We were warm last night, and it was cold when we got out of bed this morning.
We tried to warm the caravan with our air conditioning unit, but it does not provide heat if the temperature is 3 degrees or lower, so we had an idea as to what it was outside.
Following the failed attempt to stargaze yesterday, we sent an email and requested 10 spots for tonight. That was later confirmed.
We had planned to provide transport for our friends today so with the car cleared to allow access to the rear seats, we left the caravan park just after 9:00am.
Our first destination was the Siding Springs Observatory. The drive was quick, but a very cold wind hit us the moment we exited the car. We were also surprised to see the café closed even though it had an open sign. Later we learnt that the café is closed on Tuesday and the signs at the entry to the site from the main road should have indicated the closure. We were lucky that the public gallery to view the telescope was open otherwise it would have been a totally wasted trip.
Leaving Siding Springs, we drove into the Warrumbungle National Park hoping to find coffee at the visitors’ centre. Again unlucky.
We drove back to Coonabarabran and had a light lunch at the bakery. That was followed by a little bit of shopping with our friends before returning to the caravan park via Crystal Kingdom.
Our group was spread across the region with members visiting Siding Springs, the Warrumbungle National Park, Pilliga Pottery and the Pilliga Sandstone Caves.
Later in the afternoon we called a meeting of our group to decide what would happen over the coming days. An East Coast low could provide a fair amount of rain which could impact the final two nights which were to be free camps. Without a lot of discussion, we decided to spend the final two night at Bathurst in a caravan park, and we all booked into the Bathurst Panorama Holiday Park.
At 5:30pm with our friends in the rear of the car, we drove to the Milroy observatory for “take two”. We had watched cloud come and go all afternoon and the sunset was probably the best we had seen since starting this trip, all because of cloud in the distance that was heading our way.
Once at the observatory, the presenting astronomers collected our money appearing very confident that the show would go on. It was cold with a strong wind blowing from the west but that did not stop the stargazing. The cloud we saw earlier disappeared and the dark sky was only compromised by the moon which is in a waxing crescent phase. Tonight reinforced the need to get our telescopes out and look at the wonderful night sky.
The show went for about 90 minutes after which we returned to Coonabarabran with intentions of refuelling the car. The intended service station was closed so we will refuel tomorrow.
We had a late tea with the remainder of the schnitzel we purchased yesterday and that was supplemented with a pasta salad.
When we showered in the caravan, it became very apparent that we have a plumbing leak in the bathroom. Water was noted coming from the panel in front of the mixer for the shower. Unfortunately, we are unable to access the area to see the source of the leak. The shower was dried but water still appeared from the base of the panel
With the wind gusting outside from time to time, we were in bed by 11:15pm. Tomorrow, we drive to Bathurst for the final couple of days of this trip.