Friday 22nd to Sunday 23rd August, 2025

We belong to the Astronomical Society of WA who are leasing a site in Tammin for the group. Last weekend the Chairman and some others volunteered to go there to do some maintenance, mainly mowing, as with all of the rainfall the grass grows quickly. As viewing was also part of the weekend agenda Stephen decided we could go as well.

We set off at about 10.30 a.m. and stopped in at Mundaring to buy bread from the wonderful Mundaring Bakery that I used to patronise when visiting Mum in Mt Helena. We had hot drinks and continued on our way to have lunch at Meckering. Stephen made some lovely sandwiches with our new loaf.

When we arrived at the Tammin site the men had already done quite a lot of mowing. They suggested parking near the viewing area, which worked out well for us as we were able to park on an almost level site.

In the evening we organised our own meals and a couple of the men set up telescopes with cameras for astro photography. I was able to provide a little bit of help for someone setting up a Seestar S50 for the first time. It involved doing software updates, of course!

Although the day had been quite cloudy the clouds cleared for a few hours and we all got some good images, including us on our Seestar S50.

The next morning the men, four of them, got into more work before we all went off to Cunderdin for a birthday celebration lunch at the pub. We enjoyed talking and getting to know each other a bit better. On the way back to the site it started to rain and from then on we had almost continuous heavy showers until evening.

The rules of the club had been changed at the last committee meeting to allow fire on site and they had set up a fire pit chimney. One of the men used a small electric saw to cut wood that had fallen. It was damp, but surprising burned quite well once we threw everything at it to get it started (cups of petrol, matches and a firestarter). If you want to know how many amateur astronomers it takes to light a fire, the answer is at least three, with others to give encouragement and advice.

Having the fire meant that instead of retreating to our separate caravans, etc. we all sat around the fire chatting and having our evening meals (again separately supplied, but eating together). One of the men had packed up his wet tent and left after our return from Cunderdin, but we were joined by another man later.

We were fortunate that we had a few hours break in the rainfall to enjoy the evening. Sunday morning it was still fine, but the journey home was a bit challenging as it rained most of the way. Stephen and I had hot drinks at the newly opened Gypsy Cafe in Meckering, bought fuel in the service station near the Northam lookout, and then went to the Dome in Mundaring for our lunch.

Matthew came to tea, bringing his own dinner and a cake to share. We had discussed it with him on Friday morning before leaving. It meant that we could have a scratch meal in the evening without having to cook a full meal, as I like to do for him when he comes. It worked well and we might do this again in future when coming back from trips.

It has been particularly cold and wet this last few days, but should fine up later in the week, with daytime temperatures getting warmer. The rain and cold meant that Matt and Stephen did not do any gardening, which is what they usually do when Matt first arrives home.