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

Min of 23 degrees, overcast with a cool breeze to start Australia Day off which we did very slowly!! Quiet and relaxing here.

Packed up and headed back down the road to the pull off and info at the north end of the ‘paved’ road that we saw yesterday. Had a cuppa then continued down to the Gingin Brook Road then east a bit to turn down Military Road. Arrived at a smashed gate at the turn off into Yeal Nature Reserve where the Gravity Discovery Centre and Observatory is located. Nice drive in through all the foliage - again no fire breaks so if a fire started there would be no stopping it.

A tall tower stood out as we approached.

Drove past the tower and parked near the entrance. Lots of interesting things outside. Had a wander around. Need a supervisor to get the pendulum going. A few things need fixing up.

We went inside and checked in and paid for the 10.30pm observatory tour which includes access to all the facilities here. The lady gave us balloons to climb the tower outside to learn about gravity.

I commented about the overcast sky and a chap sitting at a lap top answered us. Rick was the Chief Astronomer here and he said the cloud band should shift by midday and all clear for tonight but if it wasn’t then we could just book again and come back for free. He was doing up a police report for the smashed gate. Someone had left a car in the carpark last night after the late session but they couldn’t find the person so they closed up the gate (there is a phone number to ring on it). Unfortunately the person was still around and obviously decided to just ram the gate to get out - sadly for him Rick had taken a photo of the car that night in case it was stolen or something so the chap will be getting a visit from the police. I said that means we can’t park up for the night in the car park then! He said no, because of fire regulations and the locked gate. Oh well we will find a spot to pull up somewhere.

We took our balloons and headed for the Leaning Tower of Gingin. We had to fill the balloons to two sizes then drop them from the top to see which would land first. I said, they will land the same, Steve believed the bigger one will hit first. Now for the climb up - 222 steps, height of 13 storey building! The sign said as we climb we will be fighting against Earth’s time gradient.

More signs as we climb - we are aging faster than the people on the ground!

We reached the top - quite windy up here. I dropped my balloons together down the shute - I was right, they both hit at the same time.

Great view from up here. Will have to come back up for sun set.

There is a box that checks the air purity up here too.

Back down to the ground again to check out the other outside exhibits. Looks like a bit of maintenance is needed on some things.

While it was still overcast we decided to do the outside walks first. Followed the path to the ‘wind harp’. Steve spoke quietly at one end and I could hear him very clearly at the other. We could hear a light humming noise too. We found spots to put our ears on and heard the ‘wires’ signing. Not a choir today though.

Continued on to the Southern Cross Cosmos Centre where we will go tonight to use the telescopes to explore the sky.

Found some pretty flowers as we walked along the path to Kip’s Tree.

Nearby was a building with a vacuum pipe going across to another building but no other information about it - must be the scientists areas.

Continued around and came out to a wide road area with a big sign. I could see a building further down a side road so we obeyed the sign and stayed away.

Found the start of the Solar System Walk - starting with the sun of course. The sun is starting to peek through the clouds now too. Should have put our bigger hats on.

Now to walk the solar system! The new signs are great with the pictures taken from the exploring spacecraft. Glad to see they still included Pluto even though it isn’t a planet of our solar system any more. Learnt heaps - glad I took photos though as there is so much to take in.

Now for the long walk back. The sun was out and hot.

Back to the camper for a late lunch. I looked up the Voyager Spacecraft and found out they will just continue further into space. Amazing they can still be sending signals with pictures back to Earth.