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Andrew and I got back this afternoon.
What a fantastic weekend. I have about 150GB of images to get through - with 3 cameras running I've got multiple sequences of timelapse, stills, star trails and more.
Coona on Friday night started out nice (albeit windy) and then turned to crap. It was VERY VERY windy and gusty, blowing gear about the place, and it brought clouds. Terribly miserable. We packed it in at around 10:30pm. It did clear later (around 3am) but we were too warm in bed.
The next night (last night) at Narrabri was absolutely fantastic - not a breath of wind, not a single cloud all night long, and not a hint of dew. It was quite bright early on with the Moon, but after 2am when it set, man it was dark. Ended up going to bed at about 5am with the prospect of a long drive home today (although we only got an hour sleep).
The hospitality of those we met was mind-blowing.
Doug Gray, the site manager at the AAO, gave us his house to use, took us on a tour of the 4m AAO telescope including walking outside around on the catwalk, and a trip to the VERY TOP of the AAO dome! It was an incredible view. Something I'll remember forever.
Pete from iTelescope also gave us a tour of his facility, an amazing piece of work by the iTelescope guys.
We were shown equally amazing hospitality by Christoph at the ATCA at Narrabri. He put us up in his 'guest house' (to be seen to be believed), took us on a tour of the inside and outside of one of the radio dishes, including walking on the dish itself! And then in the labs, the control room, and everywhere else behind the scenes. It was amazing.
A home cooked meal with his lovely wife and great company too.
It was just a fantastic weekend, and I don't even know where to start with the images. I'll post a few over the next couple of days but with a holiday to WA in a weeks time, there's going to be a massive backlog waiting for me when I get back.
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