SOUTH AUSTRALIA 2002
We fly into Adelaide on Sunday, three days before the eclipse. Cold and cloudy weather—unusual for summer in South Australia, particularly during a long drought. Already, thoughts of cloud consume the eclipse chasers.
The drought of the century I'll bet;
The country cries out for the wet.
Today's sermon has been
Cribbed from St Augustine—
Lord, send us rain, but not yet.
Monday, a six-hour drive to Kimba. This is wheat country.
But their silos are seen from afar
The drive is a grind
And at Kimba we find
Not a lion, but a giant galah.
Tuesday, we reluctantly leave the Big Galah. More flat, dry wheat country. Hot and clear. Four more hours to Ceduna, in the centre of the path of totality. Not much traffic. Get into long-distance mode—cruise control, air conditioning, suitable CDs on the stacker. The speed limit is110 km/h, let's allow 10 per cent for instrument error and highway patrol tolerance.
The road is as straight as a gun
Cruise control; one twenty-one
The CD sounds nice
Let's take Pink Floyd's advice
Set the controls for the heart of the sun.
Wednesday in Ceduna, back on the coast after a couple of days inland, cloudy and windy. Rule One is obeyed. Most of the eclipse memorabilia for sale bears the slogan
"eclipse in the outback".
As around Ceduna we ghost,
Three questions bother us most.
Cloudy or clear?
Will they run out of beer?
Can the outback be on the coast?
Next day, a few hours before the eclipse, the cloud cover is total. Our group ventures about twenty miles inland, in the (justified) hope of less cloud and the (unjustified) hope of less wind. The sky is clear for first contact at 6.40 pm and in the next hour we lose only a few minutes to occasional clouds. Six minutes before second contact, an approaching cloud becomes a worry. Some in our group suddenly drive a mile south to ensure a clear view.
A wonderful eclipse of about thirty seconds. Close to the horizon, framed by trees, it looks enormous. The illusion that makes a low moon (or sun) appear larger applies to low eclipses. A teenage girl squeals "It's so beautiful!" many times. No disagreement from the "hardened" eclipse followers.
The thousands on the beach in Ceduna, where the sun is uncovered only a couple of minutes before totality, jump and shout and cheer. So do I.
The eclipse didn't last very long
The prominences weren't very strong
The corona was thin
The clouds creeping in
If you think I'm complaining, you're wrong.
Go to next eclipse--Antarctica 2003
Back to previous eclipse--Zambia 2001
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