Starry, starry night

I recently read an article in the SMH about Sydney natives who had transplanted themselves to rural cities and towns. They were asked the predictable question - what did they love about their new home - and most of the answers were easy to anticipate: a more relaxed lifestyle, cleaner air and a sense of community.

One unimaginative ex-Sydneysider said that what he liked most was the “lack of traffic jams” (who moves to a rural area because of road congestion?) but one new Hunter Valley resident was right on the money. He said one of the things that made it such a great place to live was “you can see the stars at night”. Absolutely.

The Country Mouse is most amused by my love of the country sky. “Look at the stars, look at the stars” I regularly exclaim to which he replies with typical CM practicality “They are the same stars as in Sydney”. They may be, but you can’t see them in the same way.

I discovered starlight many years ago on a memorable inland road trip through Parkes, a part of inland NSW which has rightfully rebranded itself Big Sky Country. It didn’t lie. Every night the sky was a fairyland and I fell in love with the night sky magic in a way I never anticipated. After that trip the stars and I had a whole new relationship and I now watch the night sky mesmerised.

One of my must dos in Hawaii was to see the Southern Cross in a new position in the sky. Late one night on our O’ahu hotel balcony the Country Mouse found it, low down in the Hawaiian skyline, just a few degrees above the horizon. It felt like a strange connection to home.

When things seem difficult I find comfort in the stars and the moon; I gaze heavenward to see what the moon is up to and which stars are going to reveal themselves. How could Oscar Wilde have got it so right so long ago? “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” Lady Windermere's Fan (1892)