.shtml)


To those earlybirds who have already sent in registrations ... we'll have your confirmations sent out asap!

To everyone else, please remember that the number of beds is limited, and once booked out that's it.


For any other enquiries post your questions here, or shoot us an email and we'll get back to as soon as we can!

registrar@darkskycamp.org.au


Looking forward to seeing old and new faces there! :thumbsup:

[DJVege]

I'm definitely in!! I registered for the last one that was cancelled, so I guess you want me to register again, yeah? PM Sent.

[astroron]

The last one cancelled was the first one:shrug:, we have had one since then, which was very enjoyable:)
Hope to see you at the next one :thumbsup:
Ron

[Gargoyle_Steve]

It's great to see that registrations are starting to roll in! :thumbsup:


Remember if you have any queries you can post them here, or email us to the address posted above.


Detailed instructions for getting to the Barambah facility can be found here:

http://www.darkskycamp.org.au/where.shtml (http://www.darkskycamp.org.au/where.shtml)

(Scroll down past the mudmap image to find the specifics for 3 separate routes to Barambah)

[[1ponders]]

:hi:

Timing is looking good for me.

[Gargoyle_Steve]

Hey Paul can you (or one of the other hard working Mods) make this thread a sticky?

[[1ponders]]

Done

[drmorbius]

:party2:

Due to popular demand we have opened the camp from Friday night (4-April)... so you can now enjoy 5 nights of some very dark skies :thumbsup:.

Visit http://www.darkskycamp.org.au (http://www.darkskycamp.org.au/) for more information.

cheers -- randall

[Gargoyle_Steve]

It's great to see the registrations still coming through, 2 more received earlier this evening - Saturday night is going to be the big one though with every person who has registered bar one (;) at William) planning on being there that night!

Remember folks it's only 2 weeks away now, so if you haven't registered yet please do NOT leave it until the last minute to do so!

There's still plenty of beds available, the dorms are clean and tidy & the beds are comfortable, the coldroom is huge, the kitchen has everything - and fingers crossed the skies are going to be clear every single night!
:thumbsup:

[Gargoyle_Steve]

For those who are still making their mind up (you guys know who I'm talking about) you'll need to have completed and submitted your registrations by 10pm Wednesday night at latest, and make payment by Direct Deposit (to late to send cheques now) before close of business Wednesday afternoon.
If you can't make payment in time send the registration through and bring "correct cash" to pay on check in at Barambah.

http://www.darkskycamp.org.au/register.shtml

Information packs are being emailed out tonight to those who have already registered, if you don't have yours by mid morning Tuesday send us an email immediately to the registrar address on the website.


If tonights sky in SE Qld is anything to go by we should be enjoying some very dark and clear skies at the camp!!

:party2:

[DJVege]

Is it just me, or have they forecasted showers for Saturday night? Mt Brian, Gympie.... :( I'm only going to Barambah for the one night (Saturday).

[Davros]

Safe journey to all those lucky enough to be heading up tomorrow. I am looking forward to Saturday. Should be arriving around 4:00ish so I can meet people and set up before it gets dark. Lets hope the rain and cloud Gods are nice to us. Maybe some of the Friday arrivers need to do a sacred clear skies dance :P . Any chance of a Friday night web update on these hallowed pages for those stragglers like me?
cheers
Mick

[Gargoyle_Steve]

Weather predictions for the weekend are not looking great at present it's true, but we are a little more inland and sheltered by a range there than the "coastal" areas nearby that predictions are made for.

I've been following the changes in the sat images for the last few days, and to be honest at present it seems to be clearing, but I'm only looking at clouds not the pressure systems, etc.

As for an internet update from site - would love to but it may not be possible at all. I'll see what can be done, but don't hold your breath. You could always ring us on the camp number and ask what it's like I guess, if you try let it ring out and then ring again, give someone plenty of time to get to the phone and answer it.

Failing that - for those who are going, see you there!
For those who aren't - see you here in a 6 days!

[DJVege]

Ok. Thanks Steve! I'll keep an eye on the weather forecasts and if it doesn't change, I might give it a miss. :( I still haven't been able to properly give my argo a full test! :(

The last couple of days, mother nature (or God or both) have been teasing me. During the day, I get to look at perfect blue skies while at work...and at home at night...clouds!

The one night where it was clear, I had to study for an exam the next day. :( (Which, by the way, I passed. :) I am now an MCP!)

Stupid clouds!

[DJVege]

Looks like I won't be heading up to Barambah tonight! :( If anyone else wants to head up for tonight, there'll be a free room for you. Just tell Steve you're takin DJVeg's spot.

[Gargoyle_Steve]

Sorry to hear that, you're missing out on some great viewing!

I've got a quick 10 mins net access courtesy of our Host here Mark, so I'll make this quick.

What can I say - great night, great viewing, fantastic sky!!

The sky was stunning even before it was fully dark, and although some early moisture rose to give us some twinkle early on it dried out by 10 or 11, there were some fleeting clouds around the perimetre (north and east) but they too disappeared, and were barely interfering anyway, there was always plenty to look at.

By midnight the air had dried, the clouds were gone, and it was even more spectacular!!! Good numbers of meteors, some leaving strong glowing trails behind, Saturn was splendid, the Orion and Carina Nebs showed excellent detail and structure, Omega Centauri glowed, Centaurus A and Sombrero Galaxies were nicely defined in my 12" dob, etc, etc.....

Best thing to me of the night?
I heard someone say "the Dark Sky Camp has certainly lived up to it's name"
:D
That makes ALL the hard work and effort SO worthwhile.

Another beautiful Blue Sky day again today, looking forward to another few nights here yet. We won't have net access again so no point trying to message us, but if you want to come along see the website for details: follow the travel instructions, bring cash to pay for your accomodation, and when you get here we'll find you a bed and a huge chunk of Dark Sky!!

:thumbsup:

[Analog6]

Well, I wish I'd joined this forum earlier! I'll be 'in like Flynn' for the next one.