The alerts for the Aurora Australis were buzzing over the last couple of weeks. As a result, I just had to head out and chase them. Here are the best bits of New Zealand's beautiful night sky.
Of course, it's not easy to find the aurora. The general rule is to head somewhere without light pollution and look south. Definitely easier said than done... I'm not sure how many kms I've racked up driving into the darkness and facing south. Sometimes it's a case of avoiding the light pollution and sometimes it's a case of just waiting patiently. And sometimes, just sometimes, you're not sure what exactly it is you're seeing. These photos below are quite cool star scenes that, even though they didn't have aurora in them, I was still pleased with how they turned out. What do you reckon?
And here's a time-lapse of the aurora on August 31st. It was sincerely one of the most incredible things I've seen.