Most of the Mid North Coast AWS / Weather Stations are either well away from public access at airports (Kempsey Ap, Port Ap & Taree Ap), or hidden away on private property (Kempsey Wide St, Mount Seaview, Dorrigo Old Coramba Rd). Harrington and Laurieton also have stations that report temperatures to BOM (though not on the obs page) but are on private property. The Harrington station, as far I can tell from Street View and BOM's notes, is inside a rubbish enclosure for the caravan park, lol.
Coffs Harbour's is at the meterological station, but is out the back and would be awkward to photograph without walking onto private land.

Smoky Cape and Forster weather stations are very easy to access/photograph, and most importantly, they are both huggable.

Neither Harrington nor Laurieton have reported temperatures for many years (since the 1970s if I recall correctly), although both continue as rainfall-only sites. I don't know whether the current rainfall sites are the same as the sites in use when they were full synoptic sites.

Where was the Falls Creek photo? Looks to me like something either the ski resort or the hydro authorities might have had as it doesn't look like a BoM screen design. The Falls Creek AWS is near the top of the hill, while the Rocky Valley precip gauge is near the lakeshore on the north side, a few hundred metres round from the dam wall.

Definitely had a white 'open' dot inside of the square for both locations, so I must've selected the wrong element (daily rainfall, instead of mean monthly max temp) by accident when I was down that southern part of the north coast for Harrington/Laurieton on BOMs map of weather stations.

Shortly after you pass through the Kosciuszko park gates on your way to Perisher Valley, on your left hand side there's a stevenson screen in a bit of a clearing, however I have not been able to find anything in reference to this in the climate archive, Blair, do you happen to know if that screen is anything to do with the BOM?

Not that I know of - presumably it's either National Parks, Snowy Hydro, or maybe RTA (for activating road ice warnings?)

The Falls Ck photo was taken from sort of around the back of the dam wall. Does indeed look like it's not a BoM screen, but not sure.

Here is a photo of Parramatta AWS (Masons Drive). It is located in an open area, about 20km WNW of the Sydney CBD (as the crow flies) and 3km N of Parramatta. It is located in an open area in an Education / College precinct. It is about 250m away from the busy Pennant Hills Road. This more distant view shows the setting. It is towards the bottom of a shallow valley.

At the time that the photo was taken (about 1:00PM July 6) it was fairly overcast and about 14 degrees, a degree or two below average.


Parramatta AWS 02 by Stevevii77, on Flickr

Here is the view looking the other way. The land rises a little, so there may be some drainage old cold air towards the AWS on clear nights (e.g. record minimum -1.0 in July 2002).


Parramatta AWS 03 by Stevevii77, on Flickr

Parramatta isn't an AWS - it's a manual site.

Does anyone know if Moruya Airport AWS is accessible? I would like to visit it for myself, as it's a unique station on the NSW coast recording very low minima at times.

Moruya Airport AWS could potentially be able to be photographed. It is situated on airport land but the land just to the west on the other side of the fence appears to be publically accessible.
Click to see a Satellite view of me
Also, BOM's notes for Moruya Airport AWS: http://www.bom.gov.au/clim_data/cdio/metadata/pdf/siteinfo/IDCJMD0040.069148.SiteInfo.pdf

Speaking about AWS sites may a better place to ask about problems at AWS sites?. I am baffled by what has happened to Thredbo top station over the past 1-2 years. Too often now its reading unreliable unrealistic temperatures. There was some discussion about it in the NSW daily weather thread. It is so frustrating because I no longer believe anything it reads and is stuffing up the stats.

I was up in Kempsey this afternoon, got what I needed to done, and had some spare time. Suddenly, it occurred to me it would be a good opportunity to photograph the two BOM weather stations about town.

Kempsey Airport AWS (near Aldavilla), opened in 2001, so it only has a fairly short history. It is located within the airport's boundaries. (http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/cw_059007_All.shtml)
The photo was taken from Old Aerodrome Road looking NNW (I was about 175-200m away from the AWS):


Kempsey Wide Street weather station (in West Kempsey, it is not an AWS), opened in 1882! It is located on private property (http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/cw_059017_All.shtml). I tried to be subtle when taking this photo, well, as subtle as a person in a bright blue t-shirt, stripy boardshorts and big white car can be.
The photo was taken from the southwestern end of Wide Street, looking north, about 40m or so from the Macleay River:

Here is a picture of the Gosford AWS. It is located inside the grounds of the Gosford Primary Industries Institute at the end of Research Road, Narara, about 4 km NNW of the Gosford CBD. At the time that this picture was taken (about 11:00am August 7) it was clear and sunny with a light breeze and about 14 degrees.


