SPSP 14: March 31 - April 2 2006

[iceman]

Hi guys.

I know it's a while away, but just noticed on the asnsw site that there's some details about SPSP 14..

http://www.asnsw.com/spsp/index.html

Interesting re the astrophotography competition, should be fun.

Anyone planning on going to SPSP 14 next year? I'm quite sure i'll make the trip again. Hopefully we can get a big IIS contingent there.

For anyone interested, here's a few reports from myself and Rod regarding SPSP 13 earlier this year.

South Pacific Star Party 2005 (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/index.php?id=33,175,0,0,1,0) by me.

Stellar Time, but scope for improvement (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/index.php?id=56,178,0,0,1,0) by Rod.

[astroron]

I don't think I will make the jurney again, but then again one should never say never.astroron :astron: :stargaze:

[h0ughy]

Lets hope they have better facilities and more of them.

This year was pathetic for the SPSP2005.

The QLD Aastrofest left them for dead this year and I could confidently rate both star parties.

Qld = 9.5/10 (they lost some due to no upkeep of toilet rolls ;-))
SPSP2005 5/10 for lack of facilities, electricity, toilets, showers.


Skies - duckadang 8/10
SPSP 7/10.

Then you have the "rigged" astrophoto competition (oh dear stirring the pot again). I will go next year but make sure that Scott Alder has each and every one of his photos entered. Now for technical prowess and skill and the final result he should clean up! not to mention other IISers as well that leaves the entries that won this year for dead. None of this local Sydney only club member winning with a questionable image!!! Hec I didn't even have an image entered and I felt for the ones that didn't rate a mention!!

As for the prizedraw, why not follow the rules. Now some of us may know what I am getting at here ;-).

I look forward to the SPSP2006 with several toilets and showers!

[iceman]

I don't want to turn this into a SPSP bagging, just interested in finding out who's likely to be attending.

Even though I was disappointed with some aspects of SPSP 13, it hasn't stopped me from wanting to attend again. Dark skies, good company, it's still worth it.

[h0ughy]

sorry mike, after returning from a well organised and successful Duckadang gathering, I was a bit revved up! AstroRon and myself have had several discussions on the subject.

[seeker372011]

I plan to go if I can

[xstream]

We'll be there again Mike.
The dark skies and good company more than make the other problems inconsequential.

[Orion]

It will be a first for me, if all goes well I'll be there next year.

[Greg Bryant]

I'm planning to be there next year. A 3 hour drive from home, with 300-400 attendees, it's high on my must-do list.

If attendees are really concerned about the facilities, please contact the ASNSW. But bear in mind that the SPSP site, Wiruna, is still in a state of development. It is funded by members' fees (what's leftover from club running costs) and by SPSP registrations (in contrast to the excellent Queensland Astrofest facilities which are owned by the Lions Club).

The ASNSW has looked into putting mains power at Wiruna. The cost estimates have been in the order of several tens of thousands of dollars just to get the power poles to the property.

There are toilets and showers there - the Amenities Block adjoining the Hall was donated by the late member Max Gardner, and there is also the House at the other end of the property.

[tornado33]

I havent been to a SPSP for some years now, but when I did I was a little dissapointed in the facilities (just too many people for the number of toilets and showers available) and I though the entre fee was a bit steep. When I was there there were fireplaces in the camping areas and plenty of wood (very nice on cloudy nights to sit round the camp fire), however I understand there is now no camp fires allowed at all! I dont know why, as they naver caused any problems with observing all the times Ive been there. Ive attended the first 3 SPSP's and a few more later on. The ones Ive been to they had a large generator at the meeting hall (people could charge batteries there during the day I assume, and a few PCs were there running.)
The first few SPSP's ran at the same time as the Texas Star party and they had live ham radio hookups.
Some of the trees in or near the observing areas need to be removed. The year Hale Bopp was at its best, a tree obscured it from several telescopes.
The mindset of people with telescopes at that SPSP was most odd. I stood in a field surrounded by some of the biggest portable telescopes in the Southern hemisphere, one of the brightest comets in decades was sinking in the west, and not a single telescope was on it, they were all feeding their faces on the spit roast in the meeting hall. I couldnt believe it! Finally Andrew Murrel came to the rescue, turning "Hector" on it, revealing fantastic detail of the inner coma. Even on other nights most people with big scopes werent interested in it saying "ive seen it before from my place" gee then I say why bring the telescopes in the first place?
They are just my observations of the SPSP's Ive been to. Ive not been able to go to any other star parties so cant comment on them.
Scott

[xrekcor]

Sorry Mike,

No bagging intended, but I have heard not to many nice reports about SPSP and dont think it is worth the distance to travel. One was the company wasn't that great, so a newcommer like me might not feel so welcome.

