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Hi Mike & All,
To all those nominated or going up to Parkes for the Astrofest -- best wishes in the competition and good luck. Hope you had as good a time as I did over this past weekend.
I just arrived home from a great weekend up there after doing a bit of a talk on the Friday night at their monthly meeting and then going observing with the CWAS folks at their Cookamidgera dark site. Had a great time and they've got a very nice observing spot. I'd give my right arm to have conditions like those outside my backdoor! The CWAS folks are very hospitable and friendly -- great people (as are almost all amateur astronomers).
For anyone interested, we stayed at the All Settlers motel, Welcome St at Parkes, about 600m south of the town centre. It was reasonably priced, clean and had Foxtel & wireless broadband included in the tariff ($102 a night for 2 people). The wireless can sometimes be a little "iffy" and has a tendency to drop-out from time to time for no apparent reason -- just re-connect. There is a take-away next-door that does a good cooked brekkie, The Parkes Services Club is across Cooke Park less than 100m walk and has good meals too. Maccas is about a 200m walk around the corner.
It was pretty cold but not absolutely freezing up theree by any means. Overnight low Saturday was -1.5 and the tops around 12 deg. It rained most of the Friday. The surrounding coutryside looks quite green to me.
Have a good one people!
Best,
Les D
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