Free Camping

[glenc]

Fletcher Creek, Qld
This is a free camping area with very dark skies, flush toilets and cold showers.
(lat -19.81, long 146.05, elevation 280m).
http://bluegumpictures.com.au/collections/australia_queensland_eastcoastandhi nterland_dalrymplenationalpark/australia_queensland_eastcoastandhi nterland_dalrymplenationalpark033.p hp

You can also camp in the adjacent Dalrymple NP next to the Burdekin River but fees apply.
http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/parks_and_forests/parks/dalrymple_national_park.html

Astronomy
You can see the northern sky to declination +65 approx.
M51 transits 23 degrees above the horizon and M31 transits 29 degrees up.
M81 skims the northern horizon but is too low to see.

Climate
The skies are mostly clear for 8 months from April to November, best from June to October.
See: http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/cw_034002.shtml

Location
41 km north of Charters Towers on a sealed road
177 km W of Townsville
1,350 km N of Brisbane
The attached Google image shows the Burdekin River at the top and about 30 campers along Fletcher Creek below center.

[beefking]

good lord, if you're going all that way, make sure to visit the astronomy group at Mount Isa as well.

[caleb]

If its free it's good, but is it nessesary to travel that far for most townsvillians.

Makes me wonder, anyone know of a site to find light pollution ratings in Au? I've heard of some program running atm where people count how many stars they see in Scorpius.

[jjjnettie]

What a great idea for a sticky Mr. C.
A list of Astronomer Endorsed and Approved Camping Grounds from around Australia.

[chrisp9au]

Caleb, that was a Star Hunt survey and competition held as part of National Science Week. The responses can be seen at http://www.starhunt.net.au/survey/results/ I don't know whether there will be any analysis of the results, some of the observations would seem to be questionable, Mag 7 skies observed in the suburbs of Melbourne for instance!

Cheers :thumbsup:
Chris

[glenc]

Nathan, thanks for the invitation to Mt Isa.
Jeanette, I like your suggestion.
Caleb, Townsville's is not as clear as these inland places.
Information on light pollution is here: http://www.lightpollution.it/worldatlas/pages/fig9.htm
The attached files show light pollution for Australia.

[RB]

And just on the subject of Light Pollution maps, don't forget to check out the article on how to overlay this image onto Goggle Earth.

It's a great little resource for checking out LP levels for various locations around Australia.

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/63-404-0-0-1-0.html

:)

[glenc]

I decided to include some good viewing spots and places with cheap camping in this thread.
The Mt Surprise Qld airstrip is dark and has a good northern horizon. The only problem was wind when I was there.
I observed from near the airport hanger and stayed in the excellent caravan park nearby. http://www.bedrockvillage.com.au/
Mt Surprise is 290 km SW of Cairns and 450 km NW of Townsville.
A Google image is attached. The airport's latitude is 18.1 degrees south and its elevation is 440m.

[glenc]

The camping area at this service station has good horizons and they stop the generator at night so it is dark.
There was cloud to the north when I was there. http://palmerriverroadhouse.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3&Itemid=10
A Google image is attached. The latitude is 16.1 degrees south and the altitude is 420m. It is 210 km NW of Cairns.
The 4WDs going to and from Cape York stop here.
The 14 Nov 2012 solar eclipse can be seen from here.
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2012Nov13Tgoogle.html

(http://palmerriverroadhouse.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3&Itemid=10)

[glenc]

The airport at Daly Waters in the NT is a good free camping and observing spot.
I observed M81 and M82 from there last year. We camped near the hanger and there was no one around, just some roos.
The latitude is 16.3 degrees south and the altitude is 210m . It is 590 km south of Darwin and 405 km north of Tennant Creek.
http://www.dalywaterspub.com/
A Google image is attached.

[glenc]

The eclipse is not visible from Mt Surprise but it is a good place to do some observing before and/or after the solar eclipse on 14/11/2012.
The three attached SkyMapPro maps show the northern sky from Mt Surprise on that date at 8pm, midnt and 4am.
It is 220 km from Mt Surprise to the southern side of the eclipse at Atherton.

