Hi Steve,
30" SDM, eh! Couldn't find anything bigger!
Now that's a scope!
With a puppy like that at your disposal, ANY night with it is great. To get a few nights under your belt with it is sensational.
That's quite a project you've set yourself with the entire NGC. Could only really be a long term project.
The clarity of your object report shows you've done this a couple of times,
. I hope there's more.
Another IIS member, Paddy, is building a catalogue of the objects within the SMC & the LMC, many of which are NGC objects. Might be worth your while dropping him a PM to nail a few of these down. Paddy's got a thread going in the Observation & Visual forum on this very topic.
Are you still in Oz, or left for home?
Cheers,
Mental.