Night sky by Emma

On our second day at Lake Tekapo, we drove up Mount John, where the observatory is. We were going to go for a walk, but it started raining, and was f..f..f...freezing cold!! The views were breathtaking, and you could see the chalet where we were staying.

We went into the cafe and got really excited, as we saw amazing photos of stars, planets, and meteors, and we knew that we were going to get a chance to see them that night. Then we went back to the chalet. The house next to us had a dog which I named Spot. She was really clever, and knew the commands 'sit', 'chase your tail', 'stand' and 'give a paw'. I went over to stroke her, and when I left, she put her paw up as if to say, 'Don't leave!!' It was the cutest thing in the world. For the rest of the afternoon we watched a DVD together, then had dinner. After dinner, my Mum and I went for a walk down by the lake. We spotted a beach, and walked over.

On the way back my Mum gave me a piggy back, as some thistles were spiking the bottom of my legs. When it got dark (10:30pm!!), we drove to a man called Fraser's house, who specialises in taking photos of the night sky. You can pay to have a private viewing through his huge telescope, and have him explain about what you can see. Unfortunately it was cloudy when we got there, so we couldnt see anything.

Instead he showed us an animation of photos that he had taken; both single shots and some taken over a whole night; showing stars, meteors, and even the Southern lights. This made us a bit sad, as we could see what amazing sights we were missing (he had said that that night there would've been a good chance of seeing the southern lights). Fraser gave us some copies of photos that he had taken, then we started to leave.

When we went outside, we noticed that some clouds had cleared, and asked some questions about what we could see. Fraser went inside, and brought out a laser pen to point out certain stars. The beam reached for miles; it looked like it was actually touching the stars! Fraser checked the view from the balcony where the telescope was one last time, and told us that if we were quick, we could have a look at the moon. It was amazing because you could see the craters on the surface!! This is a photo of what we could see; my Dad put the camera to the end of the lense of the telescope, and took the photo.

He then showed us some other groups of stars. The clouds had cleared above and behind us by this time, and we could see the Milky Way, and the Southern cross; without the telescope. I had never seen so many stars in my entire life; it was beautiful! The next day we started our drive to Queenstown. My Mum wanted to stop every second to take photos. We passed another turquoise lake called Lake Pukaki; the water was an amazing colour.

The scenery on the road to Queenstown was mind blowing, but I was glad when we arrived, as some of the roads were very windy.