Stargazing in Australia: Why rural retreats like Starscape are the ultimate escape from city light pollution
There are moments during the 50-minute drive from Bathurst to Trunkey Creek (population 100, and a bit) that we wonder exactly where we’re headed. Scrap metal collection is seemingly a local obsession. Then as the road becomes gravel and the corrugations shake us to the core, the last six kilometres definitely feel like a road to nowhere. But that’s precisely the point of Starscape, our accommodation for the weekend. As the sign on the entry gate says, it’s “Somewhere Nowhere”.
Once on the 40-hectare property, we drive across a grassy ridge where kangaroos graze. It’s only as we pull into the hilltop parking space and gaze down the slope that we spy our retreat, Astra, tucked discreetly into the rolling landscape with little other sign of human habitation. Loading a thoughtfully provided trolley with our supplies, we head down the track as a herd of skittish deer makes a hasty retreat and sunset casts a soft pink glow on clouds gathering on the horizon.
Relaxation comes instantaneously. As the slow-combustion fire starts to crackle, we eye off the sunken outdoor bathtub, an infrared barrel sauna and a fire pit, all offering the promise of staving off the winter chill. Breaking out mandatory cheese and wine, we retreat to the property’s unique selling point – a transparent dome designed for admiring the heavens, with a sofa bed, rugs and fairy lighting to elevate the ambience.
But as darkness engulfs the horizon, it’s clear the elements won’t be co-operating. Heavy cloud cover foils our very reason for venturing across the Great Dividing Range – the prospect of unsurpassed stargazing.
From our earliest years, we are taught through song and story that the twinkling lights in the heavens are a thing of wonder, celestial bodies to wish and dream upon and ponder the mysteries of life. But for many city dwellers, those diamonds in the sky are losing their lustre, with 80 per cent of the world’s population affected by light pollution, and the Milky Way now only visible to one-third of humanity.
Sign up for the Traveller Deals newsletter
Get exclusive travel deals delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up now.
Beyond our cities, however, Australia is blessed with truly dark, clear skies, and savvy rural tourism operators are discovering they have a world-class asset not available in urban centres – the wonders of the night sky.
Starscape’s secluded location has earned it one of the highest dark-sky ratings – two on the Bortle Scale, the global standard for measuring darkness and light pollution. What we’re gazing at are some of the most pristine skies in the world; on a clear winter’s night, the Milky Way would be at its most glorious, enhanced by Starscape’s enormous 90-millimetre refractor telescope.
Through its scope, even beginners like us would be able to view the Moon in stunning detail as well as Saturn’s rings, the moons of Jupiter and nebulae like the Orion Nebula, situated north of Orion’s Belt. But while the Moon – which tonight is full, so already hampering stargazing opportunities – slips in and out behind clouds, it’s largely a wet and miserable night, forcing us to find recreation indoors. Flicking through a selection of vinyl, we croon to Elvis and Frank Sinatra, break out several board games and have some quiet time reading in the comfy window nook.
The following morning, after a breakfast of eggs and avocado followed by an online yoga session in the cabin’s dedicated wellness space – replete with gurgling water feature – we head out to explore the back roads of Bathurst, where every bend reveals stories behind quaint gold rush villages, historic homes and classic Aussie pubs.
Our ramblings lead to the villages of Blayney and heritage-listed Millthorpe, arguably the prettiest town in NSW, where we browse antique stores and warm up over hot chocolate before returning to the glorious isolation of our rural retreat.
Sadly, with the rain set in, the wonders of the cosmos still elude us; but during the night, I wander onto the verandah and gaze at the landscape, ghostly in the shrouded moonlight. With the dome glowing like a lunar capsule, it’s a captivating, surreal sight and a reminder that nature has more than one magic trick up its sleeve.
DETAILS
Starscape is a dark-sky retreat built around “the philosophy of the art of doing nothing”. Some pantry staples are supplied, guests must otherwise take their own provisions. Adults only. Pets permitted. From $690 a night, minimum two-night stay.
DRIVE
The cabin is a 50-minute drive from Bathurst, which is a 3½-hour drive west of Sydney, or an 8½-hour drive north of Melbourne. Blayney, the nearest town, is 40 minutes away.
MORE
starscapeaustralia.com
The writer travelled as a guest of Starscape.
Julie Miller scrapes a living writing about the things she loves: travel, riding horses and drinking cocktails on tropical beaches. Between airports, she lives in a rural retreat just beyond Sydney.
