Nebula Night

 Nice clear nights may be few and far between in winter but thy do allow the gathering of good astro images.  Last night I got nearly 4 hours of imaging on the Cat's Paw Nebula, NGC 6334.  This nebula is about 5500 light years away and 70 light years across in the constellation Scorpio.  It is at the tail of the scorpion.  The red is emission from the massive amount of hydrogen in the area.

Investigating Lunch Spots

 In our never ending quest for a good lunch spot we discovered that the old "Enriks" in Blackburn had become the "Platform Pantry" so we had to try it out.  Due to the urgent purchase of a new vacuum cleaner we arrived for a very late lunch.  The verdict: Excellent!  Good location and lighting great food and service.  Our late arrival probably improved the quiet ambience of the place.

Tassie Tourists

 James and Angel headed for one of our favourite locations over the long weekend.  The Freycinet Peninsula in Tasmania has to be one of the most beautiful locations in Australia.  The wonderful sea food in the area is an added bonus.

Middle of Melbourne

 We decided to have a look at some of the central Melbourne attractions.  First up was the State Library which has to be one of the most spectacular buildings in the country.

Then we took a short train trip from the new State Library Station to the new Town Hall Station.

We had (an excellent) lunch at the iconic "Young and Jacksons" Hotel overlooking Flinders St Station and while there we had to see Chloe, another Melbourne icon.

Next up was a visit to the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) a museum for all things related to the development of film and video.

Then back to Flinders St (seeing an old W Class Tram) to catch the train.  (Nearly more icons than we could handle!)

Entertaining the Inchleys

 Friends of friends bought a house at Doreen, a location we had never heard of so we decided to take a look.  It turns out to be a really thriving new development near Yan Yean Reservoir.  Of course for our visit, there was no vehicle access as a result of industrial action.

We consoled ourselves with an excellent meal in the (very neat)  Laurimar township.

We also caught up with Terry and Tricia who showed us around the Advent Care Estate near their residence.  It is a surprising little sanctuary in the heart of Nunawading.

Another Group of Grandies

 Jack, Cooper and Lachlan came over so we could get a group photo for our wall.

A Malaysian Odyssey

 Brett, Cathy and family headed of to Malaysia for a 10 day tour of Kuala Lumpur and then to Sabah to check out the Orangutan Sanctuary.  Clearly not accommodated in tents on this trip.

Melbourne Marathon

 It was a really cold early morning start for the Melbourne Half Marathon this morning. James was running with his mate Ben and Sophie ran with Noah.  At 5.30 in the morning, we were in bed!

Beatles Revisited

 Last night we went to a concert at The Round celebrating the music of the Beatles.  It was all very familiar and we blended into all the grey hair of the audience very easily.

Another Night - Another Galaxy

 With a nice clear night I managed to get an image of NGC 6744 which is similar to our Milky Way galaxy and between 23 and 38 million light years away depending on how the measurement is taken.