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I had a passing interest as a kid; I remember trying to identify planets in the sky during the "Great Line Up" in 1982, squinting through a monocular at Comet Halley from Mt Buller while in HSC, spending lunchtimes at Uni watching episodes of Cosmos in the AV room, and following the occasional bit of "space stuff" through the news.
Things got a bit more serious during a 2-year post-doc in the USA. We travelled with friends up to Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior. One of the Ranger programs was an observing session led by a lecturer from the Northern Michigan School of Mines. He had a telescope (8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain as I recall) and a basket of binoculars. He gave us a presentation indoors showing some of the main constellations and asterisms we'd see (The Northern Summer Triangle for example) and then out we went. He showed us the Double-Double in Lyra through his telescope and I spent some time observing with the binoculars. After everyone had gone in for the night, I went back out with my film SLR and tripod and fired off some long-exposure shots pointed towards Polaris. Probably about 2 weeks passed before we got back, sent the photos off for developing and printing and got them back.
After that my wife bought me Robin Kerrod's book "The Star Guide: Learn How to Read the Night Sky Star by Star" and I did some naked-eye observing. A few years after we came back to Australia I joined the Astronomical Society of Victoria, got my hands on an 8-inch Dobsonian loan telescope and then bought my 8-inch equatorial Newtonian second-hand from another ASV member. Maintained an active interest ever since. Still have the same 8-inch Newt (13+ years now) and still enjoy a star party out at Heathcote, a public viewing session in Melbourne's suburbs, or a solo session at my in-law's farm near Bamawm in north-central Victoria.
Peter Thomas
Oakleigh
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