Any croc-safe astro spots around Cairns?

[Camelopardalis]

Folks, I'm up in Cairns and have a couple of nights to kill :D

I was thinking I'd look up somewhere nice and - more importantly - safe to go take some wide shots with my camera while I'm this far north.

Any suggestions of interesting - and safe - spots to go? I have a car and I'm not afraid to use it, so pretty much anywhere within reasonable drive for a dark sky, but the croc warning signs on some of the beaches are a bit of a worry...does that mean "no sign, no crocs" :help:

Any and all wisdom/suggestions appreciated!

Cheers,
Dunk

[AstralTraveller]

Why not go up the hill to the Atherton Tableland? The skies up there are better anyway. I'd guess that if you went up Kuranda pass you wouldn't have to go too far to find somewhere suitable. Maybe set out during the day to make scouting easier. The view from the lookout isn't bad either.

[glend]

If there are Salties around they will be cruising offshore waiting for a dog to have a dip, you will be ok most anywhere.

[Camelopardalis]

Thanks David, Glen.

I took a trip up onto the tablelands yesterday and it is very heavily farmed and the road up/down from Cairns is a good drive. If I stray up this way again I'd want to do some more scouting as I'm sure the sky up there would be excellent. Today though they're having bushfire issues.

Almost as a last resort, I did settle on a beach I'd visited in daytime and didn't get eaten. It wasn't ideal with the occasional stray light from land cruisers with enough lights to shame an alien landing party :lol:

Not a serious subject shot, but with my little compact I took this...a stack of a dozen 6.5 second exposures!