The Great Outback Eclipse Chase: Australia 2002

Uluru

After all these years of chasing eclipses to far-flung corners of the globe, here at last was an opportunity to see one in my own "backyard". Admittedly, this was going to be a very short eclipse, seen low to the horizon, but it had been more than 3 years since my last dose of umbra (having passed up the African eclipse of June 2001), so I was determined to catch this one. Looking at the predicted eclipse path gave one of 2 options: just over 2 minutes of totality in southern Africa, or barely 30 seconds worth in South Australia. Since December is the wet season in Africa, while it is generally hot and dry in South Australia, we decided to trade off length of totality for better weather prospects "Down Under". Besides, it would make the perfect excuse for me to go out and explore a part of this country which I have lived in off-and-on for almost 15 years now, and yet I've never experienced the "real" outback. An added advantage was that I could bring my parents along for once, in the hope they may begin to understand why I do this!

Having decided which country, the next question was how to get about? As usual, in the spirit of eclipse expeditions past, the objective was not to make getting there too easy. I knew that if I was to persuade Mervyn to come along on his 11th eclipse trip (my 6th), trains would have to be involved somehow, and that the best way to experience the outback would be to camp there. Nevertheless, people can (and do) die in the outback, so I thought it best to go with someone who knows what they're doing. About a year before the event, Dave Moser and I got in touch with Australian Travel Specialists in Sydney to help us put together an itinerary. Ultimately, we finished up with a group of 18 (all of them friends of either Dave or myself) intrepid adventurers, who set off on a journey that would take us from the bright lights of Sydney, to the true centre of Australia.

The one remaining decision was where to view the eclipse from. The only town of any substantial size on the eclipse centerline is the coastal community of Ceduna. However, it was clear from the start that this would be where every man (and his dog) would be headed, and all accommodation had been booked out months before. Of bigger concern to us was the fact that with the eclipse so low in the sky, even a small amount of cloud near the horizon could wipe out the view altogether, and the chances of this happening were somewhat greater nearer the coast. Going inland to the northeast might improve our chances, but would cost us precious seconds of totality. Finally, after poring over maps of the region, and negotiations with land-owners by AAT Kings on our behalf, we settled on the innocuous-looking Ideyaka Hill at Witchilina Station, just west of the tiny outpost of Lyndhurst. Totality here was predicted to last a scant 27 seconds, with the Sun just 4o above the horizon!

A big thank you to the staff at ATS, particularly Lauren Ford, for helping us put together this trip, as well as all the folk at AAT Kings (No relation to the Anglo-Australian Telescope!) for taking us into the outback and getting us home again. Special thanks to Welly Jamin at the Holiday Inn Darling Harbour, and to my co-organiser Dave Moser for coordinating the finances.

To speed up downloading, I have shrunk the images by a factor of 2, and broken the trip up into sections. If you wish to see the full-size version of any picture, just click on it. The images started out as 35 mm slides, and were scanned by Metro Photo.

Other accounts of the 2002 December 4 total solar eclipse:
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Last modified: January 14, 2003.
Stuart Ryder