[AstralTraveller (David)]

Originally Posted by Ian Robinson

I wouldn't mind living out my retirement in northern Queensland, the Kimberley (Broome or Kununarra) or in Darwin either .... great climate, great fishing, lots of great places to go on 4x4 safari to , very dark and clear skies in easy reach for most of the year - it's not rainy or cloudy all the time in the wet season BTW.

I spent 8 months in Kununurra in 87-88 and yes it is a great place, provided you don't want any fancy services or amenities that you take for granted in the big cities. Now that you can buy many things over the internet the feeling of isolation would be much less. You also need to be able to cope with 3-4 months of 40+ temperatures, and I mean 40+ from 7am until 10pm.

However I never saw a decent sky the whole time I was there. Generally clear but not transparent or stable. It wasn't until we got to the top of the King Leopold Ranges that we saw good skies again. I spent my 30th birthday up there checking out far northern Messier objects - magic.