[dj gravelrash]

Hey Glen. Any good dark sky spots between Casino and the Gold Coast you would recommend?

[glenc]

Take a look at the map in post #6 here. Generally head SW of the GC.
You are welcome at my place which is 10km north of Casino.
There is also Leyburn up near Warwick. Kevin Dixon might be able to suggest some other places for you.
See member contacts at http://www.sas.org.au/

[gary]

Hi Glen,

Good thread!



I bet that's where ngcles would head. :lol:

[RobF]

Yes, great thread idea
I'm interested also in caravan parks that people have found to be astro friendly. I always worry you'll turn up and discover bright lights everywhere (which would normally be the norm of course)

[dj gravelrash]

Thanx Glen.
Am going to the SAS meeting tonight to join up. Would love to visit Casino sumtime cheers for the invite.
I recently took the wife and kids up to Binna Burra (40min west from Nerang) Their is camping for 4 in a safari tent for 75 bucks per night with toilets/showers and cooking facilities.The nightly view of the heavens was amazing with very little LP and theres loads of hikes to do during the day. The bar and dining is accessable from the mountain lodge as well. Super place to have a beer and watch the sunset.:)

[glenc]

I camped at Fletcher Creek, 44km north of Charters Towers, Qld for 6 nights Aug 4 to 9.
Took the 16" Dob up and looked at the northern sky mainly (from latitude -19.8). It was clear every night and the galaxies were much brighter than they are here.

A young guy near me built a big fire so I had to wait for him to go to bed before I could do some good observing. Luckily he went to bed early.

Here is a map showing Fletcher Creek. http://goo.gl/maps/ELnbq
There were about 100 camper-vans and caravans in the free camping area but their lights did not worry me because I camped to the north of everyone else.

On the way up I camped 23km north of Springsure to do some observing. After I set up camp I discovered there was a coal mine about 5km west of me and they shone a very bright spot light in my direction most of the night, :( see the image.

[xstream]

Minerva coal loading terminal.

Glen the bottom of the Staircase range on the southern side of Springsure would of been better. :)

[Liz]

Sounds good Glen, our Astronomy Group have had thoughts of going there, but have been heading to Bivuoac Junction instead, about 10 km Townsville side of Charters Towers. Gorgeous dark skies, and more of a camp than caravan park, set on the Burdekin. You do pay though.

[glenc]

Liz there is a good observing spot 12km north of Charters Towers on the RHS, it is on the top of a hill and has a good northern horizon.
Vehicle headlights are blocked out by the bushes.
See http://goo.gl/maps/OSd87
and http://goo.gl/maps/kHqpc

[OzEclipse]

Further down in this thread is a link to an article describing how to download and stretch the light pollution map to make a layer in Google Earth.

I have a downloadable kmz file that does this for you. All you have to do is download the 1MB file and open it. It will open a light pollution layer in Google Earth. You must of course have Google Earth installed first.

joe-cali.com/astronomy/downloads/AUSTRALIAN_LIGHT_POLLUTION.kmz

I have stretched the map to cover the whole continent but the fit is best on the east coast. You'll see that in some places light pollution doesn't radiate exactly around a town's center.

Joe

[Marcus10]

Safe to camp solo at these spots or is it better going with a buddy?

I always worry about observing alone in case any mad axeman are out and about :(

[glenc]

I camp on my own sometimes, usually with mobile coverage.

[skytry]

hi Glen,
great topic, free camp viewing, I do a lot of,

one spot that sticks in my mind is Sinclair lookout at Glen Innes,
the rd camp is on the Gwydir Hwy at Matheson,
follow the track to the top the mount, open flat, take your fire wood,
360deg viewing, tooooo nice,
regards,
Peter.

[2stroke]

Hmm I love this thread, though i have never paid to camp and my idea of camping doesn't evolve showers and toilets, its a can of lynx and a shovel and bog roll hahah. There must be a site that has public tiolets / showers locations out there somewhere we could use to hunt down some great spots :)

[glenc]

Jay all you need to know about free camps is in here
http://www.campsaustraliawide.com/

[2stroke]

Thanks Glen will bookmark :)