roll call for spsp

[sasup]

Where are coming x 2 and 2 kids
I saw there was a store on site.

[tlgerdes]

Hi Stacey,

Not really a store as such. The local scout troop setup a kitchen/diner for the event, they server breakfast, lunch and dinner for reasonable price. Kandos and Rylstone are about 20-30 mins drive and Mudgee is about 45 mins drive if you want anything more (ice, beer, wine etc).

There is no car movement from Sun down to Sun rise on the site, except for emergency.

Don's roast on the Saturday night is famous :eyepop:
If you can, bring bikes for your kids. The place is reasonably large (100 acres), but quite safe for the kids to roam.

[sasup]

thanks for that trevor. No one else going?????

[tlgerdes]

Plenty of others are going, especially if you are an ASNSW member :) I know at least a dozen others on here.

Wherever you are staying, pay a visit to The House and say hello.

[Rick Petrie]

I +1=2

[sasup]

will do trevor.

[Matt Wastell]

Hello,

I too will be attending on my own - my son Flinders is still a touch too young to go - it will be great to catch up with some folks I see every year - countdown.........17 days to go! Yeah!!!!!!

[Rodstar]

Hi Stacey,

There has been another thread running with people chatting about coming to SPSP. But hey, the more the merrier!

I am a definite, I had planned to bring all 3 of my kids, one now can't come due to another commitment, so I will have two kids in tow: Noah (aged 9) and Eva (aged 8).

This will be my 6th SPSP, I missed last year, so I am keen to make up for lost time!

SPSP is a great place to meet new people, to see the latest and greatest, the weirdest, the most unconventional. I find that red wine and cheese are important items to pack, together with a bucket of patience, in case of crap weather.

[mental4astro]

Mental4astro:- Absent

Really, Siirrr, the dog ate my telescope; the cat buried my eyepieces; a monkey stole my charts...

REALLY!!!

By the time I was encouraged to come, it was saddly too late for me. I can only meekly say - Next time, :sadeyes: .

Clear skies for those going.

I'll be keenly waiting for the write ups on the event, ;) .

[sasup]

sound great rod my boys are 5 and 7.

[Rodstar]

Hey Stacey, I reckon we won't see any of any kids for most of the weekend, then!:lol:

[Barrykgerdes]

Yep!

Send them down to the dam to catch yabbies.

Barry

[tlgerdes]

Yeah, if you are catching yabbies from the dam, please consider catch and release, as they taste very muddy :D

Plus it means more fun for other kids.

So dont forget to bring some string, some meat and a bucket. I can almost guarentee they will catch one. (We caught 8 in 30 mins in January).:lol:

[sasup]

is there any fish?

[Rick Petrie]

No Stacey...the sharks have eaten them all.:P
Could be some tadpoles though.

[tlgerdes]

No, this a dam on a small creek. The dam is 20m x 20m. I dont know how deep (but based on the height of the wall and the slope of the land I would say 6 ft deep at its deepest) , and I wouldnt recommend swimming in it to find out as these sort of places are breeding ground for leeches.

[sasup]

yum leech stew. LOL

[Amunous]

Myself and the better half will be there!

[Inmykombi]

I am locked and loaded for a great weekend camping.

I am particularly looking forward to the swap meets : )

See you there....

[Allan_L]

Hmmm...
Is that Carly or the Skywatcher you are referring too ... :question:

[sasup]

lol:lol::lol::lol:

[Amunous]

oh yeah carly is coming also... :whistle:

[Mars]

One week to go!

I'm be coming to SPSP. Relly looking forward to it. My first real Star Party!

[norm]

Im In....:thumbsup:

Norm

[Mars]

This is interesting.
I found live temperature readouts from Bathurst Airport which is not too far from Wiruna: http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDN60801/IDN60801.94729.shtml

Looks like it got down to only about 11°C last night, although it was a little colder the night before at 9°C. It's currently sitting around the 12°C at the moment.

I assume these should be fairly similar temperatures to what we'll see in a weeks time.

[GTB_an_Owl]

here is a better idea of what you will get Patrick

http://7timer.y234.cn/exe/ape.php?lon=149.46&lat=-33.01&en&

if the days and nites are clear - the temp will be 10 or below

geoff

[Amunous]

What are the travel plans? Are we just going willy nilly or are we going to bunch up for people like patrick that havent been yet?.
if so where are we meeting before we leave etc etc

[Mars]

Thanks Geoff. Those little icons are a little worrying though.. cloudy and rainy both nights? Hmm..

