I live in Strathfield, and tried to drive about 30 minutes west near Blacktown last night and found sky there is not noticebly dark than my backyard. so wondering any men live near west Sydney know some place which is pretty dark, such as some place between Penrith and Katoomba.
or I plan to drive to Crago Observation of ASNSW, but not sure its location is available for normal visitor during normal weekends. and that place is a little bit far from my place.
I believe most West Sydney folk would probably head up to Linden observatory, up in the Blue Mountains.
If you want to head south, the MAS and WSAAG have observing spots they can probably tell you about.
If you want to head north, a bunch of sydney/central coast/newcastle people meet up at Kulnura (on the central coast) where the skies are quite good and dark for being so close to Sydney.
It's definitely worth trying to get to an observing night with a local group, the company is great and it adds a whole new dimension to the hobby.
Mike is right the WSAAG people observe at the Linden Observatory on the Saturdays either side of the new moon. Have a look at the link for the location and dates.
Linden would be your best bet, try WSAAG (which i am a former member) if not you could try windsor/richmond area, agnes banks area, warragamba area.......but Linden does have good facilities there.
Crago Observitory has dark skies and is open to the public on saturdays closest to last quarter moon after 8pm. Best to contact Adrian Saw (the number is in the back of ASTRONOMY 2007). Location is at Bowen Mtn about 10mins past North Richmond via Grose Vale Rd (just up the road from me).
There is a pic in the back of the current issue of SKY & TELESCOPE showing the observitory and the milky way centered on Scorpio.
I live in Wollongong and drive to the Orienteering Association hut in Belaglo State Forest near Berrima. I just check with the secretary of the Orienteering association to make sure the hut's not being used otherwise. It has great facilities including a kitchen and bunkhouse; costs $7 a night to stay.
The limiting maganitude on the occasions I've been there has generally been 5.8 (that's with my middle-aged eyes) and on one particularly dry night it was 6.1.
Its one drawback is that there is not a completely panoramic sky due to some tall trees; depending on where you set up, you will find it hard to observe in one prime direction: set up at the south end, for example, and you won't see the northern sky at the altitude of Pegasus or Lyra.
Good dark skies, though, and even if you had to drive from Sydney, its mostly highway, and you can stay in the bunkhouse before driving home after a long night's observing.
