Dark Sites in Victoria

[davidmcbain]

Hi Folks
I am a new member of this group. I was just wondering if there are any excellent dark observation sites in within 3 hours of Melbourne

Thanks
David

[Imme]

Plenty David.....3 hours is a looooong way from the city lights. I'm 1.25 hours from Melbourne and am very dark in my backyard

I'd suggest checking out one of the publically available light pollution maps and picking a spot from there (google light pollution map)

[Lognic04]

What about the LMDSS,just out of Heathcote, bortle 1, powered and has piers for AP and facilities. Awesome site!

[Wavytone]

I’ve used a few locations around Bright...In particular Mt Buffalo, Lake Catani camping ground and also a nice sheltered quarry at Harrietville were all fantastic.

[JA]

Hi David,
,
You can get some very reasonable sites much closer than 3 hours away. As already suggested the light pollution maps are a great place to start to find such. Which suburb are you travelling from?

Best
JA

[barx1963]

Remember if heading to the LMDSS, you must be an ASV member or a guest of a member. Ken at Snake Valley often hosts visitors and still does the new moon Friday nights. Also we have the next Snake Valley camp coming up in November.

[Stonius]

I spent a lot of time doing google searches for such sites but was never fully happy with the results. Partly because the requirements of a dark sky site are somewhat contradictory. You need after dark car access to a lookout or clearing of some sort that no-one else in their right mind would want to go to, which also has toilets. Such places are usually popular after dark for er... other nocturnal activities. :-)

I pretty much became an ASV member because i couldnt find anywhere closer with toilets.

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