Charleville Day 3

This morning we were up by 8am and on the road by 9.25 as we had booked a guided tour of the ruins of an old USA airforce base.

The tour started at 10 am.  It was a convoy tag-a-long tour where we drove to various points of interest.  During the 2nd world war the Americans arrived in Charleville and turned the airport into one of the biggest top secret Air Bases in Australia. At the height of the war the Americans had 3500 airmen stationed here. The secret was the testing of a bombing gun range finder and they also played a large role in the Battle of the Coral Sea. The tour took about 1.5 hours and was very well presented.

Norden bomb sight

On returning back to the Cosmos Centre we had a quick bite to eat before Evon did the Astronomy by Day tour which involved holding a "shooting star" (piece of meteorite) in her hand , saw 5 dwarf planets and a number of other interesting things.  I enjoyed a coffee in her absence.

She rejoined me after about an hour and we returned to the van for a cuppa and a quiet afternoon.  About 4.30pm we were invited to join two other couples from South Australia for Happy Hour.  We enjoyed their company to the extent we had to postpone our roast tea until tomorrow night.  We made do with a light tea, telly then bed.