Big Scope NT Skies

Well we finally have our new 18" dob up here in Gove.
First light was this Sat night & after a bit of a struggle to fit the secondary cage to the trusses & a collumation we were off looking at some of our Favorite DSO's
First thing that was apparent was the need for accurate Collumation of an F4.5 scope !
Jupiter was not as good as I would have expected ?
We stuck with a a 40mm Konig eyepice for most of the evening as this gave the easiest viewing.
The most noticable improvement was the magnitude of stars visable.
It reminded me of looking at a detailed star Atlas, everywhere I looked !
The DSO that stuck in my mind was strangley enough M4, through the 18" it revealed so much more structure !
Omega Cent, the Lagoon Neb, Eta Carina were of course all brilliant !
M27 was a bright ball of light compared to the usual hazy glow & hunting Globs was a snap where ever we looked !
A few necessary additions to the scope:
*A finder scope! we fitted a laser pointer on a mount, which was good for the well known objects, but not so good for hunting the unknown !
*An Eyepiece holder (does anyone sell these ?)
*A good set of charts down to Mag 16
Observing with a group of people with a scope of this size is a bit more of a challenge (especially if kids are involved)
Try climbing a ladder holding a 5 or 6 YO so they can see throught the eyepiece !
I look forward to a clear dark night with no clouds & just a few people so we can really get the best from the scope.