I'm off to New Zealand's South Island next week and was wondering if anyone has any suggestions on some astronomy related things to check out? Even non astronomy related. I will be travelling around the whole South Island for 16 days. I have already organised a trip to the observatory at Lake Tekapo and will just be looking forward to some nice dark skies. I will be armed with 10x50's, my dslr and a gorrillapod.
I'll add:
Arrowtown to that list, just north of Queenstown.
When I was there in May a must do for me was the royal albatross colony at Dunedin. They are huge birds!
There are fur seals right next to the highway just north of Kaikoura. The young pups that were there at the time of my trip were very playful and a joy to watch.
The hot pools at Hanmer Springs (and other places).
There is a tracking station of sorts at Invercargill but I don't think you'll be able to get in, its an ESA facility.
I can guarantee you find far more to do than you can fit into that time! Visit the local i-sites (tourist information centres, marked with a big "i" on blue) as you go through and find out what is around locally, too. There are surprises in the most unexpected of places. Enjoy!
Oh, yeah, Arrowtown is spectacular in autumn. It looks like it's on fire!
And, yes, Kaikoura! Stop off at the roadside fish stand and have yourself some fresh crayfish cooked on the barbecue in front of you. And, a whitebait sandwich.
Arrowtown - definitely a must and try to get accommodation there instead of Queenstown (expensive).
If you can plan for the right night (lunar phase) and can afford to stay there, the Hermitage resort at Mt Cook has decent newtonian scope and if the weather suits they pack guests in a minibus out to the airstrip for some observing. Consider taking binocs, camera and a tripod - anything - as this is an awesome dark site, one of the darkest I've ever seen. It can also be extremely cold at night as the cool air sinks off the mountains into the valley. I used my little compact to snap these:
Kaikoura, do a whale trip, see if you can get accom at the Irish Pub just out of town. And eat crayfish.
Oamaru, get some NZ single malt whisky, check out the Steam Punk area.
Dunedin, the old Railway building has a restaurant that has over 300 !!! Single malt whiskies
Gibbston Valley, Do the wine tour into the wine cellars dug into the hills.
And see Arrowtown, it is just beautiful. You have to try any Otago Pinot Noir, Amisfeild, Gibbston Valley, Rockburn ..... too many to list.
Tekapo: find the Church of the Good Shepherd. You'll have seen it on tourist brochures, old stone church on the hill.
Nelson: check out all the boutique breweries. And the Sauv Blanc
Awesome! Thanks guys! We already have so much planned it's going to be hard fitting so much in! Can't wait to see the dark skies and get some cool photos! I need to master photos of the Milky Way over the next week before I go so I can actually take some decent photos! I'm getting there slowly! I guess I had better start looking into some of these places I hadn't heard of! Thanks again!
Tekapo ?!? God no, awful tourist trap to fleece the mugs - do not even stop ! The church is just a miserable shed with a memorial on the edge of a rather ordinary lake.
All the tourist coaches stop there to the the passengers have a pee.
Another place to visit - the Akaroa peninsular, it's a flooded volcanic crater. Akaroa itself is somewhat pretentiously fake French, but fun anyway.
All fantastic suggestions, and I'll add a couple more. Able Tasman National Park just north of Nelson is beautiful. Best explored by Kayak / boat from Marahau.
Also, if you can try to get in the air. The South Island is one of the most magnificent regions of land on the earth. I've taken a few scenic flights that I'd highly recommend:
1. Light plane from Motueka, around the Able Tasman coastline, down the west to Greymouth and then across the high Mountians back to Motueka.
2. Heli from Haast down the Fjiordland coastline to Milford Sound, then back over the southern alps (including a stop on the glacier). You might be able to get a similar flight by fixed wing from Queenstown much cheaper, but you can't beat flying in a helicopter for fun!
There are also helo operations out of Queenstown that will knock your socks off with the scenery. I've only flown heliboard with them, but they do scenic and it's spectacular.
Finally Wanaka has a thriving aviation scene and is a fantastic place to try skydiving!
You can almost get a 'heli' trip by going up in the Gondola at Queenstown. Takes you up a mountainside to a cafe ( and the down hill rides ) to a vantage point with spectacular views over the township, lake and Remarkables ( mtn range ).
Good wine bar down in town as well where they have almost ALL the local Pinots on sample. I could spend a good afternoon ( or two) down there.
Akaroa was settled by the French but the English claimed NZ before they got round to it. It is not 'fake' as wavytone suggests but a heritage site and a great place to go swim with the dolphins. Some nice wines too.
The Church he dismisses is no shed, see for yourself. Kind of substantial for a 'shed'. A lot of astro widefeilds have been shot using this as a backdrop.
Toilets are available in NZ ..... tourists are allowed to use them.
I disagree with the "don't go to Tekapo" bit. While it may be a tourist trap, I'd place Queenstown firmly in front of that. Go to Tekapo, it's a beautiful lake, and surrounds.
There is a forum member (Southpoll), likely he will respond, he works at the Mt John place, he would be a good contact to speak with.
Gary
