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I was grey nomadíng up near Clermont a year back and came across a bloke selling one of those National geographic newtonianson a very rickety EQ3 or similar for the princely sum of $20. I hadn''t taken a scope with me on that trip so I jumped on it. The optics were passable (as good as a 70mm mirror that's been in the bush for a couple of years can be). The owner said he could never get it to work.
So I did a quick strip and re-greased the mount, did a clean of the optics and as good a collimation as you can without a catseye.
That night, Saturn was just past zenith so I invited the owner to come over to my camp and have a look. He brought a 6-pack and his teenage son.
They were able to see Saturn, its rings and several other good sights including NGC5139 and Tuc47. They were blown away. They'd never seen a planet before. And when I described what a globular cluster was, they were gob-smacked.
Later, after the 6-pack had disappeared, and dad and son were walking away - I heard the son say to his dad "That's what I want to be dad, a star man."
Well, I was pretty chuffed by that.
Peter
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