But Like Astroron that may change _if_ enough IIS'er go :D

regards, CS

[iceman]

Well I guess if we have some suggestions, like Greg said, now's the time to make them. No point complaining about it if we don't put any ideas forward on how it could improve.

Well, it's up to us then, isn't it? Looks like so far there's half a dozen of us, if we plan to go for some good IIS company in a nice location, we also might be pleasantly surprised by the rest.

Yes there was an element of the newbie feeling unwelcomed, or not part of the "in-crowd" (ie: an ASNSW member), but not overall, only pockets of that. For the most part, it was as you'd expect, people very welcoming to come and look through their big scopes etc.

If nothing else, if there's enough of us there, we might have influence to turn some of these things around. No doubt IIS will be more well-known in 2006 than we were in 2005.

[astroron]

SPSP has been going for a long time,if they don't know what needs done by now they will never know, but a few suggestions.
(1) porta toilets, I had to walk over 200mtrs to go to the toilet.
(2)BBQ facilities, the kitchen is a long way away for quite a lot of campers.
(3) Better signposting(not tiny little thing stuck on posts :astron: on dark country roads.
Greg mentioned the house, only members of long standing have accesse, at $35:00 a night for camping in a dry dusty field, which in my estimation netted them $15,000,I could not see any value for my dollars,I could go on but will leave it at that.
I enjoyed the observing but can do the same from my dark sky site in Queensland, but it was also great to meet some of the people i have read about and talked to by email.
I hope things improve for next year, we will just have wait and see. astroron :astron:

[xstream]

Sorry Rob, but I disagree on that point.
This year was the first for Anna and myself and we were made feel more than welcome by those that we spoke to and met. In general it's probably like most things, if you sit back like a wall flower and don't join in you'll feel left out; I would think Mike, Rod, Robby and Narayan would agree overall with me on this point. But then again I'm not generally shy about coming forward. :D

[xrekcor]

No Prob's :D since I haven't been to a SPSP yet, I can only go on word of mouth. So I guess then it is 1 vote for yes :confuse3: and 3 votes for no :D But hey convince me more...

Also having not been to one before I wouldn't know what to suggest... except make it like AstroFest QLD? nice food available at a reasonable price, a red hot raffle with lots of neat prizes, fun activities during the day and things for kids to do.... to name a few

I wouldn't know about sitting back, I'm not too shy myself :rofl:

regards

[xrekcor]

Jeeeeeez... $35.00 per night camping, does include them putting your tent up for you Astroron????

regards

[astroron]

NO :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[xstream]

What more do you need? :D

Us IIS's will be there. :scared2: Should be more than reason enough. :thumbsup:

[iceman]

I agree it is expensive but it's once a year for me so I can justify it. It was also disappointing that the vendors didn't have more "specials" on offer.. most of what they had on sale was at normal shopfront prices.

I'd recommend the ASNSW (strongly) suggest to the vendors to have more items on special.. It doesn't take much to convince an amateur to buy gear.. :)

[xrekcor]

ummmmm.... errrrrrrr hehehehe mmmmmm..... some dancing girls? :ashamed:

just kidding

regards

[xrekcor]

Actually that cost can come down dramatically, if you put the power poles in yourself and run the wire at the correct height, or to the standard Country Enegy require. You only need them to hook it up. Still the wire is expensive and the poles you can get cheaper from a local mill

regards

[cventer]

My advice is go see for yourself what SPSP are about.

I have been driving up from Victoria for the last 3 years now and allways enjoy myself.

The scouts do a pretty good job of feeding people if you cant be bothered cooking like me. Sure the toilet / shower situation is not optimal and some portaloos may be the go, but I have not found it affected me. Showers are usually busy at peak times in morning and night, but I just avoid those times. I usually dont go to bed till close to sunrise on a clear night, so I just sleep in and then use bathrooms when I wake up which means they are then free

This is the 2nd year they have run the imaging comp and it was run much better than the year before and will no doubt improve next year.

As far as costs go I have never considered any star pary I have gone to be be too costly. Not too many places you can go for 3 - 5 days , have that much fund for that kind of money.

Maybe I dont have high expectations and am therefore allways happy with my SPSP experiences. Sounds like I need to get up to QLD one of these years though and check out Astrofest.

