Aurora Tracks founder Pentikäinen reports on her recent aurora australis hunting trip to Tasmania Australia, and shares her aurora travel tips for the area.
Sleepy and serene, Southport in Tasmania is famous for being the “Last stop in Tassie” and locals are not shy to boast about the town as an aurora-viewing destination. For instance, the Air BnB we stayed at proudly waved a photo of the aurora as their featured image, and the local caravan park likewise displayed an aurora photo on their sign. You can’t blame them.
If you’re going to chase the aurora australis in Australia, then Southport probably deserves to own the title of aurora capital. It is, after all, the most southerly village in Australia, not counting the camping area of Cockle Creek, and therefore as close to Antarctica (South Pole) as you can get in Oz.
And as aurora hunters know, the closer we are to the poles, South or North, the better our chances of seeing the southern lights or northern lights, respectively. Here, I’ll chat about my aurora-hunting experience and insights from my trip to Southport Tasmania in July 2024.
Related Article: My Aurora Australis Travel Plan & Calculations, for Southport Tasmania
Facts About Southport Tasmania (Australia)
Where is Southport Tasmania, Australia?
Southport in Tasmania, Australia, is a small coastal village about 1.5 hours south of Hobart city. It’s the most southern town in Australia, at latitude 43°S.
The drive into Southport takes you through picturesque farms and tiny towns renowned for apple-growing and cider-brewing, and various other local food and crafts shops. Nature abounds, with national parks to the west featuring several walking trails through the pristine Tasmanian cold-climate rainforest.
What is there in Southport Tasmania?
Although surrounded by national park forests and farms, Southport is by contrast, a small fishing village. The main feature of the village is the port itself (aptly named Southport), with all the houses in the village seemingly dotted around the perimeter of the port. During our stay, we found it extremely quiet, and the only real signs of life we noticed were some locals at the hotel on Friday night, and people arriving or departing on boats from the main jetty.
As a small village, Southport is very limited on facilities. If you decide to stay here, make sure you bring everything with you, and don’t rely on buying anything there.
Shops in Southport
Southport Hotel & Caravan Park is a one-stop shop with accommodation, licensed bar and hotel, general store with fast food (takeout) and fuel.
The supplies available in the general store are very limited, just for emergency grocery top-ups such as milk, bread, cereal and personal hygiene items. If you are staying for a few days, do your shopping at Dover or Geeveston instead, which both have proper supermarkets (IGA’s).
Restaurants in Southport
Large pub meals, beers and other drinks can be enjoyed at the Southport Hotel, along with a game of pool. It’s a comfortable and relaxed space, and we enjoyed our meals there. But you might want to call ahead and reserve a table, both to make sure it is open and in case it’s busy since they have limited tables.
The adjoining Southport Hotel General Store as serves up typical Aussie fast foods, if you’re in need of a quick fried food fix. Think chips, potato scallops, burgers and the like.
A little coffee stand called Rocket @ The End of the Road is located near the jetty, but it was closed for the winter, open November to April only.
Car Facilities in Southport
Fuel pumps are available at Southport Hotel & Caravan Park. However, as we discovered, they can be unexpectedly closed. We experienced this on a Wednesday afternoon, faced with a ‘closed for stocktake’ sign. So, make sure you keep enough fuel in your car to get to the next town (Dover 18km), or have enough flexibility to wait until the next day to re-fuel, just in case.
Public EV charging is available near the jetty. The charging point appeared to be in good working condition, but we didn’t have an EV on this trip so didn’t personally use it. BYO charging cable/plug.
Accommodation in Southport
The main accommodation in Southport is the Southport Hotel & Caravan Park. In addition to this, there are a handful of Air BnB’s throughout the village. We stayed at Mi Tall Story (Air BnB) which proved to be an excellent vantage point for aurora gazing; more on that below.
Aurora Australis in Southport Tasmania
The main reason for our travels to Southport was for aurora spotting. I had meticulously planned the trip as best as I could, to coincide with the 11 year solar cycle peak, during a new moon, and with the longest days in mid-Winter to allow maximum darkness.
However, even with all that careful planning, I knew that with such a low latitude and distance from the South Pole, seeing the aurora anywhere in Australia would be a game of luck.
Most of that luck came down to two things: the sun and the weather.
Both of which we could not predict in advance while planning our trip, but also had the greatest bearing on whether the aurora would make an appearance.
