Hi Suzy and thanks for the unexpected reply. I consider myself lucky that I don't have to travel anywhere to have moderately good to very good skies. I live not too far west of RAAF Amberley and while I have LP in the east (from the the RAAF Base and Ipswich), it's quite the opposite for the other cardinal headings. If I go a little further west like Grandchester or Laidley then the skies start becoming downright excellent! I went to the Scenic Rim Astronomy Association's site outside of Beaudesert on Sat night (... yep, it was a washout!) and think it's better out my way! Actually, by the time I got home & unpacked it was near midnight and the Milky Way was stunning in its clarity & contrast ... once again I could pick out with only my eyes the dust belts extending either side of Scorpio's tail - awesome!! I can only imagine how good it is at a genuine dark site ... <sigh> one day
