It all started like so many nights before it. I’m snugly sleeping in my sleeping bag, having just laid down not long before – exhausted from a long day. Out of the darkness, I hear a faint voice:
“There’s aurora!”
I can’t tell who yelled it, but I’m immediately awake and reaching for my headlamp. Time for the mad-dash to get out of the tent with everything I need! After popping out of the tent, I can see the beautiful dancing green waves above, and know it’s going to be a special night. I grab my camera kit and tripod, and start walking – I’m pretty sure I started the walk before I knew where I was going. In my haste, I didn’t even put on my hiking boots – I went for this one in my river crossing crocs! As I walked away from the tent, I decided to go up the moraine, but I knew this would be challenging in the dark. I couldn’t find the path up and instead went straight up the mound of boulders: crocs were clearly the wrong choice, and I nearly lost at least one a few times! Plenty of loose boulders and unstable ground made the effort a bit uneasy at times.
Over the course of what felt like hours, I stumbled around the moraine in the darkness, finding sufficiently level spots to shoot from, with shelter from strong wind, and this ended up being one of my favourite views from the night. I couldn’t get over the diversity of colours coming through in the aurora that night – green, pink and purple dancing overhead. An absolutely magical night, and one I will surely remember for a very long time!