Our guidebook recommended the Sydney Observatory, where you can see a 3-D space theatre show, get a tour from an astronomer and look through their telescope for $7. The 3-D show was developed by the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing in Melbourne, so it wasn’t the usual crappy effort with cardboard green & red glasses. It was very interactive and the astronomer selected planets, zoomed in on asteroids and talked to the audience throughout.As usual, the ‘people-watching’ element made it all the more enjoyable and one particular couple on the tour entertained us all. Not sure where they were from, but they reminded us of Oompa–Loompas… they were shoulder-height on us (yes, that small) and the man was about the same size around the middle. First, he was told off for filming in the theatre (not that 3-D would have come out anyway) and then they got lost on the way up to the observatory dome.
We took it in turns to climb up the step ladder and look through the telescope and we all read the sign saying, “do not touch this handle or lean on the telescope” on the way up. Sure enough, the man grabbed the handle and put his full weight on it, whirling the telescope around to the horror of the astronomer! Luckily, nothing was broken and he managed to re-align it for everyone else to have a look.
