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Hey John, it is good stretching our memories with these things!
Actually, Mike Salway and I first observed together when I bought my LX200 in January 2005. We then met with Froggy at a function in Woy Woy a week or two later. From this, I arranged a group observing session near a watertank in Somersby (I recall Trufflehunter was there) - Froggy was horrified by the amount of light pollution, and invited us to observe next time where he was living and working (the Paint Ball site). That's where we therefore went the next time (possibly April 2005, as SPSP was in March that year I think). I recall John you joining us around that time, and as you recall, perhaps there was 8 or 10 of us who were regulars in those early days.
I remember HOughy joining us on one of the early nights in 2005 at the Paint Ball site with his 12 inch LX200 classic.
I remember Scott Mitchell was another regular face in those days, he was a real character - a shame he had to return to the US. And yes Joe was a regular with Anushka (apologies for spelling) - her home baked cookies were first class!
I used to spend my time in those early days scratching my head as to why the views through my $5000 LX200 were so much inferior to Mike Salway's $800 10 inch dob. It took me a while to accept the superiority of the views through a dob vis-a-vis a Schmidt Cassegrain.
RB used to bring one of his refractors in those days. Amazing views - we used to split doubles and take in fantastic views of the planets.
I also recall with a great deal of fondness my first night at the Paint Ball in 2007 with the Mary Rose. From those dark skies, the views of the Homunculus were simply stupendous!
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