Total Solar Eclipse – November 2012
Queensland, Australia
Our advance plans are now in place for this event. The eclipse track conveniently crosses a part of Australia with a very good supply of high standard hotel rooms and good flight services. The main base will be in Cairns, a town with well developed tourist facilities including numerous restaurants and extensive excursion programmes. The Great Barrier Reef is easily accessible from Cairns, with a range of snorkelling, diving and glass bottom boat trips from the local harbour.
Rydges hotel Cairns
As usual with an eclipse programme, weather is central to our plans and we build everything around maximising the probability of a clear view for the brief few minutes of totality. This part of Australia enjoys a generous amount of sunshine throughout most of the year, but the weather systems create what is called “The Wet”, when torrential rains occur, mainly in the coastal areas. “The Wet” is expected to start in early December and run through to late March. Needless to say, as this is a weather system it does not always follow the rules and as the eclipse is in mid-November we need to be prepared for oddball weather.
There is a very good probability for a clear sky all along the coast so for this event, you will be able to just stay put on the balcony of your hotel and watch all but the first few seconds of the partial phase of the eclipse. First contact will just be obscured by a headland which reaches out into the sea between Cairns and the sunrise point for the early morning eclipse. To avoid the headland and to gain a few additional seconds of totality, we are providing coach transportation to take our party to Ellis Beach, just south of Port Douglas.
Ellis
Beach, Cairns
The coaches will also be available as a contingency to provide mobility in the event of cloud gathering along the coast. On the occasions when there is cloud, a common situation is for an onshore wind to drive the moisture laden air on to a range of hills directly on the coast. The hills act as a barrier to the cloud with rapid precipitation drenching the rainforest in the foothills, but creating a “rain-shadow” in the lee of the hills. A look at satellite pictures of the area clearly shows green vegetation on the windward side and dry desert country on the inland lee side. Whilst it is not possible to give any guarantee when the weather is concerned, we have surveyed sites in the “Outback” as suitable observation locations and a degree of mobility can make a lot of difference particularly with a local climate of this nature.
Base Programme
The Base Programme for the expedition will include round trip flights to Australia plus 4 nights at Rydges Esplanade Hotel in Cairns. Airport transfers and coach transportation to the observation site is included, in addition to a full briefing by our guest astronomer.
You can select your outward and return dates and a full range of stopovers will be available.
Price of the base programme at 2010 prices and exchange rates is £1,450 including flights. Air fares and exchange rates are very volatile so this can be no more than a guide at this time. Firm prices and and details of stopovers/extensions/excursions will be available about 18 months before departure.
Dawn from Rydges Hotel
The Outback Site
Extensions and Excursions
There is a lot to do in Queensland, from chilling out on the Barrier Reef Islands through to exploring the rainforest and trips into the Outback. Other parts of Australia will be included in the programme, for instance we will have a coach trip to visit Siding Springs Observatory in New South Wales and a round Australia rail tour starting in Darwin and taking in Alice Springs, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.
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