Awesome Australian Adventure A mechanical solution to an electrical problem.

In Australia At Last

This morning (and a few days ago in the case of Ben and Marvin), we arrived in Australia.

More specifically, we mechanically arrived at the Melbourne Airport.  When we were going through customs (with lots of extra solar panels), we met a man.  Said man was a drunk military contractor.  Said man told us to put thin film on top of our array and enquired about the relative merits of "nitrogen bearings."  Said man also did a bad job of scaring us of "drop bears."

Drop Bear Attack

Upon passing through customs, we had some trouble with our solar panels.  The customs officer asked what the large box had in it (it was already labeled).  I told him that there were solar panels in the box.  He replied, "What panels."  I answered, "Solar Panels."  Also, we had some trouble in the Sydney Airport when the guys behind the x-ray saw a grenade in Nathan's backpack.  Nathan took the grenade apart and tried to explain that it was a LEMO connector, with pins for both power and data.  They asked him to repeat, but were still confused, so they had him take it apart.  He then said the magic word ("World Solar Challange") and they let him through.

The flight was really and long cramped, and interrupted at random intervals by meals in a completely illogical order: Dinner, Lunch, Breakfast.  I asked the waitress and she mumbled something about the international date line.

Here's the sun rising on Saturday/Sunday, we're not sure which day because of this arbitrary line that enables time travel:

Sunrise Over the Pacific

About matt

No description. Please complete your profile.