"that mythical milky way isn't part of the view at all."

Light pollution!

I see it from here. Look me up on a map: Waitati, Otago, Aotearoa.

The milky way is spray painted across the sky. I wonder what you mean? Is the light pollution in the cities far from you bad enough to obliterate that?

In a 200 mile radius of me there are probably not half a million people, concentrated in one direction, and a city of 120,000 fifteen miles away across a thousand foot high mountain. Seems odd to me I can see it and you cannot. Is it more visible in the Southern Hemisphere?

I go out most ever night. If it is clear I look at the stars, usually one, at random.