Hi William,
Quote:
ut this year, my friend Alan and I want to try some new places for AP in the east coastal area. We plan to spend our 1st week to travel around some places such as Newcastle and Port Macquarie in between Sydney and Brisbane for sightseeing and AP.
So, could you recommend us some motels similar to the Warrumbungle Mountain Motel with a wide-open and dark sky good for AP in or near Newcastle, Muswellbrook, Port Marquarie, Walcha, etc.?
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From Port Macquarie and assuming your planing to head to Brisbane from there, you could potentially head inland via the Oxley Hwy. You'll miss out on the ocean views, but the north western inland is a pretty place to visit. Wauchope is an old timber town, but moving inland you'll pass thru' subtropical forests over a long windy road. As you approach Walcha you can detour and visit a couple of waterfalls (Tia and Aspley).
At Walcha there's a few bread and breakfasts, which I would say are reasonably priced (
http://www.walchansw.com.au/)
From Walcha you can head towards Armidale on the New England Hwy , its a reasonably sized small city and nice to visit. From Armidale you can then make your way to Brisbane visiting numerous towns on the way.
(if your not use to the driving those distances you may want to stay overnight somewhere between Armidale and Brisbane to break up the driving time).
It will be a long drive from Port M. because of the detour inland, but if your in no hurry its a nice change in scenery. If your not planning to head to Brisbane, from Walcha you can head south back to Sydney via Tamworth or Gloucester (6-4.5 hrs respectively).From Tamworth you could literally do Coona again.
If you happen to be around Walcha between 12-17 July, drop me a PM.
I'm planning to be up there with my scope. We could goto the local airstrip and do some viewing one night etc.
Cheers, Norm
PS: Word of warning. Temperatures start to fall around this time of year, especially at night. So make sure you bring warm clothes.