Saturday, May 14, 2011

And Jupiter aligns with Mars...

We've had such incredibly clear, crisp, beautiful weather recently that it's been a crime to stay indoors. On Friday morning we got up at five thirty (only 5 degrees C and that's incredibly cold for us in May) and saw the four planets -- Venus, Jupiter, Mercury and Mars aligned in the eastern sky for the first time since 1910. As an added bonus, we saw the sun rise over Mt Bartle Frere, Queensland's highest mountain. Just gorgeous.
In this photo you can only seen two of the planets - Venus and Jupiter, I believe. If you click on it to make it larger, you should also see Mercury, a smaller planet off to the right. Red Mars was there too, below these, but he didn't show up in the photo -- because of the sunrise, I guess.

After breakfast, we drove over to Mareeba to collect turf from Barron River lawns. We want to start lawn regrowing, now that the plumber has finished his earthworks, but I'm so mad that I didn't take my camera. It was the start of the Mareeba to Chillagoe wheelbarrow race and we drove through Mareeba just as the procession of Wheelbarrow Teams started. It was a fabulous atmosphere with teams from high schools and businesses and charities, as well as the police. They were dressed up too -- as the Flintstones, as bumblebees, as rock stars. great fun and a great money raising event. All of Mareeba were on the streets to wave them on, including all the school children.
The teams have had two cold nights camping out on the road and they won't reach Chillagoe till today, so it's been quite an adventure. Meanwhile, for me, it's time to get my head down again.
But the sky's clouding over, so that's OK. :))

4 comments:

Mel Haffners Book Club said...

Thank you Barbara for sharing, I only knew about the alignment because of you, for this I am thankful, as I got up and saw the beautiful view. Not as cold as your place though. It was only 13 degrees here in cairns. Thankyou for sharing. Hope the grass grows well.

Barbara Hannay said...

Oh, I'm glad you saw them, too, Mel. My husband's parents were both born in 1910, so I was thinking of them as well. Rather special.

2paw said...

Now you have me humming The Age of Aquarius!! We have a planetarium at our museum here and Martin George is always on the ABC radio keeping us up to date with astronomical happenings!! Thank you for the beautiful photo.
The wheelbarrows and their 'people' sound fabulous!! I keep my camera in my handbag all the time - except for dog walking- it's a small digital one so it fits perfectly in one inside pocket!!
Oh that is rather special, to be remembering your husband's parents that way.

Barbara Hannay said...

2paw, my digital camera is ALWAYS in my handbag, too. But on Friday, I took it to my computer to download this photo, then friends called and suddenly it was time to dash off to Mareeba, and I left without it.
Lucky you having the planetarium close by.