I have really put in the research on this location.
I’ve poured over topographical maps, researched star and milky way and moon locations and visibility times and done a daytime reconnaissance to see what the location is really like.
After all that I really did think that I was prepared to shoot a this awesome location, but then the one thing that I cant control bit me, the weather.
42km or so north of Leura in the wilds of the remote Blue Mountains is Mount hay.
It is about 1km above sea level and has some fantastic North to South West dark skies , just dont look East or the glow of Sydney will blind you.
I drove the hour to Leura, then the 30 minutes out on the rough dirt track of Mount Hay Road, to be greeted by galeforce winds, 5 deg temps and a full sky of clouds. As disappointing as that was, I pushed on and hiked out to my special spot and got all setup.
About an hour later, I had two 9 image panoramas in the can and a couple of single frame shots.
And here is the best of the less than ideal results.
Dont worry, I’ll try it all again.