Space Stations, Radio Telescopes and Spaceships!

After leaving Gooloogong we headed to Parkes. Sam’s dream career is to become an Astrophysicist, so as you can imagine, he was one very excited eight year old, as we headed to the Parkes Radio Telescope.

The CSIRO Parkes Observatory is a 64-metre Telescope used for Radio Astronomy. After a great 3D movie, we had a look around the information centre. Sam managed to make us all proud by hacking into the CSIRO computer system to play pinball. Needless to say we quickly left the info centre and enjoyed a cup of tea and scones, while watching the huge telescope move around.

 
After our visit to the Radio telescope we set up camp at a little campground in the Goobang National Park called The Wanda Wandong Campground.  We arrived just as the sun was setting and realised we were the only ones there. The campground is very well laid out with lots of sites big enough for us. We chose a site towards the end of the park near a campfire pit. Mum and Dad pulled up next to us. Dad and the boys went on a hunt for firewood and we soon had a roaring campfire.

After a day learning about our Solar System, space travel and life on Mars, we had a really nice surprise. As we were sitting talking about the day, Dad spotted a bright light in the sky. We all assumed it was a satellite until we realised it was moving really quickly and was too bright to be a satellite. We soon discovered it was a Space Station. Sam was so excited and rushed over to the computer with Dad. They confirmed that it was in fact the International Space Station and it had a Space Shuttle docked to it. It was a wonderful way to end the day and I am sure Sam and Will went to bed dreaming about Space Adventures.

While we were sitting around the campfire toasting marshmallows, Dan stuck his head out of the caravan and asked my Dad if he could give him a hand. Now it’s not unusual for Dad to give Dan a hand but I thought it was a bit weird that Dan would pull Dad away from the campfire at night. I soon realised that Dan had discovered a mouse under our bed and was trying to catch it without me knowing. I was grateful for his secrecy and I wish I wasn’t quite so nosey!! They managed to catch the little critter (who had eaten his way through all our chips and cereal under our bed) and released him in the bush. Of course, I am now convinced that we have more rodents who have take residence in our home!!!!

We got up early the following morning, left mum and dad to enjoy a bit of peace and quiet, and headed in to Dubbo. We were hoping to catch up with friends who were also staying in Dubbo but unfortunately they moved on before they got our message. After a quick visit to the information centre, it was off to Dubbo Western Plain Zoo.

 We had a wonderful day at the Zoo. You have the choice to either walk, ride you bike, or drive around the huge 300 hectares of parkland.

We chose to ride our bikes, so put Zaccy in the baby seat and set off. It was wonderful being able to ride our bikes right up to each exhibit and spend as much time as needed. The Zoo is laid out really well and the roads and path run along the exhibits and you can see the animals from many directions as you travel around.

Unfortunately, I was having trouble with my new bike. The chain kept coming off and we didn’t have the tools with us needed to tighten it. At one point the chain got wedged between the cogs and the wheel. It was so stuck that I ended up going back to get the car while Dan and the kids had a bite to eat. Even with the tools from the car we still couldn’t fix my bike so we attached all the bikes to the bike rack and spent the rest of the afternoon driving ‘safari style’ the rest of the way.

We returned back to our campground to find Mum and Dad a bit worried. Earlier that afternoon an old man had come past and told them he was heading into the bush to check on his beehives. “If I’m not back by 5 o’clock, phone the police” he said jokingly. It was now nearly five, would be getting dark soon, and he still hadn’t come back. Dad and the boys went for a walk into the bush to have a look for him, and then they decided to continue the search on bikes. Mum and I stayed back in case he came back.

We were just discussing whether we should call the Park Ranger or the Police when the old man wandered out of the bush. This was the first time I had seen him and was a bit surprised that a man of his age would be out wandering around. After we called Dad and the boys on the CB to let them know he had returned, I got chatting to the man.

He was very happily telling me all about his beehives and how he cares for them. The queen bees were having trouble surviving the cold nights and he didn’t like their chances of lasting through this winter. By this time, Dad, Sam and Will had returned and the conversation moved on to safety in the bush.

He was telling us “oh, you couldn’t survive a night out in this bush without supplies, and if you did the morning frost would do ya in.” He told the kids “now you boys make sure you stay close to camp. It’s easy to get completely lost out there. I’ve been coming here for over 45 years and I still reckon it all looks the same. You get some wild animals out here too. There are those feral pigs you gotta be careful of.” He went on to describe the pigs and what they look like.

We were all politely listening to him tell us all about the bush, when out of nowhere came... “ and ya really gotta watch out for them Junganong People. They are a worry. Some of them fellas can be real big, some even over 750 kilos!”

He must be playing a joke on the kids, I thought.  “Yeah, they came to me once. They communicate through the mind ya see. Came right to my house one night and woke me up.” I looked over at Dad and could see he was trying really hard to keep a straight face. The man, very seriously continued “They are harmless fellas really. They are just after one thing. They want the honey! Their spaceships look just like great big walnuts, they’re brown too. There were two great big piles out the front of them. They looked like big piles of sawdust” He looks right at me and asks “do you know what they were?” I was too shocked by the bizarre turn in the conversation to answer, so Dad says “No, we don’t know. What were they?”  He shakes his head like we should have known the answer and says “piles of powdered honey. Do you know that out of God’s three Universes, Earth is the only one that has the honey they need.”

We were all standing there gobsmacked! I had no idea what to think when the man continued, “Yeah, I nearly lost all my bees to the Africana Beetle. The little bug lives in the pollen and kills all the bees.....” He went on telling us more about bees and his hives then said, “well, I’ve got a long drive ahead of me, so I had better be off.”

We all said our goodbyes and he left. As soon as he had driven off, Dad and I looked at each other and burst out laughing. “I love these old country blokes!” said Dad through tears of laughter.

The following day we packed up the van and went back to the zoo. This time Mum and I took the boys on foot around the Zoo.  Dan had work to do and Dad says he’s been to enough Zoos to last his lifetime. So they parked up in the Big Rig car park and Dad spent the morning in his motorhome surfing The Net and Dan stayed in our van and earned some money.

Once we had seen all the animals at the Zoo we all went into Dubbo Park for some lunch. The kids had a fabulous time playing in the water park part of the playground and got soaking wet. While we were sitting watching the kids play, we were enjoying watching the skydivers parachute their way to a nearby park. While watching one particular skydiver, I said to dad “is he deliberately spinning around like that?” dad said “yeah, he’s probably trying out some stunts.” Then before our eyes, the skydiver started spinning completely out of control then became separated from his parachute.  We all held our breath and it felt like a lifetime before he released his emergency back-up chute. My heart was racing while we watched him recover and make a safe landing and his tangled up parachute came slowly to rest in a nearby tree. I cannot imagine what the skydiver was feeling but I am so grateful for their quick thinking. It was a scary thing to witness.

Once it was all over Dad turned to the boys and said “see boys, that’s why you never jump out of a perfectly good aeroplane.” They nodded their agreement with their mouths still open in shock.

After our eventful lunch we made our way to our next campsite. Mendooran is about 70ks North East of Dubbo. The small town is known for its beautifully painted murals on the walls of many of its buildings. It is a sleepy little town with many empty shops.

We pulled up alongside the Castlereagh River and found a great spot to set up camp.

We spent the next few days cycling around town, fishing in the river and going to the local pub for dinner.  I spent a lot of time taking photos of the beautiful scenery and enjoying the peace and tranquillity of the river.

We have stayed in Mendooran for 3 nights and it is time to move on. I am itching to try towing the caravan, so I think I will give it a go this week. Wish me luck!!