Hey Michael, I'd be more than happy to set up near each other and maybe meet up on the way too if people are interested. It's usually more fun going as a group anyway.

I checked the route that people would be taking. I would suggest a good meeting point would be at Richmond (maybe the mcdonalds there), as you have to pass through Richmond (via Richmond Road) to get to Ilford from the Central Coast and is also a convenient point from Sydney/south-west as well. If people are interested!

[GTB_an_Owl]

i think you better have another look Patrick

clear both nites it says at the moment

geoff

[Mars]

Whoa nice, the forecast was updated.
I've still got the page open from when you sent it last night.
It originally showed rainy on the evening of April 1 & 2 and now it's been changed to clear.

Can't complain!

[Rick Petrie]

It's looking better no doubt and I'll bet you can't wait Patrick to crank up all that NEW gear. (8mm ethos, dew protection, powermate, etc,etc):thumbsup:

[Mars]

Hehe yes :) Very much looking forward to the dark skies!

I tried the eyepieces out at home on a very rare clear night on Wednesday. Unfortunately looks like DSO's will always be a bit dissappointing from home and I think I'll need to work out a counterweight system to use the dew shield and powermate at the same time. It becomes really front heavy and makes it rather difficult to accurately point the scope.

Oh well, hopefully we'll get some clear weather soon!

[Allan_L]

I hope you bought your new tent big enough with your 12 inch DOB in mind to share inclement times together in comfort ! :question:

[Rick Petrie]

Patrick, I bought some block magnets (about a kilo in weight each. 150mmx50mmx25mm) and covered them on the two 50mm sides with self adhesive felt. Allows you to easily move the weight around to counter balance, depending on what eyepieces you are using at the time. PM me if you need any details if you want to go down this path.
What did you make your dew shield out of? You need it to be very light weight at the end of the scope.
Cheers:)

[sasup]

im so excited, cant wait for big clear skies.

[Satchmo]

I'm looking forward to it - it will be my 21st year of attendence .

[Amunous]

ok so i take i there is no group going? were just all kinda turning up?

[Rick Petrie]

If it's clear Patrick, you can be pretty sure that the temperature will get down below 8 deg. and maybe even lower. Mr Owl's freezer suit, boots etc. will definitely be on board, and if you haven't already got one, including anyone else who may need one for that matter, I can pick up on my way from Geoff as he only lives around the corner. I don't think Mr Owl is going this year so contact him and I could bring it up to SPSP.
Advice to any new people going 'stay warm, be prepared and you will have a good comfortable experience'.:thumbsup:

[Amunous]

oh well i guess its go as you please lol. ill see if i can find you guys when i get there.

[Allan_L]

Hold your horses Michael.
There is still 4 days to go.
I am sure some travel plans will emerge before D day.

[Rick Petrie]

We (Lyn and I) are leaving on the Thursday, staying at Bathurst, and heading up to Wiruna on Friday morning and will miss any of you guys coming from the CC.
I'm sure there will be a few leaving from the CC on Friday morning Michael.:)

[White Rabbit]

I'll be coming, hope the weather is better than it was at the last one I was at two years ago.

Looking forward to meeting some of you.

[Arthur Alchin]

Won't be going to Ilford but would like to wish all those going a great weekend, and hope the skies are kind to you.

Will catch up with a few (or a lot) of you at Bretti Reserve at the end of April. (can't even go to pony club this weekend as I'm working)

[Amunous]

just eager lol ive heard you can get lost at the camp ground if you dont rock up as a group. plus i like to know what im doing at least a few days in advance rather than the night before lol

[Rick Petrie]

You won't get lost Michael.
We'll tell you where to go!!!!:lol::P

[Deeno]

Registered and paid for our young family but, won't be going.

Deeno

[GTB_an_Owl]

since when do you need a scope to go Deeno?

there will be enough pony club scopes up there to keep you occupied for a fortnite

get that camper trailer packed and get up there i say!

besides - think about how much room is left for the Bourbon if you don't take a scope

and if you grease the springs on the trailer proper - you could throw in a couple of extra bottles of bubbly for Amanda - if you get my drift

geoff

[Amunous]

lol i know how to get there rick i made the trip last year (2 weeks after the star party) ha. didnt find that out till i got there. i just wanted to know cause ive heard that its hard to find people when you get there.

[tlgerdes]

Plug Old Ilford Rd, Ilford into your GPS, nearest cross road Tara Loop Rd.

