Is winter a good time to stargaze in the Aoraki Mackenzie region? Jacqui Gibson travels south in mid-winter to find out
It's a promising sign: that is, an actual road sign saying Starlight Highway, Te Ara O Rehua on the main highway leading us from Fairlie to Aoraki Mount Cook National Park. We're about three hours into a four-day road trip of Aoraki Mount Cook, where stargazing is the theme of the journey. The plan is to explore the dark sky mecca of Takapō (Tekapo) before spending a few days in Ben Ohau and Lake Pūkaki, star-spotting as we go.
Stargazing in Takapō
The landscape is popping with colour as we drive west from Fairlie. Everywhere I look there's drama: jangling blue skies, chocolate-coloured mountains dipped in incandescent snow and glowing turquoise lakes.
Arriving in Takapō, the Church of the Good Shepherd looks picture-perfect against the backdrop of the Two Thumb Ranges. With its settled weather and long dark nights, Aoraki Mackenzie is an ideal destination to explore the winter skies of New Zealand's only Dark Sky Reserve.
Inside Rehu, home of the Dark Sky Project, people are buying tickets for tonight's Summit Experience. Just after 6.30pm, they'll put on extreme-weather jackets (temperatures are due to fall below zero) and head up to the University of Canterbury Mount John Observatory.
Up there, they'll identify some of the southern sky's brightest stars (Canopus and Alpha Centuri), contemplate the distance between Earth and the closest star, Alpha Centuri (a mind-boggling 40 trillion kilometres away), and learn about the many cultures who draw on the night sky to make sense of the world.
In 2012, a 4300-square kilometre chunk of Aoraki Mackenzie was recognised as an International Dark Sky Reserve, the only one of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, and one of only eight in the world.
On our Summit Experience, the sky is scattered with tiny lights. Some stars twinkle. Others shoot across the cosmos. Some emanate a red or blue-white colour. With the naked eye, I identify the Southern Cross. But it takes squinting through the university's state-of-the-art telescopes to get a fix on Mars. Finally, cheered by news of clear weather in the days ahead, we plug our guide for tips on where to look for Matariki just before sunrise.
Night sky views at Ben Ohau
Next, we're headed to Omahau Hill Station on Ben Ohau Road about 70km from Takapō. A working sheep and beef farm, powered entirely by solar and hydro energy, Omahau Hill Station rents out three off-grid, glass-roofed cabins ideal for stargazing.
We've booked the SkyScape 3 cabin hoping to see the Matariki cluster appear in the early morning sky from the snug comfort of a king-size bed. The bookcase features Vicki Hyde's Night Skies Above New Zealand and a pair of binoculars. We've got University of Waikato Professor Rangiānehu Matamua's Matariki: The Star of the Year and tips on what to look for from our Dark Sky Project guide. So we're hopeful.
Driving the farm's dirt roads, we pass Marcus, the resident Scottish Highland bull, and make our way to the glass cabin that'll be our home for 48 hours. Built for two, it looks over a valley of honey-coloured tussock, low-lying natives such as the spiky tūmatakuru (matagouri) and an enormous sky anchored to the horizon by the Ben Ohau and Two Thumb ranges.
From here, SkyScape owners Bridget and Bevan recommend daytime activities such as tramping, skiing the snow fields of Ohau, Mount Dobson or Roundhill or visiting Mount Cook Village (about 55 minutes' drive away). We decide to stay put, breaking up our stay with hikes along icy farm tracks and soaking up the sun (and stars) in our 2m-long, outdoor steel-cedar bathtub.
Heli-hiking on Tasman Glacier
With a possible sighting of Matariki under our belts, we pack up, text our hosts goodbye and drive about 60km along Lake Pūkaki to go heli-hiking on Tasman glacier. Arriving at Mount Cook airport, we're chuffed to find The Helicopter Line is offering sizable discounts on most tours. We sign up to spend the afternoon with three others and senior staff Mike and Chris.
Over three hours, which extends into four due to good weather and so few tourists, we put on standard-issue glacier boots and crampons, fly on to New Zealand's longest glacier and scramble across what seems like miles of ice terrain.
On the glacier, one of our party warns: "Don't worry if I cry at some point today. It's just the beauty of the South Island landscape can be overwhelming at times." Caught in the travel pause between New Zealand and Australia, the Sydneysider has recently returned from a scenic flight to Milford Sound where she bawled her eyes out. Sure enough, later, while looking up at Aoraki Mount Cook, the tears begin to fall.
Pūkaki wine cellar and observatory
The final stop on our winter getaway is Mount Cook Lakeside Retreat on the edge of Lake Pūkaki. The family-run luxury resort, catering to a maximum of 22 guests, features its own, purpose-built wine cellar and observatory.
Apparently, Oprah Winfrey stopped in for a private star tour while filming A Wrinkle in Time in 2017. Tonight, it's me, my husband, Richard, and resort owners Kaye and Luke Paardekooper gathered in the wine cellar.
Kaye, who until recently sat on the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve board, explains star tours like theirs are typically popular with guests from the US, Europe and China. "It's hard to imagine, but some people have never seen stars," says Kaye. "Living in big international cities where there's a lot of light pollution means they see very little in the night sky."
Thanks to border closures, Kiwis are starting to explore Aoraki Mackenzie, the world-class stargazing destination on their back doorstep, says Luke. "Aucklanders are now staying with us," he says, passing around crystal tumblers of whisky. "In the past, we'd have counted the number of Aucklanders in any given year on one hand. We're seeing more and more come down for a long weekend."
As we step from the wine cellar into the observatory, the roof rolls away providing an enormous open-air window to the night sky. It's barely a few degrees outside, but that's not the only reason the clear, dark sky is breathtaking. There are stars everywhere.
Holding a laser, Kaye points out the Milky Way, a black hole and various nebulae. Later, Luke sets up the six-inch refractor telescope, bringing Saturn into view.
After the tour, we head back to our villa and hop in the outdoor hot tub for yet more stargazing. It's pitch black outside, so we can't see Lake Pūkaki, just metres below us, clearly visible during the day. From our clifftop position, we can't see Aoraki Mount Cook either. We'll have to wait until the sun rises for views of the Southern Alps. And that's entirely the point. In Aoraki Mackenzie, the views are always spectacular. They simply change depending on if it's night or day.
CHECKLIST: AORAKI MACKENZIE
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For more information about things to see and do in the district, go to mackenzienz.com
For more New Zealand travel ideas and inspiration, go to newzealand.com
