Aurora Australis — Macquarie Island

About this spectacle

Standing on the windswept tundra of Macquarie Island, one of the most isolated landmasses on Earth, visitors witness the Aurora Australis — the southern hemisphere's answer to the northern lights. Curtains of green and violet shimmer and ripple across the polar sky, shifting in seconds from soft glows to dramatic arcing bands. The surrounding Southern Ocean mirrors the display, doubling the spectacle in dark water below. There is no light pollution for hundreds of kilometres in any direction. Wind howls across the plateau, and the cold is bone-deep, but the silence between gusts is profound. Elephant seals may snort nearby on the shoreline, indifferent to the celestial theatre above. The sheer remoteness — reachable only by expedition vessel — makes witnessing this event feel genuinely rare and hard-won. Every sighting is different: some nights produce faint smudges on the horizon, others deliver full-sky eruptions of colour that last for hours.

When to go

Mar — Sep

Getting there

Nearest airport: HBA. Nearest city: Hobart.

Booking options

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