The annual Lyrid Meteor Shower was set to peak on April 22nd, 2010. It is one of the oldest meteorite showers on record and is produced when the Earth passes through the trail of Comet Thatcher. Bright streaks light up the night sky as meteor particles burn-up in Earth’s upper atmosphere.
My friends decided to camp out all night at a local beach, study the stars and hope to see something spectacular. We followed the beach around the rocky part to a suitable vantage spot. We walked through a few fences, ignoring the signs to stay out, through bushes and rocks
, following a lightly-trod path. Our resting place for the night was a cliff-face, which dropped unexpectedly into the ocean.
We lay our blankets out on hard rock and started our vigil. Meteor showers are never concentrated in one place, so you have to pay attention to the whole sky. You'll miss it if you blink. Our food rations for the night were slowly dwindling, as the constant laughter and silly chatter continued all night. We must have fallen asleep at 4am. One of the girls shrieked an hour later. She saw a fox rummaging through our bags. He made off with a box of Tim Tams and that was the end of sleep for that night.
We made our way back through the lightly-trod path, bushes and rocks, the three signs that advised us to stay out, through the three fences, hopped onto a bus and had breakfast at Pancakes on the Rocks.
