Gibbston in Queenstown is now officially home to “5 billion star accommodation”.
It is the seventh location in New Zealand to receive the international certification, and the first in the Queenstown-Lakes.
The park covers 25 square kilometers, including the Gibbston Character and Gibbston Valley Resort zones, and ranks behind only Stewart Island Dark Sky Sanctuary as the closest internationally certified dark sky site in the world to the southern geomagnetic (polar) pole.
It will be the third certified dark sky reserve in the country.
Dark Sky Places program manager Amber Harrison said the certification helped mitigate the impact on development, allowing residents and visitors to enjoy “naturally dark skies” for years to come.
“These zones have zealously protected the countryside's ecology, viticulture and pristine night skies.
“We look forward to working with Gibbston Community Association [GCA] calls for further improving dark sky protection in the region,” she said.
The application was developed by the GCA following unanimous community approval at its annual meeting last June.
GCA dark sky leader Brian Boyle said the certification was “very important” and meant the district could leverage the international recognition to help diversify the economy through astrotourism.
“I am very pleased that the international organization has recognized that we have something here worth promoting and protecting.
“We are in one of the '0.1% of Earth's inhabited land' where both the aurora and the center of the Milky Way Galaxy are clearly visible.
“I would have thought this was something to promote to our tourists coming in.”
How Gibbston companies seize the opportunity is up to them, Prof Boyle said.
“Having dark sky status gives us that international cache… a place where you can come in and see the sky in its pristine state.”
He hopes to extend the status to the Remarkables and Pisa nature reserves, along with neighboring communities including Cardrona, Bannockburn and Lowburn.
If successful, there is an opportunity to connect Central Otago, Gibbston and Glenorchy to generate a “significant scale” of dark sky in Otago that could be harnessed to eventually have New Zealand recognized as a “dark sky” sky nation”.
Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Glyn Lewers said he was “delighted” that the Kawarau Gibbston Dark Sky Park had been created.
“It is particularly pleasing that the success of this application is based on the council's lighting strategies and policies as a means of protecting and promoting this increasingly valuable natural resource.”
Professor Boyle said New Zealanders – and residents of Queenstown-Lakes – didn't know how lucky they were in that regard.
'Globally, the brightness of the night sky around the world has doubled in the last eight years – essentially robbing humans of half the stars in less than a decade.
'Imagine if the world's art galleries took away half their paintings every eight years – what a loss to humanity that would be.
“People don't see the stars anymore, and here we have taken this resource for granted.
“This is just an opportunity to promote it, especially around Queenstown, to the rest of the world.”