Our Epic Eclipse Voyage

By Matt Woods

In 2015, during my first ever Astrofest planning meeting, a fellow attendee mentioned a special hybrid solar eclipse was scheduled to take place in Exmouth in 2023. I was thrilled at the prospect of witnessing my first total solar eclipse, although the event seemed distant at the time. As time tends to do, it crept up on us gradually. Before we knew it, five years had passed, then three, until we realised, we were only a year away from being in Exmouth. Finally, the morning of the eclipse arrived, and the anticipation was palpable.

Since that initial meeting, numerous events transpired, including our live streaming of five total and partial lunar eclipses for the website TimeandDate.com. About a year and a half before the eclipse, I discussed with Anne, Graham, and Steffen from TimeandDate.com the possibility of live streaming this hybrid eclipse. It would have been a missed opportunity not to share this

Image Credit: Tourism Western Australia extraordinary event with the rest of the world, considering that Exmouth, located on the northwest Cape, offered the best viewing for the 59 seconds of totality.

Over the next nine months, we encountered various obstacles while searching for suitable accommodations with reliable power and internet connectivity to stream the eclipse. However, in August 2022, Carol Redford from Stargazers Club WA and Astrotourism WA brought us fantastic news. She had secured funding from WA Tourism for a comprehensive Eclipse Discovery Tour program, which would include astronomy nights in country towns along the coast and interior of Western Australia. Additionally, it granted us access to the prime viewing location for the eclipse, the Kailis Site 20 kilometres south of Exmouth. Carol asked if I could lead a team from Perth Observatory, and after consulting with the operations team, I happily accepted.

Our chosen route was the interior route, taking us through various towns such as Morawa, Murchison, Mullewa, Bullara Station, and Gascoyne Junction. We also added stargazing nights in Dalwallinu, the night before the Morawa event, as well as Useless Loop and Dongara, following the Gascoyne Junction stargazing night. With the locations finalized, we embarked on a 12-day journey from Perth on April 14th, 2023, to witness the magical hybrid eclipse.

Securing access to view the eclipse was a relief, but we still faced one major challenge— ensuring reliable internet connectivity in Exmouth for the live stream. This is where Penny Griffin from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) played a crucial role. Penny, a valued member of the astronomy community in WA, was tasked with the monumental responsibility of ensuring sufficient communication equipment for the northwest Cape to accommodate 50,000 people. After helping DPIRD test the Starlink dish during the live stream of the total lunar eclipse in November 2022, Penny brought together the Gravity Discovery Centre Observatory, Telstra, and our team to devise a plan for accessing reliable internet. These meetings successfully resolved the issue, relieving us of this final challenge and leaving us with the task of organising our team.

Joining me on this extraordinary journey were fellow volunteers Jacob Einam, Coran Napier, Jodie Sims, and Ted Williamson. Jodie’s new Toyota truck and the trusty Europcar minibus served as our mighty steeds, and they would endure the 4,000-kilometer journey with us over the 12 days. We would travel on some of Western Australia’s most rugged roads, our adventure would rival some of the famous Top Gear specials.

We bid farewell to a rain-soaked Perth as we embarked on our journey on April 14th. The welcome sight of sunshine accompanied us through the countryside as we headed towards our camping adventure. For nine out of the twelve days, we would be sleeping under the stars in our swags, and luckily, the good weather persisted until the eve of our return to Perth. As rain poured down, we found solace in a charming old train carriage at the Breeze Inn in Dongara.

Our trip to Exmouth was nothing short of fantastic. The astronomy nights drew a large and engaged crowd, with attendees posing intriguing questions. We were delighted to make new friends from Southern Illinois University, including Dr. Bob Baer and his team, who joined us with their telescopes for the awe-inspiring Morawa and Murchison stargazing nights. Witnessing their awestruck faces as they beheld the magnificence of the southern night sky for the first time was an unforgettable experience. At Murchison, we encountered our first crisis of the trip. In my haste, I mistakenly failed to secure our

Nikon D810a camera onto its tripod while capturing photos of the stargazing night.

I cringed as I heard a loud thud and saw the lens and camera separate, with the lens mounting still attached to the lens instead of the camera body. Panic set in as I realised this was the very camera intended for live streaming the eclipse.

The next couple of hours were a whirlwind of notifying others about the mishap and scrambling to find a replacement camera for the live stream. Fortunately, Jodie had brought along an extra Canon DSLR camera, which we could use for the live stream. However, we faced a hurdle as Jodie didn’t have the camera’s T-ring, preventing us from attaching it to the telescope.

Luckily, we managed to use the internet at Murchison to contact Jodie’s husband, Luke, who kindly arranged to meet Steffen, the CEO and Founder of TimeandDate.com who was coming to help us live stream, at the airport and provide him with the T-ring. Crisis averted, but challenges remained ahead.

While traveling from Murchison to Mullewa, an incident occurred involving a rock, that was flicked up by the minibus and hit the trailer, causing it to ricochet and shatter the back window. Although I heard a popping sound, no one else noticed, so we continued driving. Ten minutes later, Jacob alerted me to the draft in the back, prompting us to stop and investigate. To our dismay, we discovered the broken window and realised that Ted’s pillow had been ejected from the van during the impact.

