Deep Space

In the last week, I've managed to see some far-flung localities around Canberra. One of my floormates is away on a trip around the USA for a few weeks and she allowed me use of her car. I decided that I would visit some of the ACT's lesser known, yet still considerably interesting, attractions. Also, it would give me practice for driving later this year when my parents and brother visit and we all travel to Tasmania. The only trick is to remember what side of the road to be on. Once that's sorted out, the rest comes naturally.

One of the first places I visited was the dog racing track in Symonston, an eastern suburb of Canberra. ACTTAB has a presence there and as I had never been there before, I drove out on a race night. The track itself isn't very interesting, although it does have a somewhat stylish bistro. It forms an interesting comparison to the horse racing track where I have worked quite often. The main difference is that greyhound racing appears to attract clientele from a lower socio-economic class than horse racing. I suppose if horse racing is the sport of kings, dog racing is the sport of yeomen.

The next day I took a trip out to 2 abandoned space tracking station sites --- Orroral and Honeysuckle Creek. Though both have been completely abandoned and all of their buildings demolished, they do form part of Namadgi National Park and are upkept as historic sites. They both also served very important functions in NASA's space programs. In the 1960s, NASA built 3 complexes in the valleys of the ACT to assist with the space program, although only 1 of those still operates.

Orroral Tracking Station operated from 1965-1984, not a very long time as things go, as a near Earth object tracking station. In other words, Orroral's function was to track satellites and, if necessary, receive and transmit data to them. To that end, it was a fairly expansive and well-used site. According to the literature there now, while in operation, Orroral was constantly used. Eventually, as part of NASA's consolidation in the 1980s, Orroral was closed down and its components were either demolished or moved to the Tidbinbilla Deep Space Complex, now known as the Canberra Deep Space Complex. Now, the Orroral site is in a very picturesque valley of Namadgi National Park. When I arrived there in the morning, there was not a soul around, although there was one other car present. I wandered around and photographed as much as I could and imagined what it must have been like in its heyday.

My next stop was Honeysuckle Creek in the next valley. Although considerably smaller than Orroral, for a while this was the most important tracking station on Earth. Honeysuckle Creek was built specifically for the Apollo space missions and despite what the movie The Dish might have you believe, it was actually Honeysuckle Creek that captured the first TV images from the Moon and transmitted them to the rest of the anxious world. After the end of the Apollo program, Honeysuckle Creek was also decommissioned. Like Orroral, the sight has been turned into a historic sight and you can walk around the area. It's completely surrounded by forest and I even saw 2 kangaroos as I wandered around. Again, there was not a soul around and I was pleased to have this important site all to myself.

In other astronomic news, there was a lunar eclipse last Saturday, as I imagine the whole world saw. Unfortunately, that day Canberra had rain and much of the night sky was clouded out. I did see the eclipse through some breaks in the clouds but nothing spectacular.

I suppose the rest of this week's news is rather mundane. Although Canada Day occurred recently, naturally it is not a big occasion in Australia. I celebrated by wearing a Canada Day Festival t-shirt and an official Canada Olympic winter hat. I also watched some of the celebration via Ottawa's webcams, but it's no substitute for actually being there. A friend from another floor was moving out so I bought his small fridge. Now I can enjoy milk in the comfort of my own room.

I suppose I do have some more exciting and bizarre news. First, in the bizarre column, I entered the communal men's bathroom the other day and I heard someone watching TV in one of the cubicles. I do not know how that was possible, save by some small portable device, or even why it would be desirable. Surely one could wait? It's probably the most bizarre things I've ever heard in a toilet. In the more exciting news section, a cousin of mine, Laura, will be visiting me in August, I think. She is teaching English in South Korea at the moment but her time there is expiring and she plans to take a detour before returning to Canada. I haven't seen her in ages and it will be good to catch up. She was always such fun to be around.

I did have one really funny joke last week. While playing Dungeons and Dragons, I suggested that for our current mission, which involved demolition, I should just start randomly throwing grenades. The Dungeon Master said, "Congratulations, you've just destroyed the orphanage." I then replied, "So what? Who's going to miss them, their parents?" It thought it was really funny.