Hi Duncan,
Great to hear you are going traveling!
As I have mentioned before on IceInSpace, the good news is that a few hours oustide
any of the major cities and towns, Australia is effectively one big observing field.
So the skies in places as diverse as the East & West Macdonnell Ranges,
the Finders Ranges, just outside of Birdsville or a short drive from Cooper Pedy,
down the road from Uluru etc, etc. can all be pretty much just as dark as each other.
If you look at those night time images of the Earth taken by satellites, it confirms
what I have just said.
The only other rules tend to be that the further toward the inland you go, the
higher the probability of clear skies (it's not mostly desert and semi-desert without
good reason) and of course as you approach and go north of the Tropic of
Capricorn in the Wet Season, well, chances are it might be wet.
One advantage the far north has is that you can view more northerly skies,
but possibly you did that back in Scotland already?
Australia is not much favored for the construction of large professional optical
telescopes because there is not much in the way of high terrain. So combined
with the heat, seeing is often the limiting factor, but having said that, the night
skies are spectacular and nights of good seeing are sometimes to be had.
Even to the point of sometimes being the best night's observing you have ever
experienced.
With regards the heat, that means not only longer mirror cool down times,
but also the potential discomfort as beads of sweat roll off the brow during
sometimes sweltering nights. At other times, it can be freezing cold, so be
sure to take warm weather gear as well.
Sometimes and with some planning you can find yourself effectively camping
on your own or well away from others. For example, the camp grounds along the
West Macdonnell Ranges are excellent with generally good separations between
sites. But now and then plans can go amiss. You arrive earlier, pitch up the tent,
set up the chairs and scope, have dinner and then a camper van the size of a small
bus rolls in, sets up a short distance away and breaks out the generator and
porta flood light.
Sometimes strolling over to say g'day and offering whether
they would like to come over later on to look through the scope ensures that
light ends up going out after dinner.
There is not much high terrain here, but Mount Kaputar in NSW is an exceptional
observing spot but talk to the Park Ranger in Narrabri first with regards
getting the key to the gate where the best place to set up the scope is.
So in a nutshell, you can't go too wrong wherever you go and you are in for
a treat.
Wish I were doing the same right now!
