We use an audio system in most of our sky shows.
You should remember to bring your 3.5mm round plug earphones – or you can purchase some when making an online booking if they are required for your event.
The following earphone connectors are not suitable – flat-style Apple Lightning, USB, Bluetooth or WiFi.
Some events may not require ear phones, eg we may use a public address system. However, we suggest you pack ear phones in case your event is rescheduled to a later night when it may be necessary to have ear phones.
Outback Astronomy is a licensed venue.
Please do not bring food and drinks to our venue – water is OK.
We supply food and beverages suited to our outdoor conditions for guests who purchase the PLUS sky show option. Other food and beverage options are available to view and purchase on our website.
People bringing their own food to our venue can be extremely distracting to other guests and the sky guide who is doing the show. On a quiet evening the noise from food wrappers and eating is obvious and noisy.
Bar service for cold beverages may be available at the venue prior to the start of the sky show event, but this will be dependent on the night and timing, so not guaranteed.
None of the networks (Telstra, Optus or Vodaphone) are perfect. They fail to operate very well when you really want them to (Murphy’s Law).
Telstra performs well in the Broken Hill built up areas though the signal drops off quickly once outside the city.
Optus and Vodafone services are OK but can be patchy in some areas of Broken Hill and you should assume no service will be available once you have left the outskirts of Broken Hill.
If you supply an Optus or Vodaphone cell number in your booking, please take care to enquire with us about sky show status on the day of your event or when you are in a cell service area. Please text us on 0427 055 225.
These events are typically hosted on prime dark nights:
- Hang out with the Stars®
- Milky Way Hangout
We may wait for clouds to move or cancel.
If we cancel you will be given the opportunity to reschedule or receive a refund.
We ask all guests for a mobile phone contact to receive a text message update about the conditions on the evening of your booking.
If your credit card used in the booking changed after you booked your event, please notify us to avoid any delay in the refund process.
If you booked your event as an individual or as part of a group of family or friends, and we cancel an event because of cloud, your options are:
- Reschedule to another available night, subject to availability, or
- Seek a refund (less the original online payment fee).
On some occasions large quantities of food service are involved and guests cannot reschedule. On such occasions we have invited our guests to enjoy their food and beverage service on the sky dome and refund the sky show portion of the booking.
There may be occasions when we will cancel a sky show due to low booking numbers, however, we try to avoid doing this.
If it is cloudy and your booking was made by a third party or a tourism industry representative, it is likely your schedule is set. It may not be easy to reschedule or refund, or it may be that making a refund is complicated due to the type of event or the cost of making the refund. In such situations we will provide an alternative event at our premises, as far as it is possible.
We provide this finer detail for the benefit of anyone who may be interested!
Usual Process (This happens most of the time.)
- Late morning, we analyse weather models and forecasts
- We text guests with sky show status, instructions
The weather is unpredictable.
Guests should expect to be flexible.
Unforeseen weather changes can occur during events. If you have entered our venue, and we have begun an event, we may not refund, and this is stated in our sales terms.
For this reason, we invest time and effort in decision-making about proceeding or cancelling all stargazing events.
When poor gazing conditions are determined, we will cancel and offer you an opportunity to reschedule or to take a full refund (less any online payment fee charged on the original order).
Rescheduling Possibilities
- If you have opportunity to attend
- If we have availability, minimum numbers of guests
- If the event is scheduled or could be scheduled
- If weather conditions permit
Do all cancellations that follow the “usual process” receive a refund?
Yes.
We make the decision early in the day most often, because then it is possible to refund you in the event of forecast clouds.
This process seems to satisfy most persons.
Please note the following about weather models and forecasts. Forecasts will:
- most often be variable
- most often contain inaccurate information
- most often conflict with forecasts from other providers
- most often be irrelevant for large parts of the Broken Hill district
- require best analysis and interpretation by us prior to determining sky show status
- be prone to change suddenly on some rare occasions, with or without accuracy
Unusual Process (From our experience, this may happen once or twice a year.)
After we have communicated clear conditions based upon forecasts, and decided to proceed, the weather forecast may change – just before our planned commencement.
Late forecast changes like this may not be backed up by conditions, eg the visible sky looks clear or clearing, and satellite imagery seems to be clear. It is possible that the forecast is wrong and may be due to a computer error.
By this late stage we have set up all equipment and food service has been finalised.
When we have no idea what to expect we do the following:
Text you before you arrive at our venue if possible, or talk to you at our front gate once you have arrived.
We are likely to decide to proceed, taking on the unknown!
We may suggest you take one of these options:
- Agree that half of your sky show ticket is refunded if stargazing not possible. We cannot refund food service at this very late stage and will invite you to enjoy food service at our venue.
- Agree to take a refund (less any online payment fee charged on the original order) and immediately leave our venue. Note that at this very late stage we cannot refund sky show food. In this instance, only your sky show tickets will be refunded (less any online payment fee charged on the original order) and your food service will be donated to the local birdlife.
Yes. We don’t mind if you bring your dog as long as they stay quiet, remain on a leash and please stay off the furniture.
They will enjoy the show and find it informative – especially when they hear about Canis Major.
All sky show guests must plan to arrive at least 30 minutes before the start of the sky show. We will text on the day with final gate open and close times.
Please text or phone us on 0427 055 225 as soon as you know you will be late so that we can make arrangements to greet you.
Our property is blacked out and locked up for stargazing, so may not be immediately obvious where to go and/or the gates may be locked.
Any person curious about the sky, the stars and other celestial objects will enjoy these events. No prior knowledge of the sky is required. Our sky shows are suitable for all ages from 6 years and up.
No, we do not offer a transport service to our venue. There are ride share offering from Broken Hill who may be able to assist.
Outback Astronomy is located at 18817 Barrier Highway, Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia. This is a 10 minute drive from most parts of Broken Hill. Parking spaces are at the front of the building. Search for our venue online and follow directions. You must exercise caution if relying upon a factory-fitted GPS unit in a motor vehicle. Guests have advised these can be inaccurate.
From the Post Office in Argent Street, drive north.
This is the direction to Wilcannia and Cobar.
Argent Street becomes the Barrier Highway.
From the 80 kilometre per hour speed sign on the edge of town, proceed 5.2 kilometres.
We are on the right-hand side of the highway. A small reflective sign marks our turn-off, as well as blue led road markers that highlight the entrance.
Our property is flat and accessible with walking aids and wheelchairs. Specialised transportation vehicles may access the sky dome directly however this must be arranged in advance of the sky show. Bathroom facilities do not allow wheelchair access at this time.
Access through the main building involves steps at the entrance. If you are unable to navigate the steps, we can arrange access around the building across the grass. Discuss this with us either on the night or in advance via email.
The building was constructed in the 1930s and we value its heritage.
Images used on this website are a combination of Outback Astronomy images, stock images and images from Destination NSW.
