Carins Australia

The eclipse pictures below and the story: In the days leading up to the eclipse, nerds and the curious from around the world descended on Cairns Australia. The town of 60K people increased by 100K and people were stacked like cordwood in the available accommodations. Rooms and cars were impossible to find if not prearranged months before. Luckily we booked early. Two days before the eclipse we scouted out likely places to view the event and eventually settled on Palm Cove just 20 minutes north of Cairns and directly along the line of maximum eclipse.

We left our lush accommodations at 3AM and waited as the crowds grew around us. The sun rose gloriously and we anxiously hoped that the cloud bank would disperse before the total solar eclipse.



Notice the small cloud bank above the rising sun; should be no problem, right? Ten minutes after sunrise the eclipse had begun just as the sun became obscured by the clouds.



We waited and waited and waited. At 26 minutes before totality I made the decision to get in the car and try to find a ray of sunlight up the coast as it appeared that totality would occur behind the cloud.



We drove north toward a shaft of light, pulled over to the side of the road and started taking pictures again with the tripod dangling below the camera.



At 5 minutes before totality the clouds began to part as the eclipse neared totality.


 
As totality occurred through a heaven sent hole in the clouds I removed the solar filter.



Visually at the moment of totality the corona bloomed around the edge of the moon revealing solar flares around to limb of the sun.



Since details were hard to see, I decreased aperture opening and shot a few more pictures as the hole closed and the eclipse was once again obscured by the clouds.



I am sad that the people who stayed at Palm Cove missed it.

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