After a special day we went to the St John observatory for a star gazing session at one of the best observatories in the world, a late birthday treat for Steve. The town of Tekapo has street lights adjusted to help viewing the stars and we were driven to the observatory with no headlights so that our eyes could adjust. We were given a guide of the sky before we were able to wander between telescopes viewing Jupiter as well as emerging stars and constellations, plus we had free hot chocolate too. It was really interesting and amazing to see the night sky so clearly, it makes you realise how much light we needlessly spew into the sky in our own cities which means we spend most of our lives unaware of just how amazing the night sky is. Getting back at about 1am we headed for the nearest layby and then the next morning we drove back to Lake Tekapo for a lazy morning another solar shower and then hitting the road again.