In '18 I braved -16 cold on a short journey to Scandinavia to photograph the aurora borealis (northern lights). My friend Craig has an aurora forecast app on his phone and told me there would likely be an "event" going on this evening. As I walked up the steep hill from Queenstown, I could see lights shimmering and shooting across the sky...and they weren't meteors or comets. I walked faster, as I was unaware of how long the event would last. A few months ago I was in India and I missed an opportunity for a colourful celestial show in either hemisphere. This evening, the aurora australis was dancing across the sky over the Remarkables!
I travelled specifically to Scandinavia and braved the cold to have a date with the northern aurora (read my story in Sweden called "Dancing Lights"), so it's fitting that I have an easy one with the southern aurora. In the spa I was with my phone and a glass of wine, gazing at the night sky like a giant cinema screen, the temperature a relatively balmy -1. I didn't have to hitchhike and worry about my thumb freezing. Green, blue, magenta, purple, and a little bit of yellow all greeted me as the aurora danced majestically in the sky.
I didn't need only my DSLR camera, as I was able to shoot timed exposures with my smartphone.
Mesmerized, I continued to sit there in the spa as I watched the aurora move through the heavens.
If I could take Anikka to see two things, it would be the Taj Mahal under a full Moon and the aurora. Even the most inexperienced or jaded traveller will be impressed. It's not every day that you get to see a sight like this, so I enjoyed and photographed it whilst I could as I was up past 4 AM. From this day on, I have the privilege of saying I've seen the aurora on both ends of the Earth. Marvellous!
