What Happens on a Pinnacles Stargazing Tour If It's Cloudy?
What each Pinnacles stargazing tour does when cloud hides the stars: a stargazing refund, forecast cancellations, free cancellation and cloudy nights.
It depends on the tour, and of the evenings compared here only one carries a Stargazing Refund in its terms. Lumineer Adventure Tours’ Pinnacles: In-Desert Sunset BBQ & Stargazing & Sandboarding, from US$163 a person (checked November 2026), carries a Stargazing Refund: a guaranteed refund if weather or conditions prevent or critically impact the experience. Australian Pinnacle Tours may cancel on a very unfavourable forecast. Autopia Tours uses its telescope when the weather permits.
Free cancellation also runs until 24 hours before, and on this tour the pickup time comes by text, email or WhatsApp the evening before, so you know the plan in good time.
Each tour’s terms
| Tour | If the weather is bad | Free cancellation |
|---|---|---|
| Pinnacles: In-Desert Sunset BBQ & Stargazing & Sandboarding (Lumineer Adventure Tours) | A guaranteed refund if weather or conditions prevent or critically impact the experience; a refund too if the operator’s changes remove or critically alter a core activity | Until 24 hours before |
| Perth: Pinnacles Desert Sunset & Stargazing with Dinner (Australian Pinnacle Tours) | May be cancelled if the forecast is very unfavourable; you are contacted before the day and choose a full refund or another date | Until 24 hours before |
| From Perth: Pinnacles Sunset and Stargazing Tour with Dinner (Autopia Tours) | The telescope is used weather permitting | Until 24 hours before |
| From Perth: Koala, Pinnacles Sunset & Stargazing Day Tour (Tour2Holiday) | Stargazing and photos depend on the weather; the itinerary may change for weather | Until 24 hours before |
Terms checked November 2026. The operators may change the route or the order on the day; refunds follow the terms of the booking you made.
Read the first row closely. The term sits under the heading Stargazing Refund and gives no amount, so if the size of the refund matters to you, ask Lumineer Adventure Tours before you book.
Which months bring more weather
The Parks and Wildlife Service says most of Nambung National Park’s 540 mm of rain a year falls between May and September, and that December to March is usually hot and dry. Rain is not the same as cloud, and cloud turns up in any month: guests on Lumineer Adventure Tours’ and Autopia Tours’ tours wrote about cloudy or wet evenings in every month from May to October 2026, and one of Lumineer Adventure Tours’ guests met clouds rolling in at the Pinnacles in November 2025.
What guests did on cloudy evenings
Some saw nothing. “Due to cloud cover, no sunset or stars sadly, otherwise a great trip,” wrote a guest on Autopia Tours' evening in October 2026. Others were luckier: on Autopia Tours’ tour in September 2026, “cloud cover limited our viewing of the stars but we saw Venus up close through the telescope”, and in March 2026 a guest found that “although it was a cloudy day the skies cleared”.
Lumineer Adventure Tours’ guides have gone looking for a gap. A guest in September 2026 wrote that the team “made efforts to stop at other locations to see the Milky Way”; another, in October 2026, wrote that the guides offered to stop on the way back where the sky was clear, and saw the Milky Way and the Southern Cross from there.
How to plan around the weather
- Book early in your stay. If a forecast for your night looks solid grey, you can cancel free up to 24 hours before and rebook a later night.
- Watch the moon as well as the cloud. A clear night near the full moon still hides the fainter stars; the best nights for stargazing lists the new moons.
- Pack for rain in the wetter months. Autopia Tours' list of things to bring includes rain gear, and one of Lumineer Adventure Tours’ guests in October 2026 needed a rain jacket.
If the stars are the reason you are going, book the evening whose terms include the Stargazing Refund.
See dates for the BBQ and stargazing day
If you would rather have the picnic and the sunset walk without a refund clause to weigh, Autopia Tours' evening uses its telescope only when the weather permits and states no other weather term; free cancellation runs to 24 hours before. The same Lumineer Adventure Tours day sells on Viator as Pinnacles Desert Sunset Dinner and Stargazing Tour for US$154 (checked November 2026); the refund term above is the one on GetYourGuide.
More from Perth
Pinnacles Tours with Open Dates
Sunset tours, day trips and other tours from Perth with live availability. Where each starts, what it includes and the cancellation terms are shown before you book.
A Stargazing Refund in the Terms
Lumineer Adventure Tours' sunset BBQ, sandboarding and stargazing day from Perth CBD hotels, with a guaranteed refund if weather or conditions prevent or critically impact the experience.
See dates