Fortunately, Jodie and Coran spotted the pillow and retrieved it, mistaking it for someone else’s belonging. As we assessed the damage to the minibus, the local ambulance volunteers we had befriended the night before stopped by and offered their assistance. They guided us back to the ambulance site in Mullewa, where we could clean up the broken glass and secure a temporary cover for the back window, ensuring we could continue our journey after the stargazing night. We remain forever grateful to these extraordinary lifesavers.

The remainder of our journey to Exmouth proceeded without incident. On the day before the eclipse, we met up with Steffen, the Gravity Discovery Centre Observatory, and Telstra teams to set up for the live streams and conduct tests. Everything went smoothly, and it was truly remarkable to have reliable internet in the middle of nowhere, enabling us to share this mesmerising eclipse experience with the 20,000 people from around the world who had gathered to witness this celestial phenomenon.

On that Thursday, as I stepped out from underneath our marquee to conduct my interview with Thommo from Channel 9 news at 11:10 am, I immediately noticed a remarkable change. The radiant heat from the sun seemed to disappear, and the darkness intensified. It was awe-inspiring to witness the landscape gradually grow darker and darker. At 11:29 am, the shadow of totality emerged from the southwest and enveloped us for the next 59 seconds. In that brief span of totality, I witnessed one of the most breathtaking sights I have ever seen.

The sun was completely obscured by the moon, creating a black disc, and the Sun’s radiant corona captivated our gaze. To my astonishment, I also observed patches of purple, representing enormous solar prominences on the sun’s surface. It was a stunning spectacle, albeit disappointingly brief, as if the universe was teasing us, offering just a taste of what could have been. Some total solar eclipses can last anywhere from 1 to 5 minutes of totality. Dr. Kate Russo, an eclipse chaser with extensive experience, had accurately predicted that the first thought crossing my mind after totality would be, “When is the next eclipse?” She was absolutely right.

Later that night, we returned to Bullara Station for a celebratory meal with the rest of the Eclipse Discovery Tour. The following day, we took our first break of the trip at Coral Bay, where we joined one of our fellow volunteers who works there, extending the festivities into the night. The subsequent day brought us to Gascoyne Junction, where we organised another memorable stargazing night. If you ever find yourself near Carnarvon, I highly recommend visiting the enchanting town of Gascoyne Junction. It offers breathtaking scenery and the stunning Kennedy Ranges, which are well worth a visit.

With fond farewells, we departed Gascoyne Junction early the next morning, as our journey led us to Useless Loop on the other side of Shark Bay, across from Denham. We made excellent progress until we reached the unsealed part of Useless Loop Rd. Due to issues with the local council, the road was a complete mess, and it took us three hours to drive just 100 kilometres. Those three hours was such a rough and bumpy ride, in the minibus as we pulled the trailer.

Upon our arrival at Useless Loop, we were greeted by stunning views of Shark Bay, the town, and the salt lakes. We soon realised that the arduous three-hour journey and the upcoming three hours it would take us to depart the next morning were worth it to experience this remarkable place. To our delight, approximately two-thirds of the town’s population (60 people) attended the star gazing events at the airport. We were immensely grateful for their presence, considering the wear and tear our equipment had endured during the journey, leaving the trailer quite dusty.

The following night, we found ourselves in Dongara, yet our luck with the weather had run out. It remained cloudy for most of the night. However, we didn’t let that dampen our spirits. We conducted presentations for the attendees, and just as we were wrapping up the final session, the sky cleared, granting us a precious opportunity to showcase a few celestial objects through the telescopes before bidding farewell. The next morning, we rose early to attend the ANZAC Day dawn service before making our way back home. It brought a sense of relief to return to Perth, marking the end of a remarkable adventure during which we shared the wonders of the night sky with over 600 people and experienced our very first total solar eclipse.

In the following weeks, Steffen from TimeandDate.com provided astonishing statistics about the reach of our live stream on YouTube. We garnered millions of views solely on our YouTube channel, and when accounting for other YouTube pages that borrowed our stream, we reached an impressive 14.5 million people on YouTube alone. This figure skyrocketed when considering the additional viewership from television, news outlets, and media agencies that also utilised our live stream. In total, we estimate that our coverage reached over 100 million people—an astounding achievement that left me in awe.

Noteworthy international usage included prominent organisations such as NASA, BBC News, Associated Press, CNN, NBC, Al Jazeera, New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, as well as Australian networks like ABC, SBS, Channel 9, Channel 7, Sky News, The Guardian, and many more. Even Sony Music Australia incorporated segments of our live stream into their own broadcast, for Pink Floyd’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of their iconic album, “The Dark Side of the Moon.”

Reflecting on the trip, I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to witness the Ningaloo Solar Eclipse. I extend my heartfelt appreciation to my team, Carol, Penny, the Telstra team, and the dedicated individuals at the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science, and Innovation, including Glenn Shoebridge, the Event Development Manager for the Kailis Site. Glenn played an instrumental role, guiding me throughout the eclipse preparations and ensuring that all our questions were answered, and every need was met on the day. Without the support of these remarkable individuals and organisations, our voyage would not have been successful, and we would have missed the chance to witness this extraordinary eclipse.