Come stargazing with us!
Good Heavens – Unforgettable stargazing experiences under Aotea’s extraordinary stars.
Come stargazing with us!
Good Heavens – Unforgettable stargazing experiences under Aotea’s extraordinary stars.
Book NowCome stargazing with us!
Good Heavens – Unforgettable stargazing experiences under Aotea’s extraordinary stars.
Book NowCome stargazing with us!
Good Heavens – Unforgettable stargazing experiences under Aotea’s extraordinary stars.
Book Now
Three reasons to choose Good Heavens
Pristine location
Seaside stargazing experience in a Dark Sky Sanctuary – on Aotea Great Barrier Island you stargaze in an intimate and stunning natural setting.
Personalised & unforgettable
Whether you choose a group experience, a private experience or a whole package you can expect a personalised and unforgettable experience!
A high level of care
A small local company, offering help with planning your trip, hot drinks, blankets, and a stargazing info email the morning after – no mass tourism here.
Choose your Experience
Celebrate something special
Good Heavens packages are the easiest Way to experience Great Barrier Island – a complete escape
- Take the effort out of coming to one of the worlds darkest skies
- Experience solitude in this Dark Sky Sanctuary and Conservation Park
- Slow down in our beautiful accommodations and on our pristine beaches
Good Heavens packages include your accommodation, flights, a rental car and your stargazing.
Aotea is an extraordinary destination
- Not only has it one of the world’s darkest skies…
- It’s peace and quiet are also out of this world, think pristine beaches…
- Native forests with over 100km fantastic walking tracks with stunning vistas and..
- As the whole island is off grid, this is an excellent opportunity to unplug and slow down
EXCELLENTVerified Perfect star gazing retreat We spent a few days at xspot clifftop with Hilde and had a good heavens star gazing session. Both were perfect. The accommodation was incredible, excellent view, great accommodation. The good heavens star gazing was informative, interesting, beautiful and very worth the small cost. Our host, Hilde, was flexible, informative, caring and went above and beyond to help us with our stay. The island is beautiful and worth a visit in winter when the skies are clear. The drive to the accommodation was a little rugged and I recommend the package fro good heavens for flights, car hire and accommodation. You will need a 4wd, but its not hard to get to and the accommodation/views are worth it.Posted on TripadvisorVerified Excellent professional experience Hilde does a great job with the Dark Sky experience - friendly and full of stories and knowledge. Everything is set up for the viewer with binoculars and telescope - and especially blankets for the cold night. Chairs to sit in, a hot drink and something to eat. Would normally be a 5 star review but the waves and the seating arrangement meant we often missed hearing her - also the path had an uneven surface which would be a bit tricky for those lacking some balance. We thought a small speaker system on her collar would have accented the talk better and we'd suggest that a small torch for getting there and back would be a good idea. However, overall we were impressed and would definitely do again if we go back to Great Barrier - and the email we received after the event with all sorts of information was definitely over and above usual service. Excellent overall with that one proviso about hearing the talk which doesn't detract from the experiencePosted on TripadvisorVerified Treat Yourself to a Special Star Gazing Experience I wish I could give Good Heavens 10 stars because this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that is beyond words and our wildest imagination. We spent two hours with Hilde learning about the southern night sky and taking in planets, constellations, and galaxies that we'd never dreamed we'd be able to see in this lifetime. Hilde was incredibly knowledgeable about the night sky and patiently answered all of our questions (and we had a lot). We loved her passion for the stars as well as life on Aotea. I highly recommend adding a few days on the Great Barrier Island to your next trip to New Zealand and including a tour with Good Heavens. You won't regret it!Posted on TripadvisorVerified A must do when traveling to New Zealand Since my husband is an avid astrophotographer, I did some research before our trip to New Zealand so he could capture the Southern Sky, and that’s how I came across the Good Heavens website. Deb was very responsive, handled all the arrangements, and provided all the necessary details—everything was completely seamless. The evening itself was wonderful. The weather cooperated perfectly, and we were even lucky enough to see several shooting stars. Deb did an excellent job explaining the stars, planets, and constellations, and shared Māori stories and legends. It was a truly unique and magical experience on a beautiful island.Posted on TripadvisorVerified A wonderful experience. We were on Medlands Beach on Aotea/Great Barrier Island on 31st Jan 2026. We had previously booked to be with Hilde/GoodHeavens on a new moon/no moon evening, but the weather made it impossible and we rebooted, but the Moon was now nearly full. So this was a different experience to the one we planned. Nevertheless this is one of the only 13 'dark skies sanctuaries' in the world, so stargazing here is unbelievable anyway. Hilde explained all kind of information about the sky in front of us and we were able to look through her telescope to see the Moon surface, Saturn, Jupiter, some star clusters including the Pleiads so important to Maori culture and a whole load more. It was a fantastic evening with a hot drink and so informative and relaxed. Thank you Hilde for a wonderful experience and, if we can, we will see you again.Posted on TripadvisorVerified Wonderful