Finding “THAT” place for astro

[pmrid]

I know I am preaching to the converted but let me ask the question - is there somewhere in this country that combines both access to the kinds of facilities you need as an old fart and the absence of those things you don’t want as an amateur astronomer?

After the month-after-month of rain, wind and cloud we are enduring at the moment, I can’t help but look for something a but less ….

Is there a happy medium somewhere?

[redbeard]

A caravan with dunny and shower. Go where you want, load it with scopes, food, prescriptions etc. Add a decent generator/solar for power/heating. Should provide easy access to dark skies. That's assuming I understood your question lol.

Then you could search for such place to settle.

[Sunfish]

Exmouth WA . Dry , warm , dark not too far from town . Least amount of rain and cloud days on the coast.

I lived for some years just 30 min out of Hobart , no street lights, also drier than most of the east coast , high , dark and clear but more cloud days and cold enough for snow.

http://www.truganinaweather.com/weather-education/australian-climate-maps.htm#rain

[AdamJL]

Remote observatory in Chile.
Perfect skies there.

[strongmanmike]

Are you looking to move to this place, host your scope/observatory there or just travel there occasionally to setup and do holiday astro for a few nights..?

Mike

[pmrid]

G’day Mike. Each option has its merits but I am looking to either:
A buy a small block within driving distance of home where I can set up my van for a week or so around new moons; or
B. move house to a wholly new location with dark enough skies to enable a permanent obs setup; or
C. give the whole bloody thing away and ossify.

At the moment, I’m becoming seriously negative about all the $$ and effort I have invested in this pursuit for such persistently miserable returns.

I don’t want to chuck it in because it keeps my brain running (after a fashion) and I know that I would quickly become a very unhappy chappie without the stimulus.

Peter

[lazjen]

I think option A is probably not going to work if you stay at Bribie Is as your home base - not unless you're willing to do multiple days of driving to get out of the massive area covered by cloud during the summer here in SEQ.

I assume the aspect of capturing the data yourself locally is part of the desire with this hobby and therefore a remote operation site (e.g. Chile) is not an option?

[gaseous]

I like Damien's suggestion of the well-equipped caravan. Been looking at them myself, although with Brisbane's recent weather it would just be one more expensive outlay that never gets used. Even if you don't/can't use it for astronomy-related activities, it gives you the freedom to see a bit more of the countryside, if that sort of thing floats your boat.

[DavidTrap]

Summer observing in SEQ is always fickle Peter... We're also in the midst of a La Niña pattern, so it's been worse than usual.

2019/20 Summer was less rain, but bushfire smoke ruined the opportunities.

Hopefully it'll get better in the next couple of months.

DT

[Sunfish]

Option A or a house swap 5 hours drive West of Bribie would provide some of the driest and darkest sites in the country according to the maps with much less cloud cover.

My sisters’ friends in the Sunshine Coast house swap with friends in the west and mind the property while they take a holiday.

[strongmanmike]

Well as far as option A goes and if being able to build a legal dwelling on the land is not important to you, then I am sure that will be an easy search. During our 4 year search that eventually lead to Eagleview, we came across many suitable and very affordable plots of land around the Canberra-Cooma-Yass-Braidwood-Goulburn region that came without a building entitlement, that would have been perfect for erecting a small observatory on, going off grid and parking a caravan or Tiny home on to do astro. In our case however if it were land only we were looking at, we felt we wanted a building entitlement to allow us to build a home (wife wasn't keen on having it all 100% for me and my Astronomy :shrug: :help: :lol:...and fair enough too ::question: ) and this elevated the price significantly.

So, if you and yours are on similar pages, I think you will have no problems finding something and very affordable :thumbsup: :)


Good luck with your search

Mike

[Startrek]

In my case I bought a holiday place on the south coast NSW nearing retirement and at that stage had no idea I was going to get into astronomy. A year later I ended up getting into astronomy (can’t remember how or why ) and the location by chance was ideal , Bortle 3 and 360 degree views above 25degrees , and outside astronomy, only 200m from the beach and inlet. I’m up on the lee side of a hill which does help with sea air etc..., especially with a summer north Easter blowing
Luck , destiny who knows .....
The wife got the dream holiday place for the kids and grandkids to visit and I got my Dome
Extremely fortunate ......