After breakfast, Mark and Wendy came by in a golf buggy to give us a tour of the emu farm and their wider property. Helen and I drove golf buggies too, for the first time ever, so that was an adventure.
Mark told us about the volcanic activity that has taken place here, over millions of years, and about the indigenous peoples’ use of the land. He took photos and videos of our tour, but that didn’t stop me sneaking a few pictures too, when I could.
The altitude and the ironstone makes this an ideal location for lightning strikes, and this tree’s been hit a few times over the years.
At one point, we had a go at water divining. Yes, we detected water 30 metres below the surface, and I have no idea why two bent lengths of old fence wire would twitch in that way. I was surprised it worked for me, I’m usually sceptical about these things. Spooky.
This eco resort is carbon neutral and it was interesting to see the power supply. Solar panels, batteries and a generator. Mark and Wendy have plans in place in case of a bush fire, including release of the animals and a secure room in which Mark can stay for a couple of days.
One thing I wasn’t too keen on was the swarm of wasps hanging around near the dunny.
As we were about to feed the emus, Brent got down on one knee. I don’t think he’d lost a contact lens, but we had been warned to leave all our jewellery behind, because the emus quite like shiny things. So off came my wedding ring and out came the nipple piercings.
And just a few metres away, Liesel was making friends with one of the birds.
A few of the emus have names, but not all: 70+ monikers would be hard to come up with, never mind remember. But they are delightful creatures, very friendly, like most Aussies really, and feeding them was great fun. You hold out a tub of grain and four or five gather round and have a jolly good feed. Thanks for the photo, Mark.
During the course of our tour, I think we learned enough about feeding emus, looking after them, incubating and hatching the eggs, that we could probably start our own emu farm. Each emu has a microchip embedded in their neck within a couple of days of hatching, for identification.
There had been a lot less rain here than further south, and I noticed that most of the creeks we passed on the drive to Coona were bone dry. One creek was populated by a cow standing in one of its two puddles. Here in the emu hive, what is sometimes a nice big pond, I imagine, was just a mud pool today. That didn’t stop some of the birds from having a wallow.
After this, of course, we had to be careful who we cuddled. The muddiest emu decided to have a shake right next to our buggy. Having muddy seats on a golf buggy was not on our bingo card for this trip, but there’s a first time for everything.
Liesel and I would love to see a wombat in the wild but here, they’re not so welcome.
Other wildlife that has a taste for emus includes foxes and black panthers. Yes, there are panthers. And I don’t mean the rugby league football team with that name. Nor the American black power organisation from the 1970s. Mark showed us what was left of an emu that had been consumed in one go by a panther, just the leg bone, really. We also saw photographic evidence of big cat paw prints in the sand nearby.
A short distance away, we drove to and walked down into a dry creek. We later saw photos of fast running water in this location, powerful enough to carry away a bench that Mark had carved out from a fallen log.
After the really enjoyable, entertaining, informative and educational tour of the property, we decided to drive back to Coonabarabran for lunch. 2 x fish and chips and 2 x pizza. One of the pizzas was shared. But I was delighted to see this very futuristic post office, constructed in the year 2357.
The town is on a main highway, so I shouldn’t have been surprised that the peace was somewhat spoiled by the number and size of road trains passing through. Good job the road’s straight, it must be quite a skill learning how to turn corners in those things.
Liesel took Leslie back to the lodge while Helen, Brent and I went for a very short walk in town. This delightful creature landed in front of us on the pavement, and stayed still long enough for a picture.
On returning to the lodge, we had a bit of a nap. In the evening, we drove over to Mark and Wendy’s observatory where we observed some objects in the very dark sky: Jupiter and the Galilean moons, Betelgeuse, and some nebulae. The five of us took it in turns to look through the telescope, walking round and round inside the dome. All we needed was some music, really, so we knew when to stop. Half-heartedly, I tried to take a photo through the ‘scope with my phone, but there wasn’t enough time. In fact, the only decent picture I took this evening was:
Helen, Brent, Liesel and I spent some time in the hot tub back at the lodge. H & B were drinking wine, whereas L & I enoyed miniature bottles of Scotch. A great way to relax at the end of a busy and fascinating day.
