Charleville

This morning dawned a little overcast - so far we have been very fortunate with the weather, only experiencing rain on four days of our eleven weeks away.

This morning we visited the Bureau of Meteorology to

1. Collect data from the weather station
2. Watch the launching of the weather balloon - one is sent aloft with electronic equipment at least once a day - it is about 1m in diameter at launching but expands to 11m diameter at its highest point some 36km above the Earth.
3. Monitor the signals coming in from the balloon as it ascended - temperature, pressure, wind speed direction and strength - this was very interesting as it clearly showed, for example, temperature inversions at various altitudes.

We then visited the Cosmos Centre for

1. a hands on display of meteorites (and meteorwrongs!) including an interesting specimen of stainless steel which, they say, is harder than we can produce.
2. a very interesting film about the solar system, the universe and our place in it.
3. a talk about the planets and the international discussion resulting in Plutos exclusion from the 'Planet Club'
4. interesting 'hands on' computer displays.

The Cosmos Centre also has an observatory.

To-night we are attending a 'Camp Oven Dinner' in the van park - should be a good opportunity to meet people and swap tales. It was! About 60 people attended the dinner hosted by the park owners around a couple of campfires.