Star Safari Stargazing Experience, Martinborough

Passionate guides. Unfortunately, we could only see very few stars because of the clouds. The organization had provided a worthy alternative and their passion allowed them to continue to fascinate us. It was an educational evening

with all best intentions the experience was for me "meh" due to a number of factors, a few of which were under the control of the operators. The venue is great; elevated and isolated offering a great location for viewing the night sky. Out of control of the operators is the Moon... the pesky thing was sooo big and sooo bright illuminating the entire countryside to a level where one could see cows in detail some 50 feet away. The Moon's reflected light effectively whitewashed the night sky, so pick an evening when the Moon is not so bright, if you can. OK, the operation was IMHO quite amateurish. The 2 people guiding us struggled to manhandle the refracting telescope into the correct physical locations and to hold position on stellar objects. Their knowledge of the night sky seemed to me to be on a basic level. For me the experience was one of entertainment and not so much educational.

What a fabulous night. As the sun set the magic of the night sky appeared. This was a relaxed and extremely informative evening. Two expert star gazers introduced us to planets, galaxies, nebula clouds, clusters, red and blue stars. The highlight seeing Saturn in all its glory, rings and moons etc.

Even though a bit cloudy, had fantastic time! Hari and Sam double teamed with 2 telescopes, showing wide array of stars and star clusters. Great hot chocolate post viewing!

pity the weather wasn't good enough, however, this is still a very nice experience for the 5 of us and learn a lot throughout, especially the detailed explantion and the VR, although i do somehow have a little of the 3D sickness, but generally speaking, a wonderfull experience and the friendly tour/guide, a highly recommended one to all !

+12

Fantastic experiance even in overcast skies. Sam & Hari were fabulous hosts full of passion for sharing their love and knowledge of space with us. Would rate this as a 'must' adventure.

There were six of us in total attended the Stargazing experience, 3 adults, a teenager, a 6 year old and a 2 year old. The first thing that really impressed me was that the kids were free. I wouldn't have paid to take the younger two to something like this as it was in the evening, my kids are generally exhausted by this time and therefore it's touch and go if they'll even be awake for it. By making it free for the kids we could include them without feeling guilty about potentially wasting money. The second thing that impressed me was our hosts! Hari and Sam are clearly passionate about astronomy. They explained the scientific name and the more popular names of many of the stars, they were able to easily answer anytime someone asked 'what's that?' or 'how is that created?' or 'why is it called that?'. They shared not only their knowledge but some of their own stories, such as how they got into astronomy, and how they want to grow the business. Finally, the stargazing itself was incredible. The telescopes are incredibly powerful. I'd look at a patch of sky and see a few stars and then look in the telescope and there would be dozens if not hundreds that can't be seen with the naked eye. I live in the Dark Sky Reserve, and thought we could see a lot but this blew my mind without how much more there is out there. Overall, I thoroughly recommend this and it is now on my 'to-do' list for impressing family and friends from overseas.

Hari and Sam's shared passion for the stars was so engaging, and they were so knowledgeable! We lucked in with a stunningly clear evening, and saw some truly amazing sights. My personal favourite was Herschels Little Jewel Box, so pretty, but it was one of many lovely things we were shown. Excellent hot chocolate at the end!! Would recommend wearing a woolly hat to stop hair flying around, as well as for warmth.