[saviofong (Savio Fong)]

Hi there,

my name is Savio Fong of Hong Kong, and my first time posting there, I am not sure if this is the right board to post and moderator please feel free to move it where this post belongs to.

I am planning to bring 20 students of around 10-12 years old, to Australia this Summer for one week, earliest July 17 or a week after, for stargazing & astrophotography. I have been to Australia once before but not stargazing, any advice on general weather & clear sky rate here? or simply where should we stay to enjoy better chance of clear sky. There is direct flight from Hong Kong to Perth, Sydney, Melbourne... so we are go out from this cities.

Of course, if there will be any star parties or events to join, or nice astronomy facilities like amateur or professional observatories or planetarium to visit, that's great.

The other question is, we are going to bring a self built 40cm Dobsonian, and I know Australia have a very strict control on wooden products. The telescope is yet to build, and I don't mind to buy some wooden board from Australia to Hong Kong for that, as this telescope will mainly used in Australia in the future (see reason below), or other precautions I can take to bring in the telescope?

FYI, currently due to weather & light pollution, I mainly focus on lunar & planetary work in Hong Kong, we used a 20cm triplet APO refractor & a 40cm Dob on GOTO platform (not the one I am bringing in, too heavy), and for deep sky work, I built my own robotic observatory at 4300m alt Tibet, with a 50cm modified DK Cassegrain at f3.8 on Paramount ME, and we just had 9 day star party there. So we don't mind going "too South" in Australia in the coming trip, as we want to focus on core of Milkyway around Scorpius, Sagittarius, and South celestial pole.

Thanks in advance for all advice.

Savio Fong
Hong Kong