Gosford AWS 001 by Stevevii77, on Flickr

The AWS is located close to the SE corner of the Research Centre grounds in the middle of a broad grassy cleared area about 80m across. The Research Centre is surrounded by forested hills on three sides with the built-up parts of Gosford / Central Coast to the East. It tends to get fairly cold temperatures at night and lower minima than most Sydney area stations this close to the coast (it is about 15km inland). This might be explained by the fact that it is in an open area in a bit of a hollow.

Because the Institute is surrounded by a cyclone wire fence topped with barbed wire, this is as close as I could get, but the picture does give an indication of the immediate area looking away from the street. Here is the view looking the other way into the built-up area of Narara.


Gosford AWS 002 by Stevevii77, on Flickr

This is the AWS at Alva Beach, QLD. It's in a very accessible position near a picnic area. Conditions at the time of the photo were cloudless with light winds and a temperature of approximately 24C.

View to the South East:


View to the North East:

This is the AWS on the grounds of the Ayr DPI Research Station, QLD. The station manager kindly allowed me on site to take photographs. Conditions at the time of the photo were cloudless with a moderate breeze and a temperature of approximately 25C.

View to the South East showing surrounds:


A closer view. The large Stevenson screen to the left is in a deteriorated condition and not used.

Here are some photos of Ulladulla AWS, taken on the 4th August 2012 at approximately 11:30. Quality isn't the best because I'm only using an iPhone 3GS. Max for the day was just over 19C, mostly sunny with a moderate westerly wind. Ulladulla AWS receives southerly changes exactly 3 hours ahead of my location. It is about 1 km inland from the Warden Head lighthouse.

Ulladulla AWS- looking east
Ulladulla AWS- looking west
Warden Head- looking south towards Murramarang

Mt. Dromedary/Gulaga was visible on this day from Warden Head, about 100 km to the south. Unfortunately it doesn't show up in the photo because of the low resolution of the camera.

Here is a picture of the Mount Boyce Automated Weather Station (AWS), near Blackheath, NSW.


Mount Boyce AWS by Stevevii77, on Flickr

It is about 1,080 metres (3,540 feet) above sea level, with about 12 metres of thick scrub between it and the busy Great Western Highway. It is about 600 metres from the edge of cliffs and steep slopes that drop about 200 metres into the Megalong Valley to the South and West. It is quite exposed to the West and South West and somewhat sheltered to the East.

It is about 110 km West of Sydney (90 km as the crow flies), but has a very different climate because of its elevation and distance from the sea. On average, it is about six degrees cooler than nearby locations close to sea level in Western Sydney. On some Summer days it can be hotter than Sydney because it is out of reach of sea breezes. However, being on the Eastern side of the Great Dividing Range, the climate is subject to coastal influences. Southerly and South Easterly changes reach here, bringing cloud, fog and drizzle. On such days, even in Summer, it can be quite cool.

In Winter, it is exposed to cold changes from the South West and can be 10 degrees or more cooler than the Coastal Plain, with occasional snowfalls.

Nice work Steve!

Do you know the whereabouts of the AWS in relation to Mt Boyce itself? I went searching for it last year when I was up there, found Mt Boyce, but never found the AWS. Maybe next time.....

Yes, Grant, it is a bit hard to find. I wanted to get a picture of it in the snow last August, but couldn't find it near the Lookout.

In fact, it's about 250 metres South (i.e. toward Sydney) from the Lookout, not far from the heavy vehicle checking station. It is across the road from a point between the Southern entry / exit to the heavy vehicle checking station and a plant nursery. Click on the photo and check the location map for the photo in Flickr. It's quite close to the Highway but hidden behind thick scrub, with no obvious track leading to it. I saw the top of the Anemometer from the Highway above the scrub and pushed my way through the scrub to get to it.

Mt Boyce AWS on Satellite View

BOM have the latitude/longitude of every weather station to 4 decimal places in their notes for each site.