Canadian Star Enthusiasts Enjoy Southern Hemisphere Hospitality

Southern Sky Wonders Delight Our Northern Friends

Michael and Stephen are astronomy enthusiasts and booked their tour with Honeysuckles Astronomy Tours six months ago when they knew they were visiting “Downunder”. Their visit is for less than two weeks, but Michael who is President of an Astronomical Society in Canada was not going to miss this opportunity to see our magnificent southern sky “up close and personal” 🙂

Our tour night was ideal with still conditions and dark skies prevailing – ideal for galaxy viewing, a favourite of Michael’s. But our viewing was far from limited to only galaxies and included some show-stopping beauties our northern friends travel all the way south of the Equator to see. Objects included the massive Tarantula Nebula – located inside a nearby galaxy outside our own Milky Way System, jaw-dropping nearby globular cluster 47 Tucanae with its half a million stars and the magic feature-packed Eta Carina Nebula.

The night’s viewing was filled with superb objects. Michael and Stephen’s first class ticket to it, along with the ocean beach only metres away to also enjoy, was a great addition and part of their busy short Australian holiday schedule. Local Melbourne and Victorian residents have all this at their doorstep and Honeysuckles Astronomy Tours is delighted to provide a grand tour. Our Canadian guests were certainly pleased to add this activity to their list of “must dos”, when in Australia. In fact, it was likely the first thing they booked when planning their trip!

“We had an awesome experience!

My partner and I are visiting Australia from Canada this Christmas holiday period. Bruce was very helpful about accommodating a booking for a cottage stay and astronomy tour far in advance when we started planning in June. He was very communicative and helpful in planning our arrival from Melbourne and what we would need for the stay.

Bruce was welcoming and entertaining as host, and he led an excellent tour of the December highlights of the Southern skies using his giant 20 inch SDM dobsonian telescope. We enjoyed every minute of the tour! Highlights included 47 Tucanae, the Tarantula Nebula, Eta Carina Nebula, the Jewel Box Cluster, the Pincushion Cluster, the Silver Coin Galaxy, excellent views of Venus, Saturn and Jupiter, and of course the Orion Nebula. It was so cool to explore targets in constellations we cannot see in the Northern Hemisphere and to get such breathtaking views that only a truly big telescope can deliver!

The cottage is well maintained, steps away from a beautiful remote beach on the Bass Strait. We enjoyed a quiet relaxing day with time on the beach, a walk in the quiet community enjoying the architecture of the cottages and the beautiful flowers and plant life, and a short drive to look at the water fowl on Lake Reeve.”

Michael W    Google