There had been talk in the media and in the various online Aurora groups, this was had the potential of being big. But how big – well we got a show that will not soon be forgotten.

Normally you see the Aurora Australis looking towards South, sometimes when its bigger, it spreads towards east and west…..but this night I was surrounded by dancing aurora.

There was aurora to the west, to the east and behind me to the north. If I looked up there was aurora converging into a corona, full of magical dancing colours. The curtains that we got to see this night was spectacular, we saw dune Aurora, something that was only discovered and named back in 2018, by scientist in Finland. There was so much going on, and it was absolutely mind blowing.

I started of in one of my well known spot, just after nightfall, but even before I left our house I could see massive pink naked eye beams.

I read about over crowded spots, with people scrambling for spots and torches ruining photos – I had non of that, there was only me. But I did however hear many cars driving up and down the road, something that is very unusual, as we are very rural and normally there might be one or two cars, people coming home late. I also later discovered an unusual large amount of dead animals on the road, which saddens me. As I said we are very rural down here, so from dusk until dawn, you have to be very vigilant when driving, as an example, I have a two minute drive down to the water, and on a busy night I will see at least 20 pademelons, 5 possums and a number of smaller hopping,running creatures….not all of them cross the road of course, but they are on the side of the road and there is always a potential for them deciding to cross to the other side. I forgot to also mention the ever present Turbo Chooks, a native hen here in Tassie, that can’t fly. They live in smaller family groups, and roam the country, night and day.

I did however also see 3 live Qoull’s on this epic night – which was a record in one night, but back to the Aurora.

Still only having one battery, I was forced to go home in the middle of the night. When I went out again, it was to a placeI had only visited in daylight, but well known to me and I know that other aurora hunters use it as well. It was well after midning, and the clouds have started to roll in, but to my surprise I found it empty.

I found a spot up amongst the trees, normally Im at the waters edge, so I havent got much of a foreground to play with, but I decided that I wanted to try to have some trees in the foreground, setting off the dancing colours.

Not long after setting up, I heard a car coming down the track. Being by myself, in the bush in the middle of the night, well – you have to think and be careful.

It turned out to be a family of three, that I ended up chatting with for a while, also missing some aurora shots in the meantime – but it was actually nice watching the show and talking to someone while I was experiencing it. They showed me images of some of the places they had been during the night and there was talk about where to go from here.

While we chatted, the sea mist had rolled in, almost obscuring any light, even the light from the salmon farms, which is very bright.

They left and I stayed on for a little bit, pondering what to do and where to go. I decided to head on home, but to look for suitable places on the way.

As I said the clouds had rolled in and the sea mist, it made for a very eerie feel and some interesting images.

I almost turned up our road, thinking it was time to find my bed, it was cold, late or early depending how you look at it…..but I thought , why not check out my usual spot, and I am so glad I did.

To me that last hour or 45 minutes – not sure how long it was, was absolutely magical. The tide was out, so I could walk out where there is normally water, though getting a bit wet from stepping in pools…..the surface of the water was covered in thick fog/mist, but above it was clear sky, with stars and beautiful dancing colours.