Mrs Ferguson said she and her two young daughters "went for a quick look at the top of Summer Hill Rd" in Kaitangata towards Kaka Point — "that’s our usual spot to try and catch a glimpse of the ‘pretty lights’, as my girls call them."
The quick look led to a stay of about 20 minutes for the Fergusons to admire the sight and capture beams "clearly visible to the naked eye".
Mrs Ferguson said she kept an eye on social media alerts to track possible aurora sightings and had seen several posts predicting activity.
"Just after 10pm when it was dark enough, we drove a couple of minutes to our usual spot and sure enough, as soon as I hopped out of the car, I could see the beams dancing across the sky.
"I feel so grateful to be able to share that experience with my kids," she said.
Aurora specialist Dr Ian Griffin of Tuhura Otago Museum said the sun had been very active over the past few days, resulting in a good display of the aurora despite the bright full moon on Thursday night.
"We expect auroral activity to continue over the next few evenings as the results of some recent material ejected from the sun start to impact the Earth’s magnetic field. So there will probably be good viewing over the next few nights, weather permitting."
He said the only down side was the very bright full moon, which made the aurora harder to see.
