Eclipse 2012 - Day 1 - Arrival

It's finally here!  The eclipse holiday I have been planning for 2 years is finally here.  It didn't seem real at first because I was still in work mode on Saturday, packing our stuff at last minute.  We told the kids they were going to be flying a plane and J was very excited by that - he loves the airport.  E seemed less than thrilled.  They were quite good on the plane, and because they were attached to hubby's tickets they were sitting with him whilst I sat down the back, far far away.  I went up to check on them but that only made J distressed because suddenly he could see me, so hubby told me to go away.

Watching the arrival video for Cairns on the plane got me really excited.  The Esplanade in Cairns looked really good with play areas for kids!  And Green Island, the cable car ride over the rainforest... I was thinking of all the birding opportunites I could have as well.  Now I REALLY felt like I was on holiday!

Lining up for our rental car, I just had to laugh at my poor luck in standing in the queue that was the slowest, whilst both queues on either side of me served 3 people each before I got to the front!  The guy at the car rental said it's been a really busy week, with 50,000- 60,000 extra visitors pouring into the area for the Eclipse.  I wonder where NASA will be this year.  Poor kids were starving and restless, but we got into our car and the kids didn't fight over the baby seats, and off we went to check out the Esplanade which had great lagoons for kids to play (pic from Cairns Esplanade website).

It was also Remembrance Day.  At 11am we were on the plane so we didn't get to stop for 1 minute silence, but on the Esplanade there was a memorial with freshly laid wreaths so I observed my minute of silence there.

I was hoping the kids would get some chance to play but after lunch we had to go check into our hotel (which wasn't in Cairns, it was in Port Douglas).  Here's a picture of the eclipse path.  Everything within the path outlined will see totality, but the closer you are to the centre line, the longer the eclipse will be.

Trying to scope out which beach will be best for us to see the Eclipse.  There are a number of beaches between Port Douglas and Cairns - which of these will have a car spot for us to park?  And which is going to be be packed?  I mean we can always see it from the beach here in Port Douglas but it will be exciting to be around other people who will be whooping and squealing at totality.

Queensland has no daylight savings so it's an hour earlier here than it is back home.  I hope we can get up in time!  On Monday we're heading out to the Great Barrier Reef - it will be so exciting!