Small hours on top of Banks Peninsula

After shooting last night's blip of the sheep yards under the stars, I thought I'd venture a little further afield to make the most of the dark, star filled sky.

This shelter (a post box stand I think) is at the junction of Gap Road and Bossu Road, high above Little River. This part of Bossu Road is the highest road on Banks Peninsula at nearly 700m above sea level. I've blipped from this spot before, so I knew that the panoramic daytime views were amazing, but wasn't sure how things were at night.

Quick answer is that the views, even in the dark, are stunning. The sky glow from Christchurch is very visible from this height, especially with cloud to the northwest refracting any stray light, but it gives the effect of an early sunrise - except that it's coming from the wrong direction. Strange. What's more the blinking lights of the main highway south of Christchurch are also visible, as are the faint silhouetted outline of the Alps.

I decided on this shot as the blip of the day though, with faint presence of the arc of the milky way making its way up over the crest of the hill.