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Hi Andrew,
I have experienced Bortle Class 2 skies on several occasions and they may well have been Bortle class 1. The most recent was in October 2007 at Coonabrabran when we experienced excellent conditions. I obtained regular repeatable readings of between 21.85 and 21.9 on my Unihedron Sky Quality Meter. M33 was visible naked eye. Keep in mind that when John Bortle talks about observing M33 with direct vision, he is in the Northern hemisphere observing it at the zenith. We are observing it at about 20 degrees elevation only and looking through a lot of murk down there. I have also experienced excellent skies on the West Coast of New Zealands South Island in the unpopulated areas up around Franz Joseph Glacier and down South near Doubtfull Sound. The only problem over there is you only get one clear night a month; and thats in a good month!
Cheers,
John B
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