Our guide was friendly and knowledgeable, she said she learned on the job. It was a quarter moon so though it seemed like the sky was just as dark in the north island it was great to learn some about the stars. We also got the opportunity to see the moon, some very bright stars, Milky Way strand, and some shooting stars. Blankets, warm jackets and chairs provided. Recommend going a couple jacket sizes larger to fit your other clothes over. Wear warm socks and shoes. My feet were the only cold thing.
Two months ago our family stargazing tour was cancelled due to poor weather and we were assured of a full refund within 10 days. However, despite repeatedly trying to contact Silver River Stargazing via email and phone, we still haven't received a refund and not even had any response to emails/phone calls. This is unacceptable.
Make sure you check your bank for a refund of cancelled tour. We are a group of five and our tour on the 8th July have cancelled due to bad weather, refund has only been processed after a month on 10th Aug with my follow up email. Luckily, I do my monthly check before paying off my credit card and I found out!
My friend and I had a lovely time! We were in a small group of 7 and had Marklin as our guide. He was very knowledgeable and entertaining, especially during a tired time (our tour was at 2am). Highly recommend him as a guide. We went on a full moon and were able to capture great photos through the telescope. The tour is sectioned into three parts- first section is looking at constellations through the naked eye, second we looked through the telescope at a few different spots in the sky, then we took photos! Overall amazing experience and great company to stargaze with.
