PRE-CRUISE DAY 3: FRIDAY, APRIL 14 — TRAVEL TO PARKES:
Via the Blue Mountains

Today we head out to Australia’s astronomy corridor. We’ll traverse the UNESCO World Heritage Site Blue Mountains, preserved because of their unique mix of rainforest, blue mists, golden red sandstone escarpments, eucalypt forest and canyons. We’ll pause in Katoomba to take in the view of The Three Sisters, and head on into Central New South Wales for lunch in a country town. Our journey continues through picturesque farmland, arriving at Parkes in late afternoon. We’ll have a relaxing dinner and take an informal first look at Southern Hemisphere skies.

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner provided.

THE DAY’S ITINERARY

• Wake up Sydney hotel
• Breakfast, 7am
• Check-out/leave hotel, 8:30am
• En route, visit Scenic World
• Arrive Parkes hotel, 4:30pm (lunch, en route, at a resort)
• Dinner in Parkes hotel (Country Comfort Inn), 5:30pm
• Depart hotel 7:30pm for night-time Southern sky observing
• Night-time So. sky observing at 8pm (weather permitting)
• Back at hotel in Parkes, 10pm
• Spend night in Parkes hotel (Country Comfort Inn)