Unfortunately, or rather fortunately, we weren’t able to secure accommodations at Mt. Cook for a second night. So, after some deliberating, we decided to go to Lake Tekapo and see what we could see. It’s a short drive from Mt. Cook to Lake Tekapo and we were there before we knew it. Just before arriving in the town, we spotted a sign to the Mt. John observatory and took a quick left turn onto the road leading to it. A short distance later we found a one lane road which winds up the mountain to the observatory. At the top are a half dozen telescopes owned and operated by Canterbury University. They are used for research by students and faculty, but are open to public viewing. During the day, the only star visible was Achernar, but they told us about the night tours that were available.
I said it was unfortunate that we couldn’t stay at Mt. Cook because we really wanted to. But as it turned out, we went on the night observatory tour and we were fortunate to have perfect weather for star gazing. The night air was cold but there was no cloud cover or wind when we arrived at the top. The heavens were magnificent. I don’t think I have ever seen such a clear sky with the stars so bright. They had three telescopes set up for us to view the stars and they rotated them through four different sets of stars that included alpha centauri, NGC 4755, the Large Magellanic Cloud, the Southern Cross, Saturn (not a star obviously) and others. It was truly an amazing sight.
By the time we returned, it was time for bed, so we packed it in for the day. Not sure what the day holds for us tomorrow, but we’ll find out soon enough.