Sun, 26th Jan, 2025 (pm) Back to Nature Van Park, Wanerie to Carpark of Gravity Discovery Centre & Observatory, west of Gingin, WA (stars & science)

A lady came out with a screaming toddler - got too hot as it has warmed up a lot. I offered her a frozen fruit icy-pole which she gratefully accepted and I saw there was another child so got one for her too. She said I was a life-saver - nice to be able to help.

Read for a while then headed inside to learn some more. Plants and animals first.

Found this which explains why some things need fixing up.

Then into the science things. Lots of things to play with. Reminds us of when we took the boys to Questacon in Canberra - amazing. Steve had fun making the ‘slinky’ wobble.

We walked through this tunnel of pipes outside. Now we know what it was for - sound waves.

Had fun trying to get all three balls to stay up in the air.

Read about the Apollo missions.

Listened to Rick’s talk from one of the 4 TV screens. More info about the box we saw at the top of the tower. Bit scary hopping on the scales for each planet - didn’t take a photo of the results!

The amazing minds of these men.

Back to the camper for a cuppa - glad we had all day to explore.

Spun some balls into the Black Hole then walked over to the Cosmology Gallery.

Walked around the walls reading about the creation of our universe from the Big Bang. Up a level to the ‘art’ gallery.

Down to the bottom to learn how gold was created.

A replica of the first space craft to take man into space.

A hunk of rock from outer space.

Fabulous photo.

Interesting reading about astronomers expedition to Wallal, south of Broome, to watch the solar eclipse in 1922.

Back outside in the garden to read about the Christmas Tree that the aborigines used to make shields from. We saw lots of these in bloom before Christmas.

Back inside where I took Steve for a spin up to 0.4 G-force. That was enough for him - had his head spinning. It was funny trying to lift your head and arms even at that light spin.

A nice art piece of the dream time animals the aborigines saw in the night sky.

This is the sound wave tunnel we listened to before inside.

Back to the camper to read then drinks. Rick stopped to say we could stay in the car park as they don’t have a gate to lock so if there is a fire we can just drive out. We thanked him - that makes it much easier. We moved along to the bus/van parking which is flatter and set up.

Cooked dinner then I walked up the tower (Steve didn’t!!) to watch the sun set. Very nice and a bit chilly, glad I put my jumper on.

Lots of cars arrived for the first Observatory tour. We watched a movie to pass the time till our session at 10.30pm. The sky is clear which is great.

At 10pm we went inside and watched a video about time travel while others arrived. We all then went into the Cosmos Gallery to listen to Rick’s talk. He asked how many were here because of the FB posts about the planets being in a line at their certain time - so many hands went up. Oh well, at least it brought people here even if as he says the planets are always in a line around the sun and if they were in a line - we would only see the next one along. Can’t see Neptune or Uranus with the naked eye in the sky either. He spoke of other events they hold here and other places trying to teach people about our solar system and beyond. Very passionate chap.

We then followed another astronomer out to the car park where he pointed out the various stars with a laser pointer - bit of a comedian too. He showed us the Southern Cross and pointers and explained how they are trying to get a new constellation recognised - called the Ibis - the bin chicken. He pointed out the stars that make it too - he said the authorities have stopped replying to his emails, haha.

We then broke into our 4 groups with the 4 astronomers from here and went into the Southern Cross Centre where the roof had been slid back so we could view the stars through 4 telescopes. We started with Rick first - looking at Mars which was just a round ball through the telescope. He talked about the planet and we asked questions. Very interesting though Steve reckons it would be better if the image was put on a big screen rather than trying to peer through the view finder.

Next one was a Nebula - I think.

Then Jupiter - I saw the stripes like on the picture we saw on the walk and three moons. Very clear.

Last one was a small part of the Large Magellan Cloud.

Rick thanked everyone in case some people wanted to leave. After that he said they would focus the telescopes on different objects and get the big telescope working too as they were keen to look at other galaxies and stars. I liked the Jewel Box the best which is just below the Beta Crux in the Southern Cross - so many sparkling stars. A lot to take in but they guys were very knowledgeable and passionate so it was very interesting.

We thanked them and headed back to the camper where we saw it was 1am - wow. So glad we don’t have to drive anywhere. Great finish to our northern meander.