Before you head to the Northern Hemisphere, consider checking out the incredible Southern Lights!

While many travellers make the journey each year to Europe and Scandinavia, with the possibility of a summer in Europe this year likely off the cards, winter in Australia offers the chance to see a similar phenomenon a little closer to home. The Southern Lights, also known as Aurora Australis, are most visible throughout the winter months and if you’re in Tasmania, you’ve got the perfect spot to check them out!

Completely Magical

If you’re looking for the Southern Lights, you might be expecting vivid colours that fill the sky, but in reality, the naked eye is unable to detect the lights without the help of technology. “To the naked eye, an aurora will look more like a white flickering light,” photographer James Garlick told Australian Traveller. “It could be mistaken for a cloud. It’s not until you do a long exposure with the camera that the colours are revealed.” For those able to uncover the magic of the lights with their camera. the results are well worth it. “They are like dancing curtains of light across the sky,” Southern Lights photographer Matt Glastonbury told the magazine. “The size of them is incredible – beams of light are shooting right up into the atmosphere. It is really magical to see them moving around right in front of you.”

The Perfect View

Experts say that Tasmania has a number of vantage points where the Southern Lights are most visible due to reduced light pollution, including the South Arm Peninsula, Dodges Ferry and Cockle Creek. Winter is the ideal time for tourists hoping to catch a glimpse, due to darker evenings, but the Southern Lights are usually visible all year round. Unfortunately, for the level of exposure needed, an iPhone just won’t cut it, and those using a camera are recommended to adjust their exposure to between 10 and 30 seconds for the ideal snap.

So next time you’re looking for a unique winter holiday idea, head to Tassy and check out the incredible light display right in our own backyard.

Have you seen the Southern Lights? Let us know in the comments.