Painting on location or "en plein aire"

I have been living in Australia for a little more than 2 years and have been searching for other artist who enjoy painting outdoors or on location like I do. So far I have run into a brick wall as the people in my area just are not interested in this type of painting so I thought till last Saturday. I volunteer my time at the local art gallery for several hours a month and last Saturday I was there to do my volunteer time. Well, I finally met a fellow artist who is interested in painting outside! She has been trying to find someone to paint with her outside too for some time. She knows an artist that lives up north near Clare who goes out but not to our area very often. So we are planning to start to go out and paint in our area of our little town. There are numerous places to go to and lots of exciting places to check out and paint. She has been in this area for a lot longer than I have and knows all the good spots to go to but up until last Saturday couldn't find anyone to go paint with her till she met me. I have found that my paintings are much better when I do them on location than when I use a photograph. Seeing the real thing works better for me when I can paint outside.