Our Aurora Australis Trip Report
Trip Details
- Travel Dates: 4-11 July 2024 (7 nights)
- Accommodation: Mi Tall Story, Southport Tasmania
- Moon Phase: New
Our full aurora trip planning notes are here, for anyone curious about why we chose these dates and location for aurora australis hunting.
The Weather
This was our third trip to Tasmania, and the first time with consistently nice weather and clear skies. On our previous two trips, in the Spring and Summer, it was like four seasons in one day, everyday. But not on this trip. We enjoyed lovely clear skies, until the last 2 nights of our stay when the rain started.
Solar Activity
With solar activity, we weren’t so lucky. Despite travelling on a solar cycle peak year, the sun was too friendly for our liking, and didn’t throw up any geomagnetic storms or solar flares.
With the exception of one small CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) on the first night of our stay, the solar situation was very quiet. The K Index sat around Kp 0-2 (Kaus 0-2) for the duration of our trip, with the exception of about 2-3 brief rises up to Kp 3 (Kaus 3).
It never exceeded Kp 3, which is considered very quiet in aurora viewing terms.
However, we did see enough of the aurora to confirm two things with certainty:
- Southport Tasmania is an awesome vantage point to see the aurora australis
- Mi Tall Story Air BnB has an amazing aspect and vantage point for aurora hunters.
Mi Tall Story (Air BnB) aurora australis accommodation
Mi Tall Story on Air BnB: https://www.airbnb.co.nz/rooms/42744247
I cannot complete this post without saying a word about how awesome our stay at Mi Tall Story (Air BnB) was. But first, I need to point out that our decision to stay there was entirely our own, we paid for the stay ourselves, and the owner didn’t know I run this website.
The reason I chose this accommodation was because I looked at a map, with the intention of locating a house with a south-facing aspect. In theory, a south-facing aspect should offer a good view of the aurora australis, which would be visible in the south skies.
With those parameters in place, I stumbled upon Mi Tall Story, which ticked all those boxes and more. Not only did it have a south-facing aspect over the waters of Southport, but the house was perched on a small hill, and the living space was elevated (we stayed on the second level).
Mi Tall Story seemed like it was made for aurora australis gazers.
Mi Tall Story Highlights
As if the location and elevation weren’t great enough for aurora-watching already, the best parts were:
- Huge, covered deck facing south, which offered unobstructed views of the aurora. We found the deck very handy for leaving our camera tripod setup, in readiness for spontaneous photography in the middle of the night.
- The south-facing wall was constructed entirely of full-length windows, meaning you could open the blinds, turn off the lights, and gaze outside without ever venturing outside.
The icing on the cake was their Air BnB feature photo, which was of a bright green aurora captured from the deck. Proof that the aurora can be clearly seen from their place.
All in all, Mi Tall Story seemed like it was made for aurora australis gazers. Perfect.
Our Aurora Australis Experience
As mentioned above, the solar activity was not very good during our stay which meant we didn’t have vibrant views of the aurora australis, but we did see it on two occasions.
I might have seen it more often if I’d stayed up later each night, but with the aurora forecast looking so consistently quiet, it didn’t seem worth spending a whole night awake for. Instead, I woke up about twice each evening at random times to peek outside. If better aurora conditions had been forecast I would have been more vigilant about staying up and keeping watch.
Aurora Australis Forecast Information
I checked the local aurora forecast on the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) website frequently during our stay, finding this to be the most reliable source of aurora australis information. They issue a weekly report, daily report, and the Kaus every 3 hours.
The Kaus is the K Index corrected for the Australian region, like the Australian equivalent of Kp. It tells how much solar activity there is, and therefore the likelihood of aurora. The higher the number, the more active the aurora will be, on a scale of 0-9.
Aurora Australis Southern Lights Sighting #1
- Date: Friday 5 July 2024
- Time: 5:00-5:45am
- K Index (Kaus): 3
- Cloud Cover: Partial, approx. 20-30%.
- Moon Phase: New
- Aurora Position: 160º S
A lightening in the sky that slowly faded in and out of visibility marked the activity of an aurora to the south (160º S).
To the naked eye this appeared as a white sparse light, with a very slight tinge of green, that could have easily been mistaken for city lights or the moon behind clouds. It was neither city lights nor the moon, because located to the south is ocean and undeveloped landmass, and the moon phase is almost new/dark.
The BOM issued an alert of a CME arriving at Earth, but that wasn’t expected to arrive until much later (around 2:00pm next day) so this aurora sighting was unlikely in relation to that.
Tim took a few photos with a long exposure of 30 seconds off the deck at Mi Tall Story, with the camera positioned at 160º S. It was not dead-on south, but rather closer to the southeast, which makes sense considering the BOM showed the auroral oval to the southeast.
