Quote:
Originally Posted by Satchmo
Hi Gary
There is a floodlight in the council depot which is never on in the weekend.
I haven't seen the RFS light you mention. It is not visible from the South end if it does shine on the field.
There are a few sodiums down Bloodtree Rd opposite which are fairly heavily obscured by trees at the clubhouse and can be blocked by the hanger in the right place.
The floodlights on the sports field I have not seen in the weekend.
The Southern end has absolutely no lighting visible ( when the sports field lights are off) and has a great horizon and probably 200 X 200 metere usable. There are other light free places around too particularly on the Northen end up Runway 07.
Have attached a Google pic that makes things a little clearer. The small building at the top is the clubhouse and below that the large shed is the hanger. Power could be run from either. You can see the South end is well away from Bloodtree road and protected by trees, and the horizen is very good. The sport field is to the left.
The most critical thing to investigate is when the sports field lights gets used. I have only ever seen it on a Thursday night when they train.
Cheers
Mark
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Hi Mark,
Thanks for the description. It's been at least a couple of years since I detoured
off down the road on the way back from Bucketty one night to see what it was
like these days. We did pull into the parking bay there at the airstrip and
as you report, the trees near the clubhouse did a really good job of screening the
streetlights further down the road and it certainly looked like a good spot
to observe from given its proximity to Sydney and the Central Coast.
A funny story was one night in 1996 when we were observing from the sports field
at the end where the sheds and car park are, it was then very dark with absolutely
no artificial lights except for the dim glow of lights inside the houses across the
road. Mai was seated in a fold-up chair taking notes when suddenly she heard
this heavy panting immediately followed by a wet tongue across the face.
Unbeknownst to the both of us, a large black dog had apparently come from one
of the properties across the road and decided to give Mai a welcoming lick.
It was quite startling and I scrambled for the white light to find out what
was going on in the dark. The light revealed the dog happily wagging its
tail with its tongue hanging out obviously delighted to have some human
companionship in what was normally a lonely place.
Hope you are still get some good gliding in and we'll have to go up with you one day!
Merry Christmas from Mai and I!