As far as I know there are two reasons to go to Parkes. One, if your an Elvis impersonator (get a life people) and two, to see the radio telescope made famous by Sam Neil et al in The Dish. So, I’ll go with whats behind door number two please. After spending two days with my daughter and boys east of Bathurst, I was on the road to Parkes. There was no free camping sites handy, but the Showground put me up complete with hot shower and 240v for only $25.00. Noice. Again, didn’t unhitch, so an easy exit the next morning.
When you arrive, it’s easy to conflate the movie with the reality. It’s proper name is CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope but you wouldn’t know it when you browse the merchandise. A feel good movie certainly makes astronomy warm and fuzzy…and popular. You seriously expect Sam Neil with his pipe to just wander laconically across the lawn and point meaningfully at the sky… or something.
t’s seriously big and a bit goosebumpy, especially if you’ve seen Contact or of course The Dish. Another tick on the bucket list. Now, my first foray into western NSW, and Lake Cargelligo was my destination. The season was obviously looking good. I was surprised by the endless fields of green the amount of water around, for a landscape drought stricken only a couple of years ago. I intended to spend a week there. Victoria had just closed the borders to NSW. I had some time to kill before hopefully arriving at the border on or about July 30. Waiting anxiously for the daily tallies quickly became the new normal. Fingers crossed.
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