iceman
26-09-2005, 06:39 AM
Went for a drive to Koolang observatory yesterday, so decided to have a picnic lunch nearby, at Mogo Creek camping area.
I'd heard of this camping ground from Andrew Murrell and Gary Kopff, who have used it in the past as a dark sky observing field. It's about 10 minutes down a fairly smooth dirt road just near the Koolang turnoff.
As soon as we arrived, we were met by a couple of goannas, eating from the remains of a recent campfire. Next, we were met by ants.. lots of ants! Big ones too. The kind you don't want to sit anywhere near.
We eventually found a clearish spot (no ants, no goannas) for the picnic rug and had some lunch there, but it's not the kind of place the family would want to visit again, or camp there!
It would make me worry too, setting up the telescope there at night! You never know what would crawl up your leg! :)
It would be some nice dark skies, though :)
Anyway here's a few pics.
I'd heard of this camping ground from Andrew Murrell and Gary Kopff, who have used it in the past as a dark sky observing field. It's about 10 minutes down a fairly smooth dirt road just near the Koolang turnoff.
As soon as we arrived, we were met by a couple of goannas, eating from the remains of a recent campfire. Next, we were met by ants.. lots of ants! Big ones too. The kind you don't want to sit anywhere near.
We eventually found a clearish spot (no ants, no goannas) for the picnic rug and had some lunch there, but it's not the kind of place the family would want to visit again, or camp there!
It would make me worry too, setting up the telescope there at night! You never know what would crawl up your leg! :)
It would be some nice dark skies, though :)
Anyway here's a few pics.