One Small Step For Man...

Sunday 30th August

"The Dish"

It is another amazingly clear day and there was a heavy dew overnight.

As I'm about to roll up my awning, a chap, to whom I spoken the night before, was passing and informed me he wasn't loitering outside the lady's toilets this morning - last night he was waiting in a rather suspect location for his wife - and he offered to help me with the awning. I was grateful for that because while I can put it away on my own it does slightly challenge my shoulder. 

My first destination (and the main one for the day) is the Parkes Observatory Visitor Centre. A fabulous place to visit and I'm glad I allowed plenty of time to do so. 

On the approach to the Parkes Observatory

A particularly attractive grevillea in the grounds

I had not realised that the concept for the dish started in 1955! And has been in operation for almost 65 years.

And the director's hearing of 'Houston we have a problem' resulted in it springing into unplanned action with respect to the Apollo 13 mission.

And of course there is the role that it played in the moon landing; it actually received the highest quality pictures available at the time!  I still remember all of grade 8 sitting cross-legged on the upstairs corridor floor in c-block, watching the event on a relatively (by today's standards) TV screen.

And much closer
It is 64m diameter
And can detect radio waves 7mm to 4m long

I also did not know that just before the moonwalk began the dish received a buffeting by winds of up to 110 km per hour, way beyond its operating capacity, but the director at the time gave the okay for its use to proceed.

And upgrades over the years have resulted in it now being 10,000 times more sensitive than when first commissioned, and of course accessible remotely. International astronomers no longer need to travel to use it on site

The old focus cabin - now replaced
(the operations control structure located at the focal point of the radio telescope dish)

I spend a little bit of time looking at the leading entries for astrophotography awards and they really are remarkable. Much reflection from the lights in the room make it difficult to photograph them, but they are truly beautiful.

Silver Coin or Silver Dollar galaxy
a mere 11 million light years away

I stand and watch and listen to a lady using the parabolic audio dish with her partner and she offers to play with me and so we have a little conversation at the dishes which sit opposite each other, at some distance apart.  Whispering to the focal point reflects it to the other dish - which is an amazing illustration of how 'the dish' works.

Parabolic dish for visitors to 'play'

Also in the grounds is Newton's apple tree a cutting of the direct lineage of the tree from which the apple fell and prompted his understanding of gravity.

Newton's Apple Tree

The half hour of 3D videos in the visitor centre is worthwhile and has some fabulous graphics.

I eat a morning tea snack before I drive away and a couple of birds are there incredibly quickly when I drop a bit on the ground.

Opportunitsts!

 I continue on my way and once again I'm passing through canola growing country and it really is quite beautiful.

Canola fields

About 1:00 p.m. it's time to stop and eat my lunch and Manilda offers a place to sit with facilities adjacent, as well as petrol cheaper than I've seen it since I left Melbourne at 206.9!

 I diverted off my route to walk up to the Pinnacle lookout and it's a fairly steep set of steps but the lookout's rather magnificent. The views spreads out for miles around and there are hills in the background and flocks of cockies calling down below. 

Panoramic view from the Pinnacle

View from the Pinnacle

Looking up at the Pinnacle

I drove past an inordinate number of wineries on the way there.

A small herd of children arrived and one decides that climbing outside the barrier on the rocks might be a good idea. I suggest to her that it isn't and I get an awww! She did comply appropriately and came back to a safer side of the barrier. 

As I head down I come across a couple of adults and I ask if the herd belongs to them and the women replies 'depends', so I filled her in. 

Just a pretty flower on the track

Maps was vaguely helpful in helping me find Bakers' Delight in Orange, but since it was in an internal block shopping centre with no apparent access from the street that maps told me to go down, it was a little bit of a challenge. 

I arrived at the caravan park and checked in a very good time and set up on an area that I was warned to test first since somebody got bogged there a couple of days ago.

A couple of caravaners light a fire in the fire pit near where I'm camped and while they had trouble getting it going because the wood's not good. it eventually did go well by the time they needed to go inside their caravan and cook so I sat by their fire looking after it for a while as I ate my dinner. 

"Minding" the fire

It looks like being another clear night but fairly chilly around my ears