Notice board

Major Speaker announced:

Rob McNaught will speak on Saturday 2nd August at 3pm in the Hall.

Registration Status:

Bunks and Sites Available Now!

As people register the numbers will count down LIVE. Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Bunk House (48) 44 41 39 38 36 37 35 34 34 Female Bunk Area(8) 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 Family and Large Groups (7 rooms) 7 7 7 7 7 6 6 5 5 Upper Caravan Sites (12) 8 7 7 6 6 3 3 2 3 Taromeo Observatory Tour and Lunch (Sun 26/07)     62              Astro-feast (Sat 02/08)                 81

Registration Form

Caraven numbers are incorrect on Infomation page. Working to fix.

The form is best viewed in FireFox or Internet Explorer.

Minor confusions

• Catered meals, (not including Astro-Feast Sat 2nd) are rough numbers being collected for the new managers so they have an idea of how much to cook at each meal. They are listed above the total but not included as they are paid for at the camp. Please tick what you are likely to want to buy.
• Add registrant button is below the catered meals, above the total, on the left.
• If the receipt page won't print properly just make sure you include your name clearly with the cheque or mail order so I can match up the form.
• Sponsors should contact the Registrar before registering please.
• There is no limit to caravans in the lower camping area. The table just lists the availability of the top sites.

Below are the totals of Registrants over the week.

59 People have registered for 2008
Fri	Sat	Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri2	Sat2
17	25	25	27	29	39	44	55	51

There are no family rooms left that hold 6 people avaliable on the last Friday/Saturday nights. Sleeping 4 is the maximum.

 

Site Updates

The Program page is now current. We will be holding workshops during the 9 night format this year. Bring along all your questions. Please look at the programme page for more detail will be updated as we get them.

Group Photos on the Gallery Page have been fixed. And the Monday / Tuesday pages of 2007.

The Camp Etiquette has been re-written please have a look.

Broken links
Due to the Site loss in December 2007 we still have a lot of links to fix up. This is quite time consuming as we have lost many pages completely.

If you have any images or stories you would like to have up on the site please send them to us. Maximum file size for images is 200K at 250 pixels wide for happy snaps and up to 900 pixels wide for deep sky shots. We have cable internet and can read most file types.

Taromeo Camp Ovens Observatory and Lunch Tour
Sunday 27th July 11:30am

This new observatory is 50Km north of Duckadang (26km north of Colinton) and is perfectly situated for a lunch time visit on the way home or a day activity during your epic 9 night stay at Astrofest. Lunch will be a delicious roast meal with a dessert. Served in authentic Aussie Style with damper and billy tea or coffee.

Maximum of 70 people for lunch at a cost of $18 per person.
Book via the registration form. You will need to organise your own transport.
A convoy will be leaving Astrofest at approx.10:35 am. More information.

Fund Raising Information

This year we will be selling Caps with an embroidered logo. We are currently gathering quotes and please ask you to let us know if you definitely want one. We are hoping for cost about $20- $25 each.

Major Sponsors:

We would like to welcome and thank Sirius Optics and Star Optics for becoming our first major sponsors this year.

York Optical has once again leant their support of the Queensland Astrofest and donated an 80mm refractor to the raffle (retail $999.00).

Queensland Astrofest T-Shirts:

Looking for that message that says it all? Want a gift for that special person in your life? Why not buy the Queensland Astrofest T-Shirt? Available in black or black.
They look GREAT! We still have a small selection of shirts still available.
Contact the Registrar for more information.

Queensland Astrofest "World Class":

The Queensland Astrofest was rated in the Top Ten Star Party in the world by The Sky at Night magazine in their May issue. A two-page spread maps out the location of camps such as the Texas Star Party (USA), Starfest (Canada), Equinox Star Party (UK) and the South Pacific Star Party (Australia).

Queensland Drought:

Camp Duckadang managers would like attendees to be aware that due to the ongoing drought, showers will be restricted to 2 minutes each per day.

This will be re-assessed closer to this years camp. Currently the camp is covered in lush green grass. Such a nice change to 2007 camp.

On Friday morning 5th of August 2005 at around 2:00 am (AEST), using equipment he constructed for this purpose, Renato Langersek contacted the International Space Station and STS 114 (Discovery) as they passed over South-East Queensland and the Queensland Astrofest. Listen to an mp3 of his conversation with Andy Thomas (1.8 Mb downloaded times) and view the transcript.