| I said to my mate Jon, one day last year
(2001) that we should make the effort and go to Ceduna for the coming Total
Solar Eclipse. Ceduna has a population of around 2000 to 3000 people and
was almost right on the Moon’s shadow centre line. It wasn’t all that far
to travel and it would be an unusual eclipse because it would be low in
the afternoon sky at the time of totality. We immediately made plans. Jon checked out the plane flights on the Internet and came up with a few different dates around eclipse time. We also had to look carefully at the distances that we would have to travel if we left from Adelaide and the time it took to travel this distance. It would be roughly 800 kilometres to Ceduna. All up, we would probably have to drive around 2000 kilometres. Still undaunted by all this, we set the dates for our flight to Adelaide for the 3rd of December. This would mean a dash north to Port Augusta and then on to Ceduna. Our flight back to Tasmania was set for the 7th of December. This would allow us 3 days to get back to Adelaide at a less hurried pace. We checked out any Web sites that had any information on the eclipse. We found numerous sites that gave us a glimpse of what we may expect. One particular site had photos of the Ceduna beach with a person holding up a ring in the position that the eclipsed sun would be on the day. Some sites had tours available, others had more specific information of the actual eclipse. We also had to make plans about our accommodation and vehicle for the journey. We initially thought of a hire car such as Ford sedan but I had a brain wave one day and made the suggestion to Jon that we should hire a camper van. So, after some enquires we secured a Hitop Britz 2.4 litre fuel injected camper that sleeps up to three. Comes with a fridge, gas stove, air conditioning and even a kitchen sink. Well, that was the accommodation booked because Ceduna had been totally booked out for ages, including all caravan and tent sites. As the year progressed, we were hearing more and more from newspaper and TV reports that Ceduna was expecting somewhere between 30,000 and 100,000 people to be in the town on eclipse day. WOW, this was going to be one hell of a trip. As we counted down the weeks to the big event, we made a list of things we would take including binoculars for observing totality and a small solar telescope for watching the partial phases. The solar telescope was simply a Dick Smith Electronics 8x20 monocular with a genuine glass solar filter custom fitted and secured onto the objective end. I took only my small Pentax 35mm camera as we were had never seen a total eclipse before and wanted to savour the moment rather than trying to take photos and miss the event because the eclipse duration was only around 33 seconds. Seems a long way to go to watch something for 33 seconds – but we were sure it would be worth every single second. The last week prior to eclipse day, we had a final meeting to discuss any last minute details and make sure everything was in order. I was to pick up Jon at 5am Tuesday morning and drive to the Launceston Airport for the 6:30am flight to Melbourne and then a few hours wait to board the flight to Adelaide with an expected arrival at 10:55am. Could barely sleep the night before, but the cool morning came soon enough. Quick breakfast, brush teeth and throw the bags in the trusty Ford and off we go. The journey to Adelaide was uneventful and fortunately arrived on time – we had little time to get to Ceduna so it was straight down the road from the airport to pick up the campervan. We stopped at the first supermarket we could find to stock up on provisions i.e.; snacks, bread, fruit, water etc. Finding the main road out of Adelaide, we were finally on our way passed the outer suburbs and salt farms. It was challenging to drive the campervan with its higher than normal roof line with a buffeting side wind pretty well all the way up to Port Augusta. By now it was late afternoon and we stopped here for a feed of snapper and chips. We refuelled at a service station, took us a few minutes to work out which side the fuel cap was on and how to actually get the cap open. As we were paying for the fuel, I noticed fridge magnets for sale with a picture of the eclipsed sun and Ceduna written underneath. I picked one up (as you do) to inspect it more closely and the attendant said “there’s only one thing wrong with that, the eclipse should of happened at Port Augusta!” He also said there has been a continous stream of cars going through the town the last couple of days to see the eclipse. As yet we had not encountered any large number of cars/campers/trucks, the driving was almost relaxing, the roads were well maintain with not one pothole seen and the cars and trucks all seemed to be doing the same legal speed limit of 110 kilometres per hour, therefore we rarely had to pass anything. All we did to make the kilometres go by easier, was to swap over being the driver and passenger about every 100 kms or about every hour. We drove passed landscapes we had never seen before, white salt lakes against the parched brown land, vast red soiled deserts dotted with salt bush, enormous wheat fields that went beyond the horizon and roads which were straight as far as the eye could see. |
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| That’s me taking the photo of the photo
above, not a recommended method as road trains use these roads too. |
| After driving nearly 600 kilometres since
about 1pm that day we decided to stop at a place called Wudinna because it
had inviting camping grounds. Actually, it was the only camping grounds for
about one hundred kilometres or so. It was our first night in the camper,
so it took a while for us to find out where everything was in the van. Everything
is folded and packed away rather well in the van, but eventually we had
the beds (one upstairs and one below) set up and the kettle boiling on
the tiny gas top. Jon plugged the van into the power outlet with the long
purple coloured lead supplied so the auxiliary battery could recharge overnight.
The auxiliary battery ran the fridge and provided power for the interior
lights while we were travelling so it did not flatten the main battery that
started the camper’s engine. The evening still had a slight breeze but was
relatively clear so we were optimistic that eclipse day would be favourable.
If the day was to be clouded out, we had no option but to stay in Ceduna
as we did not know the area for any alternative clear viewing locations.
Waking up early to an uninspiring overcast morning sky, I wondered why the
interior lighting did not work. Anyhow, we had some breakfast and then it
was time to pack everything back into its special place in the camper. Last
thing was to disconnect the power cord. As I was pulling out the power lead,
I inspected the power outlet closely. This revealed the outlet switch was
in the “off” position – “Jon, come over here for a minute…” |
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On arrival at Ceduna, it was immediately
evident that there was indeed a carnival atmosphere here. The main streets
were road blocked so people could walk freely about. Outside stalls dotted
the sidewalks with people wandering about enjoying the sights. Bands were
setting up their equipment on scaffolded stages; all the shops were open
and long rows of portable toilets at convenient locations spread throughout
the town. Here and there were BBQs selling freshly cooked sausages, hamburgers
and steak sandwiches. Coffee shops and bakeries were all packed with people
having a snack. Outside high (and low) in the air was a red stunt plane doing
the most amazing aerobatics every couple of hours or so. We parked our van
a block away from the main beach and just wandered around for a few hours
enjoying the most fantastic atmosphere. Every now and then, we would return
to the camper for a rest and refreshments. The beach area had a line of
shady Norfolk pines and lovely grassed areas where you could relax and enjoy
the view out to the bay where the eclipse would appear. Many people had
already staked their claim to a bit of grass and had equipment already set-up.
Some were peeking at the sun through telescopes fitted with solar filters. |
