Miscellaneous Pictures from Australia

Sydney has some interesting areas. A highlight is of course the Syndey Opera House.

Sydney is a pretty nice city as far as cities go. The Sydney Opera is of course a must-see. It is a very impressive structure. It is located near the wharf at the northern end of downtown Sydney, called Circular Quay. The Sydney Opera House is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Just across from the opera is the area called "The Rocks", with nice shops. On top of the hill in the center of The Rocks is the historic Sydney Observatory, dating from the mid-19^th century. To the south-west of The Rocks is Darling Harbour, the center of activities with the Aquarium, the Maritime Museum, and endless numbers of shops and restaurants, as well as the Conference Center. The Aquarium is certainly worth a visit. One attraction there is the shark exhibit where you walk through a tunnel with a transparent roof and watch the sharks from below.

To the north of downtown Sydney is the Sydney Zoo. You can reach it by ferry from Circular Quay. It is a nice zoo, unfortunately they were in the middle of a big construction/renovation project, so several, exhibits were closed. They naturally put a lot of emphasis on Australian fauna, so you get to see all the Australian animals like emu, kangaroo, echidna, platypus, koala, dingo, etc.

From Sydney I drove to Parker, about 360 km (224 miles) west of Sydney. The area around Parkes itself is not very scenic, just mostly flat farm and ranch land. The main attraction in Parkes is the Parkes Observatory. It is located about 25 km (16 miles) north of Parkes. The large dish is fully steerable and has a diameter of 64 m (210 ft). This is a very important part of astronomy research in Australia and world-wide.

I flew from Parkes north to the Great Barrier Reef, On the way back from the Great Barrier Reef I flew over the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), at the Narrabri Observatory, an array of six 22 m (72 ft) radio telescope antennas. It is located about 25 km (16 miles) west of the town of Narrabri in rural New South Wales (about 500 km (310 miles) north-west of Sydney). From there I flew to the Siding Springs Observatory, one the most important astronomical observatories in Australia. It is located about 450 km (280 miles) northwest of Sydney in the Warrumbungle Mountains in the central west region of New South Wales, near Coonabarabran. I had a spectacular view of the observatory domes from my plane. From there I flew past the large radio telescope at the Parkes Observatory to look at it from the air.

All pictures are © Dr. Günther Eichhorn, unless otherwise noted.

Sydney

Skyline of Sydney across Darling Harbour at sunrise. (776k)

Skyline of Sydney across Darling Harbour. (952k)

Skyline of Sydney across Darling Harbour at sunset. (839k)

Skyline of Sydney across Darling Harbour at night. (1101k)

The Harbour Bridge in Sydney. You can go on a walking tour along the arch all the way to the top. (755k)

View of downtown Sydney from the zoo with the Sydney Opera on the right. (995k)

Sydney with the Sydney Opera. Sydney Observatory is on the hill to the right of the Opera. (777k)

Closer view of the Sydney Opera. (825k)

Australia's East Coast

This is the Cessna 172 that I rented from Australian Flying Adventures in Parkes, NSW (YPKS), to fly north to the Great Barrier Reef. (1040k)

Sailing in the Whitsundays. (1163k)

Cruising in the Whitsundays. (963k)

One of the catamarans of FantaSea, the operator of the tour boats to the reef and whale watching. (904k)

Pontoon, permanently anchored next to the reef was the base station for the scuba dives. (783k)

There were lots of wild fires. The east coast of Australia had a bad drought in 2002/2003 and suffered significant wild fires. One of the major astronomical observatories, Mt. Stromlo was destroyed by a wildfire. (773k)

This was not a wildfire. It was a dust cloud blown up by a car driving down a dirt road. (725k)

Astronomical Observatories in Australia

Sydney Observatory. It is located in the center of Sydney. It is used only for public educational viewing, not for research, since the light pollution prevents any serious observations. (847k)

View of Siding Springs Observatory from the air. This is one of the most important astronomical observatories in Australia. It is located about 450 km (280 miles) northwest of Sydney in the Warrumbungle Mountains in the central west region of New South Wales, near Coonabarabran. The large square dome houses the 2.3 m Telescope. (841k)

Another view of Siding Springs with the 3.9 m Anglo-Australian Telescope. (885k)

The large radio telescope at the Parkes Observatory, view from the air. It is located about 25 km (16 miles) north of Parkes. The large dish is fully steerable and has a diameter of 64 m (210 ft). (782k)

The Parkes Radio Telescope from the ground. (862k)

The Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), at the Narrabri Observatory, an array of six 22 m (72 ft) antennas. It is located about 25 km (16 miles) west of the town of Narrabri in rural New South Wales (about 500 km (310 miles) north-west of Sydney), about 80 km (50 miles) north of Siding Springs Observatory. You can see several radio telescopes along the diagonal line. They are used in an interferometer configuration to make high angular resolution measurements. (965k)

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Page last updated on Tue May 25 12:44:31 2021 (Mountain Standard Time)

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