Best Regards
ChrisVenter

[xrekcor]

Are there cooking facilities there that people can use?

regards

[xstream]

Yes there is a fairly large Kitchen there Rob. I can't tell you what it is like because we haven't had the need to use it, we take own basic gear for our needs but I'm sure some ASNSW member will be able to fill in the detail.

[Rodstar]

It is interesting hearing people's comments and looking back at SPSP 05 now with some distance. Notwithstanding some criticisms I made at the time, I had a great time, and not only will I be there in 2006, but I expect to be there every year for many years to come.

It was a thrill for me as a newbie chatting to complete strangers about a common passion, and wandering around peeking through other peoples' scopes and EPs. I learnt heaps through talking to others (eg Xstream!), and I would recommend anyone new to the hobby to go to see what is possible. There are some very talented people who go, and some very BIG aperture freely available, so there is lots in it for the experienced amateur as well.

Sure, the facilities are rudimentary. Now that I know that, I have adjusted my expectations for 2006.

As for the "in-crowd" issue, that is just a fact of life...show me any human institution that is any different. And what some others have said is very true - there will be a big IIS contingent there - so there will be some very nice people to talk to anyway.......

It is remotely possible that I might drag my wife and kids along this time...is anyone else thinking of bringing family?

[xrekcor]

You will have to make the trip up to AstroFest QLD, there was no in crowd thing going on at all, and there was over 200+ folks there and probably easy that many scopes. It was a total family event and it didn't matter who you were. The organisers gave you a personal tour of the place so you knew where everything was, hell they had even put your name on your bedroom door. It nice to see people who own huge light buckets genuinely wanting to look through my lil 8" newt and commenting on it performance.

Still I agree with you star parties are a heap of fun, a great place to meet new folks and learn more stuff.

I'll be going to that event for years to come :thumbsup: especially as long and Tony and Anne-Lousie are organising it.

regards

[iceman]

Agreed Rod, and it just means we'll be better prepared for the dust bowl, showers etc. As Chris said, just use them at non-peak times and you won't have to wait.

Not sure, it's possible, but there's really not that much for the wife and kids to do during the day unless you go on day trips, mudgee etc. The place is very dusty and my wife hates dust! :) The kids will be very dirty after 5 minutes! :)

The only way the wife and kids would come is if we stayed off-site, but then half the fun of going to these things is camping on the field and being part of the whole experience.

We'll play it by ear, see how it goes at the Ballarat Star Camp in October, which I am taking my family to.

[astroron]

Why does it cost about $30:00 to camp in a dusty field? what do you get for your money?, you can get a cheap motel for that price.
Doesn,t Sydney and districts have any dark sky sites that Astronomers can go to and meet others, because to me it seems that's what you are paying for, as for the price of Qld AstroFest the money goes to the Lions CLubs for their charety work.
We must be spoilt up here, astroron

[xrekcor]

Another thing that amazed me was the free stuff that was handed out on arival @ AstroFest 2005, which happen to contain a past issue of AS&T the _only_ one I didn't get this year... how did they do that??? :innocent:

On a more serious note is, if I go so does my son (that's just the way it is for me) and I worry how the dusty conditions will effect his asthma.

Still it's length of 2-3 days is what is stopping me making a commitment to be there, way too short for the distance I would have to travel. But then again it would be priced out of my buget if I were to stay any longer. Mind you I have been thinking of other places to stop along the way to make it a more worthwhile cause. Any thoughts on that? I did look at pulling into Siding Springs but they only operate during business hours or seeing if the Coonabarabran folks have any public events on.

regards

[xstream]

Rob,
Anna and I went from the Thursday till the Monday and the cost was $116.00 including the spit roast dinner. Even though they quote $5 or $10 a night for the extra days we were not charged; I thought that was more than reasonable, next year we will probably even go a couple of extra nights.
As for the dust it was mainly confined to the observing field and was due to the amount of people and the weather. They were hot days up there for that time of year but extremely cool nights, which kept the dust down during the evening.

[xrekcor]

Looks like they want to charge for my 4yr old son $20.00. Since he wont be doing any observing but sleeping that is a bit rich for me. At this stage I would have to say for me personally I'm not really interested.

I suppose we should stop comparing it to AstroFest QLD they are obviously two differently setup events.... I do wish all that do attend a fun weekend. Hopefully we can catch you guys up north next year or the NSW IceInSpace camp that is being planned.

kindest regards, CS

Rob

[iceman]

So, this thread again..

Who else is coming?

Robby, are you going to come over again? Would love to catch up again.. bring mr Gary Beal with you too!