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TRAVELTIME - Previous Outings |
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SUTHERLAND & PRINCE ALBERT
12th -16th May '13 |
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Day 2: Monday 13th May: SALT Telescope &
Destination Prince Albert |
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Today we take a guided tour of the
Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) site
and Visitors Center before continuing our
journey to Prince Albert. The photo above
shows our group on the SALT viewing deck
within the telescope. |
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A model to the left and the real thing to
the right. The roof opens to expose the
mirror and the vertical structure to the
right assists in the setup of the telescope. |
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Dave O'Hearns showed us around the
Visitors Center, stopping at various
exhibits to fill us in and question our
knowledge. |
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We
then boarded our vehicle and drove around the
site. Here Dave again pointed out the various
telescopes and who owned them. Google sponsored
two of those on the right. |
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On
entering SALT we were able to view the control
room through a window to the right and then
witnessed replacement of a single mirror with
the aid of a bucket suspended above the
composite mirror. To
see "the bigger picture", click on the right
hand photo. |
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On
completion of the tour we returned to Sutherland
for a bit of browsing in the local shops. Note
the size of Sutherland Mall!. We decided to have
a light lunch at "Halley se Kom eet" before
setting out on our 260km trip to Prince Albert. |
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On arrival
in Prince Albert we checked in to our
accommodation,
Karoo View
Cottages &
Saxe Coburg. |
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Dinner
was at Karoo Kombuis,
a quaint restaurant which has offered the exact
same menu items for the past 15 years; Lamb,
Babotie and Chicken Pie or a combination of all
three. Only ask for
mint sauce with your Lamb if you are able to
accept a hundred reasons why they don't offer
it. I had been before and
experienced this, so this time, I brought my own
mint sauce! |
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Published 19th May'13 |
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