We had an update from Land Rover in Orange this morning after they had a first look at our car and, no surprise, no fault found. We could have told them that – it only happens when towing the caravan. So now we have to pack up the caravan tomorrow and head over to the dealership and try towing with one of their technicians onboard.

Parkes calling NASA

Today, trying to make the most of a bad situation, we drove out of Orange and through the NSW outback countryside to Parkes – home of ‘The Dish’. The 64-metre diameter radio telescope was one of several observatories used to receive television pictures from the moon during the Apollo 11 moon landing on the 20th of July 1969. A decision by Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong and NASA Mission Control was made shortly after landing to bring the moonwalk forward, which meant Parkes was the radio antenna with the best view of the moon at that time and as a result contributed 2.5-hours of TV to the billions of people watching man first step on the moon.

Not to be outdone, Canberra – Tidbinbilla, part of the NASA Deep Space Network, also took part in the coverage along with Goldstone in California.

Much of the movie ‘The Dish’ starring Sam Neil was filmed at Parkes and although the usual artistic license was applied in many areas, much of the film portrayed real events including the 110KM winds that threatened to topple the enormous Parkes dish just as Armstrong and Aldrin were about to make their historic landing.

Where’s Elvis?

Parkes also has a more recent claim to fame – it is the Australian home of Elvis. Each year Parkes holds an Elvis Festival and the town fills with fans and lookalikes to celebrate the singer. There’s even an Elvis train that runs from Sydney to Parkes for the event.