A West Australian sized 'step' up the road takes us to Carnarvon, a town with two vastly differing pasts: the 1897 1 mile long wharf and attendant railway, steam and bullock machinery, and the 1960s high technology space tracking stations.
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| The original light part of the 1897 light house. It used to sit atop a wooden tower, but the termites ate that. It may have sat then on top of the metal structure shown below, but which now holds a battery operated light. Carnarvon WA |
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| Lighthouse. . Carnarvon WA |
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| Heritage precinct, railway station. Carnarvon WA |
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| One mile wharf, now closed due to safety issues. Carnarvon WA |
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| Railway carriages. Carnarvon WA |
In 1964, NASA came to town and built themselves a tracking station for their planned Apollo missions. Sadly there is nothing left of the original station, but today, the OTC (Overseas Telecommunications Corporation) Satellite Earth Station, opened in 1967 as an adjunct to the tracking station, houses a fine collection of technology and memorabilia from the era of space travel. The only original things left here are a dish and a weird looking Casshorn antenna. This is the only one in the world and boasts 'interacting parabolic and hyperbolic reflectors' which give it the 'sugar scoop' shape, the name by which it is affectionately known.
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| The Dish. Carnarvon WA |
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| Casshorn 12 metre wide 'Sugar Scoop' antenna. Carnarvon WA |
Some of the old tech from the time:
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| We had one just like it! Carnarvon WA |
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| A console of some sort. Sadly, there aren't too many people around to say exactly what they were for. Carnarvon WA |
They also have a mock-up of the Apollo 11 lunar landing module, which you get into and assume that lying-down-like-you're-sitting-on-a-chair position. They shut the door and you get an 8 minute 'ride' which is a video of the actual launch showing on the console above you and pictures of the earth outside the small side cabin windows. Kids get to dress up as real astronauts. Bit of fun, eh.
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| Video from Apollo 11 simulator. Carnarvon WA |
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| Vdeo from Apollo 11 simulator. Carnarvon WA |
They also have a planetarium which we had just entered when we go the call to go and blast off in Apollo, and we didn't go back in. It seemed a bit lame.
Out the back they have an interactive area for 'the children'. Along the same lines as Questacon but with a space oriented twist.
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| The interactive area. Carnarvon WA |
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| A real Space Shuttle. I crashed it of course, but i blame the instructions being given in Swedish. That's my story and I'm sticking with it! Carnarvon WA |
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| Cern particle accelerator. (Carnarvon Electro Replica Nonsense). Carnarvon WA |
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| Instructions for above, in English. Carnarvon WA |
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| I tried Dalek, I tried Klingon, even Esperanto but I couldn't make head nor tail of the manufacturers explanation . Carnarvon WA |
Outside there are a few things, the obligatory replica rocket ship...
... some of Doc Brown's space junk to make it go...
... and the latest in mobile earth stations, this one's just tuning into the right wavelength..
For our parting picture tonight, I'll leave you with this snap of a row of gum trees along the road into town...
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| Windy, is it? Carnarvon WA |
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