OK all, I have another option for those who may be interested.
Up at Snake Valley they are having the annual Snake Valley Astronomy Camp. It's on from 9th to 13th Nov.
For any of you that are really interested in checking out the stars, this would be a great opportunity. Check out this thread about it on the astronomy site.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showt...559&page=2
There will be people from all over attending, (1 or 2 from overseas) & all are very friendly. There will be a huge number of different size scopes there & everybody there will be more than willing to answer questions & let the novices look through their scopes. (just be careful, some scopes are worth a SHITLOAD) My baby has cost me $12k so far & it doesn't come close to some of the die-hards.
THe SV Camp is over 4 days but anyone can visit at any time. I'm guessing Saturday night will be pretty popular, with both scope owners who can only make it on Sat night (like me) & visitors who just want to have a look, (like you).
To be honest I think this would actually be a much better option than my first sugestion, as there will be so many more & LARGER scopes for you all to look through.
Just to give you an idea of the difference between scope sizes, check out this link. It's nothing spectacular but is a good indicator.
This is looking at a star cluster through different size scopes. The image on the left is through an 8" scope (what I have). It gets better from there. There will certainly be some large scopes at the SV Camp.
http://www.obsessiontelescopes.com/m13/index.html
A bunch of BUSA's parked at the SV Camp would certainly create a talking point.
Let me know your thoughts.