Wanganui - Wanganui Observatory and Astronomical Society- this wonderful old observatory was built in 1903 and depended on a telescope built in 1858 in the UK for its great precision. The North-South axis is fixed and helps hold the tower up. It whines and grinds as the volunteers put the opening through it paces. First we observed the hydrogen clouds in the Orion galaxy from which stars are being formed. Then they knocked our socks off with Saturn and its moon, followed by the one two punch of the Southern Cross by which marineers have located the South Pole for eons. The night I attended there was a group from the Netherlands, two groups from the UK, and myself representing Canada. I loved all the electrical fixtures, the wainscotting, and the plumbing from 1903.