Even with the very long exposure the photos were very dark, although the presence of an aurora was unmistakeable, which showed as greenish in one photo, and purple-ish in another. Unfortunately, the aurora was too faint to photograph well, and even after tweaking in Adobe Lightroom and Affinity Photo, it looked quite dim.
Interestingly, to the NorthEast (65º NE to be precise) there was a lightening in the sky, that looked just like the aurora in both intensity and colour. At the time it was a mystery, but Iater from looking at a map I discovered it was light pollution from Hobart city.
My first experience of this aurora australis is that it is a very subtle light phenomenon, however, to be fair the Kp index was fairly low. Choosing a time and location without light pollution from the moon or city lights was absolutely imperative, because to the naked eye the aurora light was so faint it would be missed or drowned out otherwise.
Aurora Australis Southern Lights Sighting #2
- Date: Tuesday 9 July 2024
- Time: 5:30-6:30am
- K Index (Kaus): 3
- Cloud Cover: Full, 100%
- Moon Phase: Waxing
- Aurora Position: 160º S
The aurora was certainly active, but it was obscured by thick cloud. Only the slowly changing white light in the cloud to the south indicated that there was aurora activity. Based on the greater area of light coverage, I would say this aurora was possibly more active than the previous one, but it was hard to say because of the cloud.
Tim attempted to take a photo but it was too faint and cloudy to see anything. Overall unimpressive and we went back to bed, but it proved again that the aurora is visible in Southport Tasmania, even at a low K Index.
Closing Thoughts
Although we didn’t receive the luck we were hoping for with regard to seeing the aurora australis, I did nonetheless learn a lot about the aurora chasing experience. These lessons include:
My Lessons in Aurora Australis Hunting
It’s mostly about luck
Even in a solar cycle peak year, high geomagnetic activity is not frequent. During our one week stay, there were no geomagnetic storms or other significant solar activity.
Even if geomagnetic storms, CMEs or solar flares do come up, there is no guarantee they will come at night. In our case, the one and only CME of our trip arrived during the middle of the day, which is useless for aurora watching.
You are playing two games of luck – waiting for solar activity, and hoping the impact of the solar activity arrives during the darkness hours. This is the reason winter is generally said to be the best time of year for aurora hunting (within the auroral oval), because the nights are longer and therefore the odds of seeing an aurora at night are higher.
Time of year isn’t that important
At destinations within the auroral oval, the difference in daylight hours between winter and summer is extreme. Within the Antarctic or Arctic Circle, we’re talking midnight sun in summer with no darkness at all, versus 24 hours of darkness in winter. This makes chasing the aurora in summer a futile exercise, in those regions.
However, outside the auroral oval further away from the poles, the change in daylight hours isn’t so extreme. In Tasmania, there are still 8-9 hours of darkness even in mid-summer, so aurora hunting in summer is just fine, especially if strong geomagnetic activity is predicted.
Kp 3+ is required to see aurora australis in Southport Tasmania
Based on our two sightings, we learnt that a Kp 3 (Kaus 3) or higher is needed to see an aurora in this location (Southport). This experience corresponds to the Bureau of Meteorology advice which states that the northern limit of aurora visibility at Kp 3 is Southern Tasmania.
Cockle Creek is not necessarily better than Southport
Wondering whether camping in Cockle Creek might be better, because it is more southerly? I was wondering that. So, I visited Cockle Creek with my compass and decided to investigate how it might be for aurora watching. Others may disagree, but I would say, not great.
Why? The water views are to the North-East, and to the South the campgrounds are flanked by forests of tall trees. You most likely wouldn’t see the aurora well from Cockle Creek and surrounding campgrounds, because trees would obstruct the view. By contrast, in Southport the views to the southern horizon are clear and open.
And finally…
In the end, what I learnt was that the aurora australis is a special event, reserved for the lucky few tourists who are in the right place at the right time, and the locals who are always around to receive it when it decides to bloom overhead.
I am not upset that we didn’t have spectacular displays of the aurora, but rather I have a newfound respect for the wild nature of the aurora australis, which we cannot simply manifest with calculated travel plans.
The complexity of the astral phenomenon is too much for us mere humans to comprehend, and we can never be certain we will see the aurora australis or aurora borealis on any trip we take.
All we can do is our best to align our trip plans with the most favourable aurora conditions within our power, such as location and timing, and hope the rest will work in our favour.
Aurora chasing is a lifestyle.
Enjoy the journey!
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