Quote:
Originally Posted by pgc hunter
You'd want somewhere that escapes the summer monsoon but also cold fronts from the south. The Pilbara fits the bill nicely.
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As a reliable dry and cloud free observing location, the Pilbara does not extend
far enough inland and is too far north to be a candidate. The rain at times
absolutely dumps down there and the tracks become impassable due to flooding.
Even the Great Sandy Desert, which is further inland still, can receive
quite a lot of rain during the Wet.
Even in very dry locations, like around Woomera and elsewhere deep in
the interior of SA, you can never completely escape the occassional
downpour and when it rains, the mud becomes so thick that one's boots start to
weigh one down like lead diving boots.
I was in Birdsville in SW Qld one day when we recorded the temperature at
50C and they put on soup with ice cubes in it in the pub for dinner. But even that
night it absolutely bucketed down, testimony to the land of extremes we live in.
...bye bye observatory 
