Hey Hive!
I chanced upon this contest that the lovely folks from pinmapple and haveyoubeenhere are hosting and I decided to give it a shot! I actually only just found out about this contest even though the post has been up for a month so I'm really glad they decided to extend the deadline.
As the title suggests, the contest calls for us to describe a place we would want to visit if we had US$1,000 to spend! Now if you really think about it, 1,000 USD does not seem like a lot if you take into account flights and accommodations and such, so you really have to think about it and not go overboard. I don't think I can actually calculate my expenditure down to specifics but I think the place I've chosen will probably fit the constraints.
And the place I've chosen to visit is... Australia! Specifically, I would want to go car camping under the stars and watch a meteor shower!
Source: The Dyrt
I guess everyone probably knows what a meteor shower is, but specifically, it is when many meteoroids/space rock enter the Earth's atmosphere and the air resistance of the rock burns up leaving behind a bright glowing streak. When comets get too close to the sun, its icy surface boils off, releasing dust particles and rock. As the Earth's orbit crosses that of a comet, it will encounter all these debris that will also burn up as it passes through the atmosphere. Meteor showers are named for the constellation where the meteors appear to be coming from. So, for example, the Orionids Meteor Shower, which occurs in October each year, appear to be originating near the constellation Orion the Hunter (Cr: NASA).
So there's quite a story behind this; I've always been fascinated by astronomy and celestial bodies ever since I was a kid, and it's been one of the top items on my bucket list to even catch a glimpse of a meteor shower. I first found out about the existence of them while reading a book titled, "If You Could See Me Now" by Cecilia Ahern (which is still one of my favourite books of all time).
Source: Goodreads
I didn't think it was something I could actually experience since I never read about meteor sightings here in Singapore. It most likely is due to us being such a low-lying and densely populated country so we don't really have a lot of areas unpolluted by artificial light. But then around 2011 or so, I saw a couple articles saying that there was a meteor shower coming and if you were lucky you could actually see it right here in Singapore! I think it might have been the Geminid meteor shower in December. But unfortunately you could only see it around 2 AM and there was no way my parents would let me go out to a dark place alone so late. So I tried to watch from my balcony but obviously no luck there. I wasn't very high up and the streetlights were too bright.
So after that I kinda gave up on that pipe dream and forgot about it for the longest time. Until, I saw a picture like these on Facebook:
Source: Favim
Source: rebloggy
Basically it was like a combination of the two; but I think it was a comment that made me think about camping out in a car and watching the stars. There was a lady who wrote about how she took a trip just like that with her family and it was one of the best experiences of her life. And I just thought, man I'd love to do that someday, preferably during a meteor shower or the aurora or something.
Now I'm not really an outdoorsy person and I don't drive anymore but I think a trip like that would be just spectacular. We were hoping to see the aurora borealis back in Finland while we went reindeer sledding but unfortunately it was snowing pretty heavily and the cloud cover was too thick to even see the moon.
But anyway, given the $1,000 limit I think Australia would be a good place to fulfill that dream. They must have quite a few good spots to drive and camp out in so it's perfect for viewing the meteor showers there. I think most meteor showers are best viewed in the northern hemisphere, but down there they also seem to get good coverage of the Orionids, Perseids and Geminid meteor showers. Perseids peak in mid-August which is around the end of winter in Australia, Orionids peak towards the end of October and Geminids in December (but it might be quite warm to camp out then).
Source: Head Topics
I read that the Era Aquariids are only really visible in the southern hemisphere and it peaks in May which is autumn in Australia so that'll probably be a good time too.
I tried searching for specific spots but Google wan't very helpful. I think Melbourne would probably be good since it's near the coast so it probably won't be difficult to find a nice beach to camp out in either.
If meteor showers aren't an option we could also go see the Aurora Australis, or Southern Lights, in either Australia (the more south the better; I read Tasmania is a good bet) or New Zealand.
Source: CNN
FYI, the aurora is caused by solar winds (consisting of high energy protons and electrons) that strike the Earth's magnetic field and follow magnetic filed lines into Earth's atmosphere at the North and South magnetic poles. As our atmosphere is mostly made up of nitrogen and oxygen, the solar particles collide with these atoms, stripping away electrons to leave ions in excited states. These ions emit radiation at various wavelengths, creating the colours we see in the sky. Collisions of solar particles with oxygen produce red or green light; collisions with nitrogen produce green and purple light (Cr: Brittanica).
It's said that they can be seen year round but are more visible around winter and the equinox in September. But the southern lights are just as unpredictable as the northern lights so it's really up to luck, unfortunately.
Source: Smithsonian Magazine
New Zealand does have quite a few good spots away from city lights that are ideal for viewing the southern lights and even have tours where you can go stargazing and enjoy hot springs at Tekapo Springs!
Of course, the weather being really unpredictable makes it hard to plan trips like these. It'd definitely be easier if we were actually living in the same country. But I think just camping out in a car/van with some cozy blankets and favourable weather (i.e. late winter/early spring at around 15-20°C), drinking hot chocolate under the stars is a pretty good trip all on its own.
Source: Favim
I'm not sure if this meets the contest requirements, but this is my entry to the Pinmapple If I had $1000 Contest!
Thanks for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
