The New Snake Valley Astro Camp! March 20-22 2015

[traveller (Bo)]

Feeling excited. Is it friday yet
Also, is anyone planning to bring one of those woollies coffee pod machines? I have some pods and a machine, but we may want to just have one machine to share and byo pods.
Bo

[Greenswale (Wren)]

I will bring an Aldi pod machine, and lots of pods. Free (Ahem!!!) for anyone to use, but users might make a coin donation to the club? Only does black coffee, no sooky lah-lah milky stuff.

Will arrive a bit after lunch, Friday.

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Sounds like there could be some serious coffee overdoses happening!!

Malcolm

[JohnG (John)]

You better keep a constant supply to the purple one if I am to teach her Photoshop

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Originally Posted by JohnG

You better keep a constant supply to the purple one if I am to teach her Photoshop

Hmmm... I would have thought less caffeine would make her sit still and concentrate!!

[Jen]

Hahaha you guys are very funny
I can sit still for a little while when I'm sleeping
Oh and just for the record Jen doesn't drink coffee at all lol lol ewwww it's yucky but I will eat the marshmallows and chocolate hehe

[Jen]

Originally Posted by JohnG

You better keep a constant supply to the purple one if I am to teach her Photoshop

I think you are going to need a constant supply to put up with me buahahaha

[JohnG (John)]

Originally Posted by Jen

I think you are going to need a constant supply to put up with me buahahaha

Lucky I have my hair short, don't have to pull it out... Looking forward to the challenge..

[dmurton (David)]

Originally Posted by Greenswale

I will bring an Aldi pod machine, and lots of pods. Free (Ahem!!!) for anyone to use, but users might make a coin donation to the club? Only does black coffee, no sooky lah-lah milky stuff.

Will arrive a bit after lunch, Friday.

Wren,

Just don't leave your coffee gear behind again!

David

[john.pullen1 (John)]

Just checking that I am on your list David Murton was booking for both of us, I am the John without a surname , you referred, I am the one and only John Pullen.

I have been the last 3 camps and its a fantastic weekend.

Can you confirm?

John .

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Originally Posted by john.pullen1

Just checking that I am on your list David Murton was booking for both of us, I am the John without a surname , you referred, I am the one and only John Pullen.

I have been the last 3 camps and its a fantastic weekend.

Can you confirm?

John .

Yes John, you are booked in. I will update the list tonight.

Malcolm

[SimmoW (SIMON)]

Looking forward to Friday!!

Hey Malcolm, is there a microwave oven there? I tend to live on such meals when at the ASV site, so don't want to be red faced if there's no MW!

Simon

Originally Posted by barx1963

Yes that's right, actually less than a week to go.
Over the next week, there may be times I will be out of contact, so if you don't hear back from me on any questions, requests, concerns, please be patient.
I can be contacted on my home phone on 03 52313048, on my mobile 0448 567187, emails at snakevalleyastrocamps@gmail.com or my personal email on barx@iprimus.com.au. Please do not send emails after Friday morning as I will not have any easy way to retrieve them. Best bet is to ring on my mobile. from Friday morning onwards.

Don't forget, if staying in cabins, BRING BEDDING!!

One thought that occurred to me, with over 40 staying and the majority males, there are only 3 shower stalls in the men's block. Please be considerate of others and try not to take looooong showers during the camp. Similarly with the kitchen facilities. this year we have no Saturday feast so all meals will be self catering. As such, when planning meals, try to go for something that is quick and easy to cook so everyone gets a fair go on the stove. Also please wash up and put away your dishes as you go.
We will be supplying tea (teabags) and coffee (Nescafe only, sorry to any coffee afficianodos out there) and sugar, but please bring your own milk.

Cheers

Malcolm

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Originally Posted by SimmoW

Looking forward to Friday!!

Hey Malcolm, is there a microwave oven there? I tend to live on such meals when at the ASV site, so don't want to be red faced if there's no MW!

Simon

Yes, there are 2 microwaves. The kitchen is much better than the facilities at Heathcote, besides the microwaves, there are 3 large fridges, a large gas stove, plenty of crockery, cutlery and utensils. Also toasters and kettles.
Some of the pots and pans are a bit battered but work fine.

Malcolm

[byronpaul (Paul)]

Getting close now

Looks like a lot of people are well on the way with packing and remembering the key inclusions like ...... Coffee !@#!@#

Going to be a great crowd, with lots of good kit along. Guess some of the "boys" will also be bringing along some of their RC toys for daytime amusement as well.

For those new to Snake Valley camps, the atmosphere is very relaxed and lots of laughter to be had ..... usually at the expense of somebody else having a dah moment

Whilst we want to avoid white light at night, nobody it terribly precious about the separation of visual from imaging and you're free to set-up as you wish.

Typically, imagers are closer to the Rec Hall to avoid long power runs to the bottom of the field, and Dob Corner is usually toward the bottom of the field but we don't usually have power down there as we are all on batteries. The field itself is probably about 100m x 75m so there's plenty of room.

There's going to be plenty of Solar gear along as well including Malcolm's newly acquired double stacked Lunt, which along with Patrick's Double stacked kit, and a bunch of other Solar scopes, we are going to have some great daytime viewing to do.

Whilst it looks like Jen's already stitched up some of JohnG's time to teach her Photoshop, we have plenty of imaging and visual expertise onhand should any newbies want to maximise the opportunity to pick up tips and advise.

We also have a lot of both day and night Photography expertise in attendance, so make sure you pack your camera kit for some stunning wide fields or timelapse.

As the happy one from Swan Hill would say ..... only 3 sleeps to go .....

[The_bluester (Paul)]

Make that two!

It has been a pretty high stress couple of months at work. I am really looking forward to a couple of relaxing nights under the stars.

Accuweather still looks good for at least Friday and Saturday nights and reasonably good for those staying Sunday night.

[The_bluester (Paul)]

Went out and bought myself a bit more gear today. I have always been doubtful on the ability of my batteries to get through the night if I need the heaters (My Kendrick controller seems pretty twitchy about it's cutoff point)

Out with one battery in my battery box and in with a 13.8V lab supply to keep the battery I will leave in there charged up and to supply all the gear. I see about 6A max between heaters and slewing on both axes so I expect my 12A continuous rated supply to be ample. The battery can float me over any power interruptions and add some filtration to the output.

[Jen]

2 more sleeps woohoooo
Drive safe everyone see you soon

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Ok time to update the list of attendees. Paula is now unable to attend and Daniel is only bringing one son not the entire family.

Malcolm
Paul Byron
Martin
Big Dave
Jamie Pole
Rowland
Wren
Andrew McCann
Barry Coverdale
John G
Niko
Rodney Doig
Ken (nico13)
Bo and Ryan
Tara (grasshopper) and husband and Blake (casual, not staying overnight)
Jen and Drew
Daniel, and his son
Paul (Bluester)
Andrew Campbell
Paul Fitzgerald
Steve Fleming
Alex Leahy
Paddy
Warren and Pamela Maag
Alistair (alistairsam)
Neale Walters
Bob & Peter Halsall
Simon Waters
Uri Abrahams
Trac Phan
Hang Tran
Rodd Westwood
David Murton
John Pullen
Grant McKechnie
Adrian Sozio

Which makes a total of 43. I have also had contact from a Bill Yeo who is with the ASWA and is hoping to be able to make it to camp and a Gerald Bristow who may come on the Sunday

All good at this stage!!

Malcolm

[Mckechg (Grant)]

Whats Phone Service like out there?

[Exfso (Peter)]

Last time I went a couple of years ago it was ok with Telstra, but forget the rest, might have changed now...