I really enjoyed doing the night rating. It was a strange experience at first being used to only day vfr.
I didn't find the navigating too difficult and the views are outstanding. It took a couple of landings to get used to it, but once I had nailed that the landings without PAPI, landing light, cockpit lighting etc was actually ok.
Actually the 5 solo stop&go's for the qualification were some of the smoothest landings I had ever done.
At one point my instructor took us out towards the coast and I did a turn with the nose pointing out towards the water with no moon etc, it was very strange there was absolutly nothing to go on except the instruments and was my first taste of actual IMC conditions (without hood on etc).
I was constantly thinking of the engine failure scenario, but as they say the engine does not know it is dark. One can only hit best glide, aim for a dark spot and land into wind and hope for the best!