The Other Auroras: Chasing the Southern Lights in Australia

When my alarm goes off at 5 a.m. I’m straight out of bed, into my puffer jacket and out onto the deck of my Saffire Freycinet suite with a cup of tea. The sun won’t be up in Tasmania for a couple more hours at this time of year, and even though there are no predictions for the southern lights this morning, I know just how fickle those aurora gods can be.

As I sit all rugged up on my lounge in the crisp Tasmanian air I can hear the sound of gentle waves lapping the shore below and see mountain-shaped shadows against a starry sky. My heart is full, with the joy of being right here right now, and I smile as I realize it really doesn’t matter if the lights come out to play at all.

Over the years I’ve been lucky to see the northern lights in Norway, Greenland, Iceland and Canada. As an Australian that meant I traveled to the other side of the world to see the aurora borealis, when I could have just hopped on a quick domestic flight to chase the aurora australis instead.

When I saw the 2024 predictions for the next solar maximum, which can lead to an increase in aurora activity, I decided to try to see the ones much closer to home. Many a time I was asked, “Can you really see the southern lights in Tasmania?” Those questions all but stopped come May, when what NASA described as possibly one of the strongest aurora displays in 500 years lit up our social media feeds filled with incredible photos of both the northern and southern lights.

Chasing Beauty on Bruny

My first stay on Bruny Island, a little isle off Tasmania’s eastern shoreline, is far from light pollution, with a great view of the sky. Less important for auroras, but no less desirable, it’s also got a wood-fired hot tub on a south-facing balcony for big bonus points.

Only accessible by ferry 30 minutes’ drive from the capital of Hobart, Bruny Island is known for its spectacular landscapes, with the scenery quickly changing from farmland to rainforests, and beaches to wild cliff tops. Food-lovers can swing by the world’s first oyster drive-through window at Get Shucked oyster farm, get a taste for Bruny Island cheese, beer and honey, and discover island-made wines and whisky.

After a ridiculously tasty wallaby gnocchi bolognaise at Hotel Bruny I climb the cast-iron spiral staircase for a sunset tour of Cape Bruny Lighthouse to take in the incredible 360-degree views from the top. Bruny Island is also home to rare white wallabies, which I spot from up here.

At night, I return to Hundred Acre Hideaway, an off-grid stay with two cabins looking out over the wilderness of South Bruny Island National Park. My cabin, The Barrel, features a red-cedar wood-fired tub that can fit up to four, and as I soak in that hot water, sipping a glass of Tasmanian red and looking at the stars, it feels like the perfect spot to watch the auroras. I end up not having any luck on that front, but oh, it’s still a very sweet spot to be.

From Bruny Island ferry stop at Kettering it’s a scenic 45-minute drive to my next stay at Franklin in the Huon Valley. When I arrive at Silverwood, my geodesic dome-style home for the next two nights, I know I’ve found another aurora-spotting gem of a stay. Perched high in the hills, I have beautiful views of the valley and river below, and so much sky. If only it wasn’t full of clouds.

Thankfully, Tasmania has small weather patterns, so if there had been excellent aurora predictions for the night, I could have hopped in my car and tried to beat the clouds by driving to another area. Sadly, neither the aurora nor the weather gods are on my side for this one. But I’m still smiling as I explore charming towns including Geeveston, where SundanceTV’s first comedy, Rosehaven, was filmed, and take a mulled-cider cruise in an historic timber motor cruiser with Huon River Cruises.

In the township of Ranelagh, I sit by the fire in a converted barn and oast house tower at The Kiln where the menu includes Hungarian fish stew and Moroccan broccoli. This also happens to be a favorite spot for the author of the Aurora Chaser’s Handbook and creator of the Aurora Australis Tasmania Facebook group, Margaret Sonnemann, who joins me to swap some of our favorite aurora memories.

Margaret says that while photos and timelapses of auroras are beautiful, they don’t fully capture their magic. “There’s just something amazing about the way it moves and changes.” Margaret says. “It’s like seeing music.”

Margaret tells me that while she’s not expecting a repeat of the May auroras, sometimes the best aurora displays will come in the next few years, after solar max, and I start mentally planning my next trip to Tasmania.

Illuminating the Mainland

In Hobart, I enjoy a night of ultra local and seasonal fine dining at Fico and a luxury waterfront stay at Tasmania’s storytelling hotel, MACq 01. While the state’s capital may not be the best spot to see auroras due to its city lights, it’s a great place to discover some of the other ways Tasmania glows.

One of Australia’s top 100 scientists, Dr. Lisa Gershwin shares her passion for bioluminescence and biofluorescence on her Glow Shows and Glow Tours. As we walk along the Hobart rivulet with our UV flashlights I’m swept into another world as we find fluorescent lichens, plants, insects and animals, including a possum that glows pink in the tree above us.

The next morning, I meet another unusual thing that glows in the forest. On a foraging tour with Mic Giuliani from Sirocco South (the “caped crusaders of Tasmanian food”), I’m introduced to a range of mushrooms including Tasmania’s ghost mushrooms that glow in the dark. The bioluminescent mushrooms are beautiful to look at, even in the daylight, but as they’re not edible they’re left off the menu when we sit down to a six-course lunch in the forest, where Mic cooks up some of our foraged finds.

The last stop on my Tasmania tour takes me to Saffire Freycinet, the luxury stay in the heart of spectacular Freycinet National Park that T+L Southeast Asia readers voted best Country Hotel or Lodge in Australia in the 2024 Luxury Awards. Over drinks looking out at the Hazards Mountains, I chat to an Australian couple who have gone aurora chasing over the years in Norway, Iceland and Greenland and have struck out on every trip. This year they’ve swapped Europe for Tasmania and are hoping they might see their first aurora on home turf.

The all-inclusive resort has a lot to keep us busy, and I love the chance to don a full-body beekeeper’s suit to join Rob ‘the Bee Man’ Barker to meet the bees in their hives before a special honey-tasting session alongside the resident Tasmanian devils. And when I join First Nations guide Mick Quilliam on a Connection to Country walk, I learn about the Oyster Bay people’s traditions and way of life and smile when Mick tells me that they see the auroras as mother earth’s great-grandchildren dancing in the sky.

As the sun rises on my final morning in Tasmania, I know that while I may not have seen them dance this time, my trip has just made me love this island state all the more. I may not need an excuse to plan another trip to Tasmania, but thanks to the aurora gods, I have one.

How to See the Southern Aurora

To increase my chances of seeing auroras in Australia, I stay in places that tick a few important boxes.

• Follow the dark. You have to stay inaccommodation away from light pollution.
• Orientate yourself correctly. Choose a place with views to the south.
• Prioritise sky. Go somewhere that offers as much uninterrupted sky as possible.
• Be adaptable. The G5 solar storm that led to those May auroras was so strong that it was a pretty safe bet there’d be a great light show—but usually there is no way of knowing when and where they will come out. The best thing to do when organising an aurora chasing trip it to plan a holiday you’ll love either way.

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