Accommodation, Meals & Catering Options
at OzSky "Alumni"

Accommodation Options

Markdale Homestead has three historic houses which we have secured for the duration of our stay, all of which are adjacent to the main observing field.

These consist of two original 1850’s stone cottages and a renovated 6-bedroom "Shearer’s Quarters". The quaint accommodation is quite basic and very "rustic" in nature, so please don’t expect 5-star accommodation – but for a small astronomy group such as ours, it is absolutely ideal.

Each of the houses has a fully equipped kitchen for self-catering, shared bathroom facilities (towels are provided), Wi-Fi internet connectivity, plus a shared laundry for use by all three houses.

The bedrooms in the two old "Stone Cottages" are all twin-share with some doubles (reserved for those of us who are travelling as couples) while the 6-bedroom "Shearer’s Quarters" will usually have a mix of single, twin-share, and double rooms.

While every effort will be made to assign accommodations based on your selected room preferences and room share partners at the time of your registration, those rooming allocations may sometimes need to be amended depending on the final numbers, the mix of those attending, or to allow for any last-minute cancellations, changes or additions.

Please keep in mind that the accommodation at Markdale is quite basic, however as we will be spending most of our time out under the dark skies, the accommodation is suitable a group of hard-core astronomers like us!

Our accommodation is equipped with fireplaces in the sitting rooms and all beds have sheets, pillows, blankets and electric blankets to ensure a cosy bed when retiring after a big night's observing.

The 6-bedroom house also has a reverse-cycle air-conditioner in its sitting room.

Self-Catering For Our Meals

Markdale is primarily a working cattle and sheep station, and as such it is not set up for offering catered meals.

However, each of the three houses is equipped with its own full kitchen which we can use at our leisure for self-catering of our own meals

There is also a gas BBQ at each house for cooking up some more relaxed meals, and a group dining space where we can all dine together.

There are no shops, restaurants or cafés in the immediate vicinity of our remote dark sky observing site, so you will need to stock up with a couple of days’ worth of food supplies enroute and plan to self-cater for much of the week.

There are a number of great "pubs" in Crookwell and the surrounding villages such as Laggan and Grabben Gullen which offer great meals if we’re in that part of the world, however that is 30 minutes’ drive from the site, so we’re certainly not likely to dine out every night.

We usually cook up a group BBQ dinner early in the week if anyone is interested, however options for the rest of the week could include either cooking our own meals independently, or we could all stock up on whatever individual food items we like and throw it all in together to do any number of big group cook-ups, either house-by-house, or all together. It's totally flexible!

There are supermarkets in both Goulburn and Crookwell which will stock most of what you could possibly desire and with the exchange rate the way it is right now, grocery prices should be quite similar to prices at home (for those of you travelling from the US, of course).

Depending on how many day trips we do (whether as a group, or individually), you'll probably only need to stock up on a few days’ worth of supplies at a time, especially on our way in and then top up on any additional supplies each time you do any day trips.

Each house has one fridge, and some pantry storage space, so there should be adequate room for most of our food items, but we may need to be careful how much food we stock up on at any one time.

Spread the Word about OzSky

Please remember, these OzSky Star Safaris are enhanced by the group of wonderful folks who are present at each event.

If you have any experienced friends or colleagues who might be interested in joining us at the 2026 OzSky "Alumni" Star Safari (or a future OzSky event), please let them know about this unique observing opportunity.

Previous Editions:
Overview, Trip Planning, Bookings & Logistics
Observing Expectations at OzSky Alumni
Eye Candy and Observing Lists
Weather & Climate Expectations