There are two entrances to Tara Loop, you take the second entrance. This entrance is about 9km from the Hwy.

See map attached

[Mars]

That's ok Allan, the more information the better (especially since I've never been).
Thanks for that Trevor.

[tlgerdes]

It wasnt just for his information, some people are afraid to ask obvious questions. There are still a lot of first timers, and I got lost the first time I went to Wiruna.

[Mars]

Hey Michael.

Why don’t we organise a meet on Friday morning now and then anyone else who may be interested can jump on board as it gets closer?
I know at least one other person has messaged me and said they’d be interested in meeting up along the way, so it might be good if we can formalise some plans.

Building on a previous post, Richmond seems to be a fairly central place I think most people would be passing through. This would be traveling via Bells Line of Roads & Castlereagh, which is directly on the route that is suggested by google maps for traveling to Ilford from both the Central Coast (http://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=central+coast+to+ilford,+nsw&ui=maps&ie=UTF8&ll=-33.34659,150.556641&spn=1.218322,1.859436&z=9&saddr=central+coast&daddr=ilford,+nsw&geocode=FSD3Af4dAkwFCSndPDOpg9JyazG AqDIWaH0BBA%3BFQkECf4dL6XuCClHmkLwy nUOazEQZEOQtAkGBA) and also from Sydney (http://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=sydney+to+ilford,+nsw&ui=maps&ie=UTF8&ll=-33.413102,150.46051&spn=1.217391,1.859436&z=9&saddr=sydney&daddr=ilford,+nsw&geocode=FZsz-_0dszwDCSnFAZBWlpcSazFgqDIWaH0BBA%3 BFQkECf4dL6XuCClHmkLwynUOazEQZEOQtA kGBA).

The alternative route gmaps suggests is via Castlereagh Highway which is parallel but south of Richmond, if anyone wants to go an alternate route and still meet up, post here and we can amend the plans. Otherwise, does Richmond seem a convenient meeting place? Any others want to mention interest at this stage? It’d just be a matter of meeting up at a convenient location and heading up to Ilford as a group so we can stick together once we arrive and ensure we’re not too spread out on the field.

We’d also need to decide a meeting time. According to the info pack, the opening address is at 2:30PM, so I suspect we’ll want to arrive at Wiruna well before that, with enough time to check in and register (registration tent), drive to and setup our scopes on the observing field, drive back and setup our tents on the camping area (correct me if my assumptions are wrong).

It’s 150km and approximately two hours travel time from Richmond to Ilford, so perhaps suggesting a meeting time of 10AM at Richmond? Is that a good idea? Anyone with more knowledge/experience traveling to the SPSP, please feel free to suggest changes/alternatives.

Patrick

[alexch]

How is it with Telstra mobile reception at Wiruna?

[Carlz]

I was with Telstra and i didnt have reception there... but maybe there may have been some spots with reception?

[Allan_L]

Yeah, of course.
Me too.
But my shortcuts are infamous.

Be sure to arrive with plenty of DAYLIGHT to set up and get your bearings.
cheers.

[stringscope]

Telstra NextG works OK at Wiruna.

[tlgerdes]

Telstra NextG works fine up there. We tend to get just as good data transmission there as we do in Sydney.

Don't expect any other carrier to work, even Optus with their new 900Mhz stuff.

[Zincberg]

Patrick,
That sounds great to me, I was going to suggest 9:00am at Richmond, but thats only because im a "always be there Mega early" type person.
To the others who have been there before, does that sound about right? getting to Ilford at around midday a good idea?

[tlgerdes]

It's an easy 2hr drive from Richmond.

Beware of speed zones, it changes from 60-80-60 quite a few times on the run across to Lithgow and the police know it.

Also beware of the 100->50 zones on the Casltereagh Hwy from Lithgow to Ilford, every town is a 50 zone.

Last real supply stop is Woolies in Lithgow. Though you can get petrol at Capertee if needed (about 30km from Ilford)

[Mars]

Andrew, more than happy to bump back the time meet time to 9AM.
Will definitely prefer the additional time to unpack and set up all the gear at Wiruna without rushing.

I did a trial run with full gear out in the front yard this evening.
Set up the tent, blow up mattress, sleeping bag, telescope, new dew controls, collimated and did some observing.

Unfortunately, ran into numerous troubles along the way, still trying to sort a few out :S Seems nothing's easy.

