Thousands will travel to see comet

Press, 5 December 1985, Page 42

Thousands will travel to see comet

Timaru reporter

Thousands of American, Japanese, and some German and British tourists will be travelling to the Mackenzie Basin early next year for a once in a lifetime chance to see Halley’s comet from what will be the general public’s prime South Island viewing location.

The tours are being organised by a Christchurch company, Tourplan Pacific, and bookings are already so strong that about 15,500 visitors are expected to flock to the company’s special watching facilities on Mr and Mrs C. C. Mackay’s Ribbonwood station, about 20km from Omarama.

Tourplan’s manager in Christchurch, Diane Rasmussen, said most of the tourists were from the United States, some of whom would join the Concorde flight which departs from London on April 6 and travels to New Zealand via

Singapore and Melbourne. Details are still sketchy as much groundwork has. yet to be done, but Bonaventure Management Consultants, of Palmerston North, which is arranging the historic Concorde flights, said yesterday that the Concorde would arrive at Auckland and the passengers would travel first to Queenstown and then on to Oamaru.

Ribbonwood, the cometviewing site to which they are travelling, is believed to be one of the best in the southern hemisphere because of the unpolluted air and clarity of skies away from the glare of town lighting. The site will be developed with the help of the Carter Observatory in Wellington which has advised what equipment should be installed. Telescopes and equipment for photographing the comet will be made available to each touring party.

Astronomers will be pre-

sent, giving lectures before viewing the night sky. Omarama residents are welcoming the spin-offs for the area. Each night while the sky watchers are at Ribbonwood, local service clubs will have turns providing food and drinks. Already the Omarama Motor Lodge is fully booked from March 3 to March 31 and only a few vacancies are available up to April 22. Other tour parties will be staying at Mount Cook and Lakes Tekapo and Aviemore and then travelling to Ribbonwood.

For those staying in Omarama a shuttle service will be provided. Tourplan Pacific has also approached schools throughout New Zealand offering the opportunity to use the Ribbonwood facilities. These groups will be charged at a reduced rate while the general charge will be $4O a person for between two to three hours on the site.