Meet and greet was great but obviously uneasy. I had looked at the post a photo of yourself, but still, putting a face / voice to a username was funny.
Unpacked the dob buggy and gear and there were tentative eyes as i carried it into the show and tell corner.
The mood started to get better as a bunch of guys start to build stuff and so, we all gathered around and started to assemble the dob buggy. Lots of "don't stuff it up, hee hee hee" but it came together. The ice started to break when we then put my scope on the wedge and looked at the pros and cons. In the middle of this, The one and only Mr Tuc 47 crooked his finger at me and so i dutifully follow. Like a a grizzled old pirate showing the 11 year old castaway, he opened up his treasure chest, and "lo and be hold, me houghys" a case ful o' naglers. I start to tremble from the 3m distance i had put myself at when he opened this case of goodies. "Come here and pick em up" he says, "but don't take the caps off or you will be keel hauled!".
Well time then flew..... others seeing Mr tuc47's unveiling, walk sedately out the door of the common room ( and then run like hell to their rooms) to bring back their cases. Star camp had officially started!!!
Clouds cleared up at around 9pm. i got a 2 or 3 of hours observing and went to bedat around midnight. Bird was only just starting to get images. i remember commenting to my wife that there is this guy out there that has been setting up for 3 hours, gee i hope he gets some good weather!!!
Saturday:
Saw me having a loveley time with the family at the local fair. Only thing to report was that you have to give way to old people walking the middle of the road. The old dear eventually indicated that she was shuffling off the road and we then drove on to the camp.
3pm saw the camp in a flurry as scopes were being collimated and mirrors cleaned. Another sign of the spirit that is this forum, was Mr tuc47 offering to teflon tape the Alt bearings of all the new dobs!
Wombat started to collimate my scope and worked out that my secondary was pinched. Off to the kitchen we go and after much hard work, get the secondary out of its case. The foam that inside the secondary helps to support the mirror as miles too big. Once cut to size, I was off and running. No time to collimate the rest, because for mine, the highlight of the camp was about to start.
I have been at this hobby for 5 months. What possibly could someone talk about re dso's that could be interesting. Shouldn't there be a projector here or something so Mr Tuc27 can show us some awesome pics.
Well.......sit down, shut up and listen. David Girling (Dave47tuc) is one of the best speakers I have had the pleasure of being entertained by. This includes all the great business speakers.
Armed with an armful of books, dressed in shorts, Mr Tuc47 had me glued to the seat.
Poignant questions like:
Q: "how long do you actually observe a galaxy or a cluster"
A: (from me) "oh about 15 secs and move on".
Q: "Do you just frame it in the eyepiece"
A: (from me) "yes"
Q: "Do you look at it with high power to look at the core of a galaxy"
A: (from me) "no"
What summed it up the most was Dave saying "I have never seen an image do Tuc 47 justice like what you eye does"
I am very much wrapped up in imaging the planets, but even more so now, i am taking my time to observe. Last night for the 5 hours of our local get together, the computer was only used for helping find uranus etc. We observed and took time to look and look and look.
Later that night, with the rain starting, we trundled off to the Ballarat observatory. Again, I underestimated this one. We are not talking about a 3.5m dome, but a series of buildings with history and huge scopes. An eye opener. Speaking of which, Wombat has found a new way of getting rid of cataracts for the young. Whilst the young one is looking in the eyepiece, take a picture with flash of the inside of a 16" tube!!!
(quick interval to see if i have gone over the limit for characters)
Uneasy? Tired - yes. We had already done 5 hours work before you turned up LOL! But yes, a few looked a bit uncomfortable at first. Yes, it was funny when DaveTuc got out his EP case. All of a sudden EP cases came from every direction, me included!!!
Makes times like Snake Valley camp priceless. 
