Dark Sky Project

A great night experience, we got the premium experience and the guides were very informative and fun. We had an incredibly clear night. This event is totally worth the exhibit and the constellations and configurations we were guided to see were wonderful. So happy we had this once in a lifetime experience.

Unfortunately during our time here we had a couple of days of poor weather and a couple of sunny clear days. Nothing available at the observatory to book online, so we did the 45 min indoor experience with Tu.You could see and hear he knew his stuff, told some great stories, que shared a log of knowledge along with the presentation material and even with a few young kids in the group adding a lot of noise and distraction, he kept on track.At $40 a ticket it was reasonable value.

Amazing program l!! We did not have the weather we hoped for but were so impressed with Kate and her knowledge. She guided us in the indoor (warm and comfy chairs) program to learn about the night sky. Very informative, engaging and educational. HIGHLY RECOMMEND

A must-do activity while visiting New Zealand, home to 5 dark sky reserves out of 17 in the world! We were very fortunate to have a clear night (make sure you’re not going during a full moon) so we had a spectacular view of the night sky. They provided warm parkas for all (definitely grab one before boarding the van) then brought us to the top of the mountain. Guides taught us about celestial navigation, among other topics, and we got to view the stars through 3 different telescopes. If you have a smart phone, learn how to use it to capture images of the night sky before you go, and bring a packable tripod to get some amazing photos. We had an 8:45 pm reservation, and were back to our car by 11pm.

We loved our virtual stargazing experience!! Our extremely knowledgeable and professional tour guide walked us through navigating the stars visible in the southern hemisphere followed by exploring our solar system specifically Saturn and it’s rings/moons. She concluded the experience by situating the earth/sun in the Milky Way and then the Milky Way in perspective of the known universe. This incredible experience truly put our place in the universe in perspective and was very educational. Definitely swing by the dark sky diner after for drinks or dinner! 10/10 one of our favorite NZ experiences.

We did a fantastic excursion at the Dark Sky Project. Originally we booked the summit experience, but due to bad weather we had to change to the crater experience at the last minute. The guide was very interesting to listen to and was very knowledgeable about constellations, star formation and navigation based on the stars among other things. Could recommend this to everyone visiting lake Tekapo!

Would have given four stars. But the $40/pp really does not justify the value of the experience. Lovely and knowledgeable tour guide, and some aspects interesting and educational. But overall, good not great

I did the crater experience and the dark sky indoor and couldn’t recommend them more. The passionate tour guides and the incredible journey they take you on is so worth it. Stargazing and seeing them up close in such a stunning spot with such a clear view was very special and a memory I will treasure.

Visited the gift shop and saw the Brashear telescope, this may be a biased rating given I did not partake in any of their night sky offerings or experience the cafe/restaurant, but I loved the bit I got to see. Especially the history and details about the telescope, it's so cool you can see it, as well as mount John observatory from the site.On the grounds between the building and the lake they also have a fun layout of the planets as info stations at relative distances to the sun" as a spot on the ground. Stumbled across Pluto rather unexpectedly** Spoiler **It's across the bridge!"

We booked in for 2 nights in a row to do the Summit Experience, and have absolutely no regrets.If the weather is on your side this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to see a blanket of stars above Lake Tākāpo and observe them up close using the Dark Sky Project telescopes.We were lucky enough to have a really clear night when we arrived the first night, so the Milky Way was the clearest I’ve ever seen it. The guides took us on a tour of the sky using a laser, pointing out constellations that were visible this time of year, and taught us to find due south.Once we had our bearings, we were given the opportunity to look through different telescopes at about 6 different star clusters and galaxies and telling us the stories of each. Using the largest telescope to observe a star being born was particularly mind blowing.The guides were all really passionate, knowledgable and friendly – they make the Dark Sky Project what it is.The second night we had complete cloud coverage sadly but we opted to do an indoor tour. They showed us a historic (functional!) telescope in their possession, and took us on a digital tour of space inside a lecture theatre where we could chill on bean bags (or chairs). This was really cool too as the guide let our questions lead what we looked at towards the end of the session. Because it’s digital, she was able to show us constellations that we can only see in summertime, and also zoom out to galaxies far, far away. As someone that has done both, this indoor tour was a pretty cool plan B.Unfortunately I didn’t have a tripod so didn’t take any photos during our summit experience, but we drove up Mt John the next day to take a look at the view.My partner and I had an absolute blast and we really hope to come back someday soon.