priori the dark sky We enjoyed our tour of the dark night sky at Medlands Beach immensely. Deb did a fabulous job of orienting us to stars and constellations and proving expert information. We also loved the Māori legends and stories about these that Deb shared. We absolutely recommend this experience.Posted on TripadvisorVerified Great Barrier Stargazing Lovely evening under a wonderful sky with so much interesting information, brownie and beverage! Thank you, LindsayPosted on TripadvisorVerified Stargaze Supernova in the sky We were watching the skies closely for our stargazing experience last night. Deb was great in keeping contact throughout the day to ensure us the tour would proceed. Even though it was windy she thoughtfully set us up back from the beach to shelter us from the wind. Having the moon chairs were a great way to relax and gaze into the sky in all its magnificence. The tour catered for all our gazers and we were shown many different stars throughout the evening, when it did cloud over for a few minutes it was the perfect time to have a brownie and hot chocolate and wait for nature to restart the show. Thanks to Deb this was a memorable experience and one we will treasure for many years to come.Posted on TripadvisorVerified Are we alone in the universe? When I read that Aotea is a designated “Dark Sky Sanctuary” and that you can do a star gazing tour there , I signed myself up for the Good Heavens tour pronto. It was an amazing experience. I loved it everything about it, from the comfy moon chairs , blankets and hot chocolate to the interesting fun facts that Hilde presented in an entertaining way. It has reignited my passion for learning about our Milky Way , stars , planets , galaxies , everything! Do yourself a favour and get yourself over to this magical, remote part of the world . It feels like a “once in a lifetime “ experience; an extra special and unique gift to yourself , guaranteed to expand your horizons - literally! A final tip - plan ahead to do this tour during a new moon phase so it’s optimally dark .Posted on TripadvisorVerified Fantastic Star Filled Evening Our group of eleven thoroughly enjoyed exploring the night sky with Deb. She was so knowledgeable and interesting and everyone learnt a lot. The experience of sitting on the beach at night in Deb’s relaxing chairs and looking up at all the amazing stars (both with binoculars and a telescope) was fantastic. Deb mentioned that in Auckland you can only see about 10% of what is visible on Great Barrier at night. So that gives you an idea of how special it is to join a night sky trip on Great Barrier. We had booked an earlier night and unfortunately that was too cloudy. However we saw luminescence on the sea (wow!) only because Deb took the time to show us. (Very kind of her!) We were so lucky that we had a back up night and were able to enjoy an evening experiencing the night sky on Great Barrier with Deb. Also after our trip Deb sent us lots of info about what we saw. We had an excellent evening and highly recommend this experience to all.
“We really had perfect conditions, no moon and cloudless. Hilde our tour host had everything prepared. We sat in loungers in a circle around the telescope. We were shown Saturn through the telescope with the rings very visible and then Jupiter with 5 moons present. The star groups were explained with the Matariki group pointed out with the background history. Hilde said we would only remember about 10% of the commentary so she said send us the full commentary. This occurred the next day. This made sense as there were so many distractions in the shy. I saw 3 satellites and 4 meteors. The hot drink was a real treat towards the end of the night as it was starting to get cool. A real bonus for those with a little extra time was a walk down to the water’s edge to check out bioluminescence in the waves. There wasn’t a display in the water but bioluminescent organisms had been washed up with the tide and our footprints glowed when they were disturbed. The whole night was a unforgettable experience.”
Group Tour“Since my husband is an avid astrophotographer, I did some research before our trip to New Zealand so he could capture the Southern Sky, and that’s how I came across the Good Heavens website. Deb was very responsive, handled all the arrangements, and provided all the necessary details—everything was completely seamless. The evening itself was wonderful. The weather cooperated perfectly, and we were even lucky enough to see several shooting stars. Deb did an excellent job explaining the stars, planets, and constellations, and shared Māori stories and legends. It was a truly unique and magical experience on a beautiful island.”
Hina DPrivate Experience/Packages“Our group of eleven thoroughly enjoyed exploring the night sky with Deb. She was so knowledgeable and interesting and everyone learnt a lot.”
Group Tour“The hot chocolate, blanket, and comfy chairs kept us cozy for the 2 hours on the beach. The individual binoculars meant that even when one of the other people in the group were at the telescope, we could enjoy the sky in great clarity! The next day Hilde sent a detailed email recapping everything we had observed. I think for any future visits to the Barrier, I will book a private session :).”
FafaGroup Tour“Our private viewing from the Medlands sand dunes was a peak experience – transformative, informative, and fun. Deb provided us with a range of viewing experiences and scientific and cultural knowledge about what we were seeing. She ensured we were comfortable as the layers of our galaxy revealed themselves and moved above us as the skies darkened. A sanctuary indeed.”
MelinaPrivate Experience/Packages“We had the private balcony experience of watching the dark sky with Hilde and it was amazing. For a city dweller to see the Milky Way in its glory and have stars described was truly wonderful.”
DrarnPrivate Experience/Packages