Eclipse 2012 - Day 4 - Eclipse Day

I was so excited I could hardly sleep.  I was up from midnight researching weather and writing and thinking about what I would do if the weather was bad for the eclipse at sunrise.  I finally lay down at about 330am and the alarm went off at 430am and we packed food for the kids, the cameras, beach towels and headed down to Four Mile Beach at Port Douglas, which is directly east facing.

Of course, we weren't the only ones with that idea.

The beach was full of people but there was pleny of space for everyone.  The tide was coming in as well, so we kept ourselves way back from the water, as we watched the horizon for sunrise.

Stay away clouds!  Looking promising...

Sunrise and first contact - extremely hard to see in top left because of cloud distortion

Oh no no no, you are not going up into those clouds...

God damn it!  Get out of those clouds!

My children oblivious to me getting agitated at the sun behind the clouds

Approaching totality behind the clouds... CRAP!

Minutes before totality... get OUT from those clouds!

The beginning of totality occurred behind a cloud.  The sky darkened, the stars became visible and it got cold.  I whooped even though I was disappointed that I was going to miss the eclipse because of stupid CLOUDS, because the whole experience, with everyone screaming in excitement around you was pretty awesome.  But then, halfway through totality, lady luck shone on our side and the sun began to move out from behind the cloud... (I wish I could gif this)

Yay out from the clouds!

This is a picture of the corona and you can see the solar flares

Diamond ring effect as totality ends

And back behind the clouds again

 So exciting!  So lucky!  I was thrilled, and the kids even got to see the black sun.  I think they were fascinated by totality even though they didn't understand it - hubby was explaining it to E and she remembers that the sun was black and it looked like a moon.

After the thrill of that wore off, my tiredness caught up with me.  But I'm never too tired to take pictures of birds - here are pics of a bar-shouldered dove and a pied imperial pigeon that I saw on the way back home.

We headed out to Mossman Gorge to have a look - there are some walking trails and you can also swim in the water there - crocodile free!

Spectacled monarch in nest

Australian brush turkey walking nonchalantly past all the tourists

After that long walk and letting the kids play in the water up to their ankles, we went on a bird tour with Del Richards of Fine Feather tours which I admit I was a bit concerned because of the kids!  How were we going to keep them quiet?  What about walking?  I am not carrying the kids... sigh, if it was just me and hubby and Uncle S, then we could go on longer walks.  Anyway it turns out we just get driven everywhere in a 4WD and just hop in and hop out of the car.  Much easier!  Except the kids got cranky and restless and noisy during the trip, though were often pacified by drinks, cruskits, rice crackers and chocolate.

Here are some of the best shots of the birds we saw today on that tour.  It was pretty cool, we got to see a fair few birds, ones I never thought I would see!

 Bush stone-curlew and chesnut breasted mannekin

 Collared sparrowhawk (take my word for it!), double barred finch and red browed finch

 Double eyed fig parrot and forest kingfisher

 Greater bowerbird and his bower (nest)

 Peaceful dove and bar shouldered dove, and red winged parrots

 

 Silvereye and yellow spotted honeyeater

 Spangled drongo

Other birds we saw that I didn't get pictures of included Australasian Grebe, Royal Spoonbill (boy was I excited to see that flying past us!), Pacific Black Ducks, Blue billed ducks, Little black cormorants, Figbird (hubby saw that, I didn't), Black Kite, Whistling Kite, Magpie Goose and Brown honeyeater.

Del took us to see platypus!  My favourite animal!  I was thrilled to see them, and it was hard work keeping the kids quiet, and we got to see them a few times before the kids were too noisy and scared them off - it was actually in someone's backyard lagoon which fed into the streams!  I would love to have platypus in my backyard!  We saw some agile wallabies as well (pictured) and a red-legged pademelon (wallaby).

We were buggered after that.  Hot, sweaty, sticky, covered in dried sunscreen and insect repellant - I was looking forward to getting home and having a nice hot shower.  We had mexican for dinner and I put the kids to bed and crashed... until midnight.  Now I'm up again!  Tomorrow we will be doing the cable car and steam train ride (a very kid friendly day, unlike today!).

Lunar Eclipse on 11 December

Stayed up till 1am to take this pic, and it wasn't really a great picture, but it was the best I could manage without a tripod.  Love the red moon.  I've never seen one, I don't think, but now I have.  It was great at 9pm then got cloudy around 11pm and then it cleared up just for about 15 minutes at 1am. 

Solar Eclipse Chasing

Ever since my husband and I went to see the Solar Eclipse in South Australia in 2002, we thought it would have been cool to go eclipse chasing to see Solar Eclipses every couple of years. We went to Turkey in 2006 to see the Solar Eclipse and that was a great holiday. The next one which we would have liked to have seen was the 2009 India/China solar eclipse which was the longest solar eclipse of the century.

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This video is from Woomera, SA in 2002 (in fast forward) that I took (and had a blooper! Forgot to take the solar filter off when there was totality). Totality was short, a bit less than 30 seconds but it was low on the horizon and being in the desert, we had a fantastic cloudless sky.

This photo was taken on a beach near Side in Turkey 2006. A bit blurry but it you can get the feel of what it was like to be there! Weather was fantastic, we were very lucky that time! Side itself was packed with NASA people and lots of buses, as there was a huge party planned there. There was a temple of Apollo in Side which would have made it a really cool place to take a picture of a solar eclipse... but the crowds were unbelievable!

The beach we were at had hardly any people though everyone there was eclipse chasing, with their telescopes, cameras and Solar shades!







Our next Eclipse that we plan to go to will be in Australia again! On November 13 2012, at about 6:39am there will be totality over Northern Queensland for about 2 minutes and 4 seconds. This picture is from Hermit Eclipse.
Unfortunately it will be the wet season, with the average rainy days in Cairns for November at 10, and average cloudy days at 7.5, so we might get lucky, or we might not.

Now where should we stay? Port Douglas or Cairns? Fortunately there are a multitude of places to stay at those places, so I've put a couple down here so I can remind myself closer in the future.

Port Douglas

Sheraton Mirage Resort

My husband stayed here at a conference. They have villas for apartment style living with lots of luxury features. Prices start from $330 per night for 2 double bed in one room.



Mantra Heritage Apartments
A 2 bedroom suite goes for about $320, and looks nice and comfy with all the usual resort style features. Located on 16 Warner Street. A little pricey in my opinion though.





Cayman Villas Apartments
This looks like a more affordable place. 2 bedroom apartments go for $240 a night and they have discounts for longer stays. Located at 35 Mowbray Street.




Cairns

Cairns Queenslander Apartments
Cute and tidy looking, these 2 bedroom apartments are $168 per night. Located at 268 Lake Street.