[tlgerdes]

Put a sign in your back window "SPSP", so I know who to avoid on the open road :lol: :P

[Allan_L]

LOL :rofl::rofl::rofl:

Boy I am so unhappy to be missing this again :sadeyes: (so far all of Wiruna that I have seen is the wet inside of a tent and a smelly hall full of wet campers)

Have a great time everyone.

[Zincberg]

I think Ill do that, SPSP PONY CLUB on the back window.. might help to find the other pony clubbers when they get there.
So just to confirm, Patrick and I will be meeting at the Mcdonalds car park in Richmond at 9:00am friday morning.:hi:
If anyone else wants to meet us there, let us know so we can be prepared to wait for you if necessary. Also feel free to Private message me and I will give my mobile number in case there are any complications.

Getting excited about those clear dark skies...

Andrew

[Amunous]

yeah carls and i can meet you there at 9 sounds good

[Mars]

Quick Summary

What: Meet up on-route to South Pacific Star Party (Wiruna / Ilford, NSW) from Sydney/Central Coast
Meet Point: Richmond McDonalds
Address: Cnr March & Eastmarket Sts, Richmond NSW 2753
Time: 9AM, 1st April, 2011
Map: Click Here (http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Central+Coast,+New+South+Wale s&daddr=-33.5994448,150.7524114+to:Cnr+March +%26+Eastmarket+Sts,+Richmond+NSW+2 753+%28Richmond+McDonald%27s+%40+9A M%29+to:Ilford,+New+South+Wales&geocode=FSD3Af4dAkwFCSndPDOpg9JyazG AqDIWaH0BBA%3BFSxQ__0dm0z8CCntdW8fW 30NazEg2WzlZ30BEw%3BFQxR__0drUr8CCn 7qoRAW30NazF67Q6DUeQT_w%3BFQkECf4dL 6XuCClHmkLwynUOazEQZEOQtAkGBA&hl=en&ui=maps&mra=dvme&mrsp=1&sz=17&via=1&sll=-33.600108,150.752635&sspn=0.004745,0.007263&ie=UTF8&ll=-33.599465,150.752463&spn=0.002145,0.007263&z=17&layer=c&cbll=-33.599464,150.752452&panoid=zhLYVVnZgmqZSNa2O-qjRg&cbp=11,29.06,,0,4.39) for full route including meet point highlighted in google street view

Confirmed: Amunous, Zincberg, Mars (others welcome)

[Mars]

I like that idea actually. I might stick this up on my back window.

I couldn't bring myself to put "Pony Club" in large letters. To anyone else on the road, it just sounds kind of girly.. "ooh that guys in a Pony Club. Good for him!" http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/../vbiis/images/smilies/lol.gif

[Amunous]

Nice ive printed myself off one of those pics to stick in the back of the 4by cya on the morrow!

[sasup]

I have been up since 4:30 and im almost packed. Coffee is a must bye see ya up there all.

[jakob]

Just leaving Ilford!!!!!!!

[Arthur Alchin]

Have A Great Time everyone.

See the survivors at Bretti at the end of the month :rofl::rofl::rofl:

[White Rabbit]

Hi guys

I'm an idiot and I've just noticed that I've left my laptop power adaptor at home. Does anyone know of anywhere in the blue mountains i'd find a computer store. I have an eepc 1000h.

Thanks

[White Rabbit]

Got one at the harvey norman in Lithgow thank god.

[sasup]

Made it back home from spsp by 4:30 Sunday avo. Had time to wash the dust off the waggon and unpack before a home cooked dinner, Um. Great weekend and won some prize's to boot. The sky was great Friday night and we all got some good views. I found ghost of Jupiter as well as some fair views of Saturn and others. The kids run around and had a blast all weekend.
Big Thanks go out to the gang at Astronomical Society of NSW (http://www.quasarastronomy.com.au/society.htm#asnsw) for all there hard work to make this a fun and informative weekend, Also to rod for the great views through the 20" SDM, Mi and Gerry from wildcard and as always on hand to help and just darn good people. It was also great to catch up with other I have not seen in some time.
Mark Suchting pulled out the 12" binoculars on Saturday but the clouds rolled in so off to the dinner tent for donuts and hot co co. Great fun and dark skies what else can I say....

[Rodstar]

Hi stacey and others. There appear to be two threads re SPSP, and I have posted my comments on the other thread. Stacey, your company was great mate, and I am delighted that you enjoyed the views through the Mary Rose. I am looking forward to looking through SDM #055 when she arrives!