Friday, September 18, 2009

The Astro Cafe

Barista Fraser Gunn is also a superb photographer. We got to be impressed by both the photos and the Supreme Coffee he served from his perch high on Mt John at the University of Canterbury's Observatory.

Given that 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy and that both the Junior Grendels are proud owners of Galileoscopes, we could hardly pass up a visit to an observatory that also hosts a great cafe.

This cafe has to have one of the best views in the world and it was well worth the steep road trick up the mountain to drink in the view - along with a coffee.

Junior Grendel One and Two wasted no time at all in giving us both heart failure with their antics on the steep sides of the mountain.

Fraser had a small scope set up on a tripod with the view over the ski fields nearby - I managed to wedge the camera over the lens at just the right angle - and as soon as I can extract the images from my card I'll post them up - in the meantime the following spread of Grendel adventure pics should be satisfactory!

If you are passing Lake Tekapo ever in your life I highly recommend that you take the turnoff to Mount John and drive up the hill. Simply amazing. They also do night tours at the observatory, leaving on a minibus from the town below, and although I missed it (too tired!) it looks like a great night's viewing.



















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