‘We’re in heaven here, aren’t we?’ A star-studded experience in the heart of the South Island.
Philippa, the bus driver, has an eclectic mix of music - but there is a common theme. From Icehouse’s Great Southern Land, to Dua Lipa’s Levitating, she has her passengers humming – if not exactly singing – to the top of the world.
But what really gets you in the feels, as the 22 astro-tourists reach the summit of Mt John in pitch-black darkness in the middle of the South Island, is her final song, Hollie Smith and Teeks’ Whakaaria Mai (How Great Thou Art).
Above us has emerged a galactic wonder world. The clear, moonless night sky is pierced by thousands of pinpricks – and two planets.
Over there, Mars is descending below the horizon. On the opposite side, Saturn is rising.
The Milky Way, directly above, dominates the space-scape. Visibility tonight is 100% – you’ll not see the Southern Cross, and the two pointers, Alpha and Beta Centauri, more resplendent.
Atop 1030m Mt John, we are in the centre of the Aoraki-Mackenzie dark sky reserve, the biggest in the world.
It’s been literally billions of years in the making, of course, but the dark sky initiative and the tourist visits to Mt John were born from a conversation just over 20 years ago.
Graeme Murray moved to Lake Tekapo (Takapō) in the mid-70s, operating scenic flights in the area. His path crossed in 2004 with then Japanese tourist (and subsequent Kiwi resident) Hide Ozawa, who had been awestruck by the night sky above the Mackenzie Basin.
“This is the place I can show more people the night sky,” Ozawa recalled thinking on a recently released documentary for the 20-year anniversary of the Dark Sky Project.
“Not many Kiwis [are] aware of how special this night sky is. The centre of the Milky Way ... goes straight above on the east. It’s wide up there and tapering to both horizons. That never happens in the northern hemisphere.”
Ozawa sought Murray’s help to support Nagoya University install a leading-edge telescope atop Mt John, with the support of Canterbury University.
“The only thing we hoped we would obtain as a result of our support was the key to the gate,” Murray says on the documentary. “We would love to open it up for astrotourism.”
The venture, then called Earth & Sky, was hardly an overnight success – Murray recalls occasions when barely three people would show up.
“One night, [Hide] and I were sitting under the stars here with no clients, and he said what to me personally, are very famous words, ‘You New Zealanders take your stars for granted – you don’t appreciate the asset you have in your night sky’.
“He said if we had a sky like this in Japan, we would create a park to protect it.
“Now I’ve heard of people being hit by religion and all sorts of things, but that sort of got at me a wee bit.”
With the support of many, the Mackenzie-Aoraki area was awarded dark sky status in 2012.
The trickle of tourists became a torrent, says Murray.
Earth & Sky and Ngāi Tahu Tourism teamed up in 2016 to become 50-50 partners in the business, and renamed it The Dark Sky Project.
Tour times vary according to the season, anywhere from 6.30pm to 2am in winter. In summer time, the tours are between 10pm and 4am.
“I already was a night owl,” laughs Ngāi Tahu astronomer Victoria Campbell, who was appointed Dark Sky Project general manager last year.
This year, the Dark Sky Project is forecast to attract around 48,000 visitors to Mt John.
“One of the most special things is sharing the amazing southern sky with people from all over the world,” says Campbell.
“A lot of those people don’t get to see the stars in general, due to light pollution or air pollution. It’s life-changing. They’re blown away.”
While there was still work to be done, she believed that Kiwis were starting to appreciate what lies above.
“The fact that here in Aotearoa, we have so many regions or communities looking for some type of dark sky status ... is indicative of the value and appreciation that people have.”
Campbell relocated to Takapō from Dunedin for the general manager role last year.
“Knowing how special our view is of the Milky Way here in Aotearoa, that’s never lost for me.
“For someone who has been raised in the city and only recently moved into a dark sky reserve, I really noticed the difference in what we’re able to see – just the magnitude and the multitude of the stars.”
Weaved into the Dark Sky Project is an interactive experience which explains Matariki and the importance of the night sky in Māori culture, including how the stars were used for the earliest Polynesian navigators.
Te Rūnanga o Arowhenua and Waihao Upoko Tewera King and Te Rūnanga o Moeraki Upoko David Higgins shared ancestral stories when Ngāi Tahu Tourism partnered with Earth & Sky.
“We understood rather rapidly just how important it was to revive some of that mātauranga, some of those traditions and stories about the night sky,” Higgins said in the documentary.
“We’re in heaven here, aren’t we? Takapō is a very special place.”
The Mackenzie Basin was traditionally a gateway for Ngāi Tahu ancestors to connect and trade as they travelled around the South Island.
King described it as the heartbeat of the takiwā (tribal boundary) for his hapū.
“When you’re up on Ōtehīwai [University of Canterbury Mt John Observatory] and the sky is perfect, it almost feels like you can reach out and touch the moon – it’s a very spiritual place,” said King.
King tells me he’s excited by the potential.
“I believe that’s where we all should be heading and looking. We should be looking to go into the stars.
“I see it as a vehicle to interest Māori in our stars, but take that next step and get them into astronomy as well. I want us to be travellers in space.
“Our ancestors were people who crossed vast amounts of distances on oceans. Why don’t we take that attitude and start looking at going across vast expanses of space?”
On Wednesday night, that dream seemed like a perfectly reasonable reality as we peered through telescopes to get an even closer look at the likes of Saturn and even a dying star.
As we descended Mt John, bus driver Philippa had one more song – Bliss.
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor.