Under one of the darkest skies on Earth
The Hillocks lies inside the Tāhuna Glenorchy Dark Sky Sanctuary — and we’re opening our viewing platform to partners who want to share it.
What makes a Dark Sky Sanctuary
A Dark Sky Sanctuary is the rarest of the designations awarded by DarkSky International. Parks and reserves protect dark skies near populated areas. Sanctuaries are different: they are the most remote and, usually, the darkest places on the planet — sites where the night sky is close to what it was before electric light, and fragile enough to need protecting.
In February 2025, the head of Lake Whakatipu became one of them. The Tāhuna Glenorchy Dark Sky Sanctuary covers more than 200,000 hectares, following the Dart and Rees rivers from the lake deep into Mount Aspiring National Park. It is New Zealand’s first inland mountain sanctuary, and one of only a handful in the country.
Darkness here is not only for stargazers. Long-tailed bats, moths, glow worms and an ageing eel population all depend on true night. Protecting the sky protects them too.
The sanctuary is a community project of the Glenorchy Heritage and Museum Group. You can read more, and support their work, at glenorchydarkskies.org.nz.
The view from the platform
Our viewing platform sits on the Isengard Lookout site at the Dart River Bridge, ten minutes beyond Glenorchy and well clear of the township’s lights. From here the valley opens up for roughly 100 kilometres, with nothing between you and the horizon.
To the west, the Humboldt Range. To the East, Mt Alfred standing alone between the Dart and the Rees. Above, at 45 degrees south, the full sweep of the southern sky: the Milky Way arching overhead, the Magellanic Clouds, and on a good night the aurora australis low over the mountains.
The platform is accessible by day as part of the Future is Wild experience, and after dark it becomes something else entirely — a place to lie back and see what most of the world has lost.
In July 2028 this valley will be one of the places on Earth to see a total solar eclipse. We are already thinking about that night.
Build a night-sky experience with us
We are presently not running night-sky tours ourselves. We think the people who know these skies best — the guides, astronomers and hosts already working around Glenorchy and Queenstown — should be the ones to do that.
So we are opening the platform to partners. If you run tours, operate a lodge or hotel, or have an idea for an evening that ends under the stars, we would like to talk. That might be a guided stargazing session, an astrophotography workshop, a dinner-and-dark-sky package with one of our accommodation partners, or something we haven’t thought of.
We bring the site, the platform, the day-time experience and the story. You bring the expertise and the guests. Together we work out what it looks like.
Tell us what you have in mind
Have an idea for a night-sky experience at The Hillocks? Whether you’re a guide, astronomer, accommodation provider or simply have an idea to share, we’d love to hear from you.
Tell us what you have in mind and let’s explore what we could create together beneath one of the darkest skies on Earth.