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No Whales but Stars
After completing the Abel-Tasman-Track, our original plan was to travel Southwards along the West Coast. But once we checked the weather forecast (three days of straight rain), we decided to change our plans and traveled along the East Coast instead, where the weather was much better.
On the way to Kaikoura we passed another large Fur Seal Colony. Close-by was also a large group of young Shags which were just starting to fly. They looked very inexperienced but did manage short stretches already.
At Kaikoura we booked a Whale Safari, hoping to spot Sperm Whales, which frequent this Coast. Unfortunately, the sea was too rough, and all trips were cancelled. So, we headed farther South to Geraldine where we stayed in Oldfields, a charming Bed and Breakfast.
Our next stop was Lake Tekapo, which is famous for its turquois water and for being in the heart of a Dark Sky Reserve with an active observatory on Mount John.
We used the day for a long walk up to Mount John and back down along the lakeshore.
However, the main reason for our rush to get here was at night. At 1:15am we started our stargazing tour with Earth & Sky, which brought us up to the observatory where we had a 95% clear sky (the best conditions they had in days) and very good views of the stars. After learning a lot about the constellations, we could also look through three telescopes to get a closer look at Alpha Centauri, the globular cluster 47 Tucanae, Mars, and The Jewel Box (NGC 4755).
Those that brought a DSLR camera along, could leave them with an astrophotographer who took pictures of the milky way. Since we had a system camera along, we didn’t qualify. Nevertheless, the tour was well worth the high price of admission.
Once back in town we weren’t too tired yet, so we headed to the famous Church of the Good Shepherd, to try our luck at astrophotography. And considering it was our first time and we didn’t have a tripod the results did really amaze us.
Further South we stayed in Cromwell and Arrowtown, which is famous for its historic main street with many buildings dating back to the gold rush in that region.
And that is where the bad weather caught up with us again. But all in all we were very lucky with our detour. (Later we met someone taking the west route, ending up with two days delay due to a landslide, so it was definitely the right decision)Labels: new zealand, pictures, traveling
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