Glen, i understand what you are saying, I've been to Grampians in Sep for 3 nights and the skies were amazing - no need for telescope
My question is about Melbourne suburbs, why in winter the seeing was so much better than last 2 months?
My theory and it's only a guess is that, lately we have been getting lots of rain, and when you have a clear day it's obviously much warmer and that would cause evaporation, resulting in hazy atmosphere.