A new beginning

For more than a decade, I have called Portobello home. Nestled on the Otago Peninsula, it is a place of stunning beauty, with quick access to the back bays — ideal for chasing the aurora. I love it here. However, since moving to New Zealand, I have harboured a quiet dream: to find a weekend retreat where I could build a small observatory and spend long, uninterrupted nights under a truly dark sky.

Unfortunately, despite all that Portobello has to offer, it can never be that place for me thanks to the ever-present glow of suburban lights. So, over the past decade, I’ve been searching for an ideal location for my astronomical home away from home.

I have considered Tekapo, but it's too far for a cheeky weekend away. Central Otago is far too expensive and still a bit of a trek. However, after many nights spent on the Strath Taieri, something clicked this year. The skies there are astonishingly dark, the land is relatively affordable, and it is close enough to Dunedin that I wouldn't need a packed lunch for the drive. After consulting with Mrs G (and lamenting the madness of the stockmarkets, driven by an egomaniacal president of the US and his greed-fuelled sidekick, Elon Musk), we made a decision: to cash in our retirement savings and purchase a small place near Middlemarch.

A few weekends back, we spent our first night under its gloriously dark celestial canopy. I was blown away. The sky was inky black, the stars were brilliant, and the Milky Way stretched across the heavens like a glowing river. My camera captured a 30-minute exposure showing star trails looking south— pure magic.

On our return visit, we discovered a kind soul had repaired our gate, purely out of kindness to the two townies clearly out of their depth. This is the sort of community one is fortunate to be part of. I truly feel lucky.

The Otago Peninsula has been my home and always will be. But now, I also have a place where I can indulge my lifelong love of the night sky, free from light pollution. It feels like a new beginning, nestled beside the ancient Rock and Pillar Range. What could be better?