Boy Goes To Rock
When Kazuki arrived from Japan a couple of weeks ago, Yuko informed me that his parents wanted us to take the boy to Ayer’s Rock! So today, we did! We got up very early to catch a flight to the red center of the continent…
Kazuki Sleeps at the Airport
The flight was 3 hours 45 minutes. We got to the resort at about 1.40pm and were booked on a bus tour at 2.30pm so we didn’t have much time to relax after arriving. The tour took us to Kata Tjuta (The Olgas). We were dropped at the base of the monolith and told to walk up a track and be back in an hour. We didn’t get very far due to Yuko’s constant stopping to take pictures.
Kazuki with an 'Olga'
Then, to Uluru for the traditional viewing of sunset… 
The tour company provided wine and nibblies as well as folding chairs for us to sit and watch the rock…
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The tour bus driver told us the weight of the rock - one stone. This proved extremely difficult to explain to Yuko! I had been led to believe that the rock changes colour markedly at sunset. However, it was basically just different shades of red.
Rock, Tree and Moon
In the evening, the Japanese members of my party set up a data centre in our hotel room… 
Kazuki Goes to the Beach
We took Kazuki to Collaroy Beach and had lunch at ‘The Deck’…
Later, Kazuki walked towards the ocean…
RatPod
Kazuki is a big eater, and we decided we should take him to an ‘all you can eat’ place. So we took him to Hawkes’ at Eastwood for lunch. While in the area Yuko also made a trip to the Korean supermarket…
Hawkes' Food
Tomorrow is the St. Ignatius’ College astronomy night in conjunction with the NSAS. I have volunteered to take my scope for the kids to look through, as have several other members. As I live right next to the school, I have been the man on the spot for the club, investigating the merits of the various playing fields with regard to viewing and vehicle access.
A last minute decision was made to switch the event from the first to the fourth field - so today I went to check the access gate and road…
Access to the Fourth Field
However, at about 4pm I got an email saying that the event had been cancelled due to cloud. Of course, I had already loaded up my car. Now I have to unload it again! This is the life of the amateur astronomer.
In the evening, Kazuki let our rat listen to an iPod…
RatPod
Unloading the Car
Today I unloaded the car.
I had left my scope in it overnight after last night’s observing session. So I took some more pictures..
Fully loaded
The scope base protrudes into the front of the car
The tube ready to be wheeled inside
Observing Night
Tonight was the NSAS observing night at North Turramurra. Unfortunately, Mitsy’s battery went flat again and I was unable to use Mitsy to get to the event. Without Mitsy, I didn’t think I would be able to take my scope as it only just fits in Mitsy - the biggest of our three cars.
However, as this was the first opportunity for me to take my new scope to an observing event, I tried to find another solution.
After a bit of experimentation, I worked out a way to fit the scope in Belinda. It wasn’t easy - the base had to be laid on its side protruding into the front seat space, with the front seat folded forward…
With this configuration I was able to take my scope to the event and we had a very good night indeed. There were about six people with scopes in attendance (mine was the biggest) and we observed a good selection of targets with much cooperation and scope-sharing.
We even saw a UFO and some other mysterious stuff.
I reported on the event on the NSAS web site here.
No commentsClimbing the Bridge
Today we took Kazuki to climb the Harbour Bridge…
Yuko waited for us while Kazuki and I made the climb together. This was the third time I’ve climbed the bridge, although it’s eight years since my last climb.
Because you can’t take cameras on the climb, we only have the ‘official’ photos…
Half way up the arch
It was very exciting indeed!
At the summit
The Tiny Red Guitar
Today I drove over to Crows Nest to drop some documents in to my financial advisor’s office. So while I was there I decided to have a look in the Big Music shop which is nearby.
I only intended to browse, but I emerged from the shop with a new guitar! It was very exciting indeed…
No commentsBeating the Boy
Last night Kazuki discovered my ChesSOS web site and promptly signed up and challenged me to a game. The result is in the following video…
No commentsMeeting the Lost in Space Robot
Today we took Kazuki to the Powerhouse Museum. On the way we stopped at China Town to eat Yum Cha. The restaurant we went to was quite good…
The highlight of our visit to the museum was our encounter with the ‘B9′ Robot (usually known as ‘The Robot’) from ‘Lost in Space‘. Having watched this show religiously as a child, it was very exciting to see the robot up close.
The information card for the robot display…
We also saw some white people in a train. Apparently this is what people looked like 150 years ago…
Prisoner Receives Package From Home
Today the boy received a package from home to help him survive in Australian society…
Later we went to the Red Chopstick…
Yuko was cold and borrowed my coat…
I was very happy to eat chicken…