I’d mentioned to Mark that at university, I’d studied Maths and Astronomy. During the course of the last couple of days, he’d promoted me to the position of Professional Astronomer. I didn’t immediately disabuse him 😉
Mark gave us a memory stick with all the pictures and videos he’d taken today, plus videos of more general interest about the solar system, the Aboriginal concept of time and much, much more. We sat on the sofas while Mark took us through the universe, and he played our videos too.
In the morning, I got up before 6am in the hope of seeing Saturn and Venus before sunrise. But I was already too late, the sky was too bright. That’s disappointing, but no big deal. What is a big deal is that Liesel got up with me and she didn’t appreciate the early morning (mis)adventure!
I can’t praise this place enough, nor the hosts, so click here to visit the resort’s own website.
When we got up the second time today, Helen had cooked us breakfast: the recipe was Liesel’s grandmother’s chilli egg frittata dish. It was delicious.
Mark came by to take us out to feed the emus, not by hand this time, but their main feed of the day. And boy, were those emus excited, running up and down the paddock pretty much as soon as they heard the golf buggy. When they’re running, especially in a group, they do remind us of the velociraptors in Jurassic Park. They really are living dinosaurs. The effect is enhanced when they’re running alongside the buggies. Magic!
On returning to the lodge, Helen immediately jumped in the trough, no, not the trough, into the hot tub. Liesel and Leslie sat on the sofas outside, pretending not to fall asleep.
After a lunch of snacks, we set off for Siding Spring Observatory, about a 20-minute drive away, up in the mountains. From the top, you can apparently see 200 km in each direction.
We joined a larger than expected party for a tour of the site. One of the first things the guide pointed out was a large web built by a golden orb spider. Nothing special, I thought, as I looked at the small spider in the corner. Then, a lady moved out of my line of view to reveal the much larger, female, golden orb. The smaller one in the corner was just a male, living dangerously.
More interesting, to me, at least, was the large telescope, the 1.2 metre Schmidt.
For scale, here’s our guide who provided a good commentary, nothing too technical. You’ll notice he’s carrying a snake venom first aid kit. We saw signs telling us to look out for snakes. Well, I looked out but didn’t see any. I came up with a totally original idea for a movie, though: Snakes at an Observatory.
While walking around Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope, we learned that the 2-metre Ritchey Chretien telescope, used for research, can be controlled from anywhere in the world. I thought, I might have a go at that when I get home!
Many of the telescopes on the site are owned or operated by overseas research teams, from Japan, Korea, Hungary, UK, even Russia. Since a bush fire threatened in 2013, the social aspect of the place has been greatly reduced, with many more astronomers working remotely. Which is a shame, really.
The dome containing the 3.9 metre Anglo-Australian telescope is quite impressive. Inside the building, a lift took us up to the 4th floor from where we gazed in awe at the instrument. Well, I did, anyway.
Just think: if things had worked out differently, and I really had become a Professional Astronomer, I might well have been working here at some point. This is still one of the best optical telescopes in the world.
That’s not a bad picture, is it? Taken with my own phone camera. Of course, it’s a photo of a photo taken with the AAT.
I was still feeling a little embarrassed for being told off earlier, when I lovingly placed my hand on a telescope.
Quite rightly, the guide didn’t want us bashing the delicate instrument, but I’m sure my gentle caress wouldn’t cause any damage.
Liesel took Leslie home, and I was given a lift by Brent and Helen, tyvm. We took coffee with us, made in a very leisurely manner by the man in the shop, who could well have been our guide’s aged father.
We detoured via Mark and Wendy’s observatory where we’d been last night.
And to think, we climbed through that little door a couple of times last night, in the dark, and I did so without injuring my back. It pays to move slowly while contorting in such places. I’ve learned my lesson.
Back at home, Liesel made a pasta dish that was well received by everyone, thank you very much, after which we sat around chatting for a while, drinking wine or whisky or water. I don’t think any deep family secrets were shared, but I was worried when Liesel drank so much: she has been known to tell stories…
Mick and Liesel's Antics 