Off soon.Just a quick starter page until we get there.
First stop Brisbane to visit friends and relatives, and a conference in Kingscliff to celebrate Marilyn Renfree’s 70th year.
Then on to the USA to visit Jill’s cousin Anita and family near the Grand Tetons National Park. The path of a total solar eclipse goes near on 21 Aug.
The eclipse should be fantastic (assuming the skies are clear etc). Here is an image I took of the eclipse in 2012 North of Cairns.
Just after start of totality, flares are visible in the corona round the lower arc of the moon’s edge. Totality lasted just over 2 minutes, but it seemed like just seconds!
Steven and Judy catch up with us in Salt Lake City for the drive north, and eclipse viewing.
We’re on our way. Up at 3:15 am for the 4 am taxi to the airport for the Brisbane flight, then down to the Gold Coast.
Southport beach
We enjoyed strolls along the beach. One man had an Eclectus parrot on his shoulder… apparently it goes everywhere with him. He happily shared…
Lunchtime was approaching and we noticed a sign offering $7 fish and chips, so we gave them a go. That place has to be the best Fish and Chippery on the coast – a huge and tasty Dory fillet and crispy chips the way Jill likes them.
In search of wrapping paper we explored the Pacific Fair shopping centre. It is HUGE! Alas, nice gift wrapping paper was hard to find and we traversed the whole length and breadth before we got something usable. They did have some artistic seats though.
We travelled on, to Burleigh Heads, with nice views, including sightings of whales breeching out to sea. Sadly, by the time I had got my camera organised I was too late for photos.
Then to Richard and Liz’s, where we enjoyed a couple of days of their wonderful hospitality, fine food, conversation and a lovely ambience. Jill enjoyed feeding the local kookaburras, butcher birds and magpies.
On our first day there we headed to Binna Burra and took the Davies creek circuit out to the edge of the scarp. It is a lovely walk,
but the rainforest there was as dry as we have ever seen it. Next day we took a relaxed wander round to Natural Bridge (or Natural Arch as it once was called). It is a very pretty area with lots of walks in the rainforest and along the creeks.
The next day we headed off to the conference at Kingscliff, via Mt Warning. The Mt Warning summit track climbs about 700 m through forest, to the peak with extensive views in all directions. Unfortunately the weather was fairly hazy that day. We’ll just have to come back on a clearer day. We did enjoy the bandicoot under the lookout at the top.
Kingscliff Beach – dawn
Our “Reproduction Down Under 2017” conference ran through Saturday, Sunday and Monday morning, and went well. We had around 70 delegates, many international, and the diversity and quality of their presentations was fabulous. We also indulged in some dawn walks along the beach. Most pleasant.
Post-conference, a drive to Brisbane for a bit of sightseeing and re-packing for the international flight on Weds.
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Brisbane: we enjoyed a pleasant stay with Viola and her son Phillip. A day wandering around Mt Coot-Tha was very relaxing and a good prelude to today’s flight BNE-LAX-SLC then a 3 -4 h drive. The forest there was dry as could be. Not a trickle coming over Slaughters “Falls”. But it was pleasant in the woodland and the walk was enjoyable. After a good night’s sleep we headed early to the airport to make sure we missed the morning rush hour… It was only after that we realised it was a public holiday so we could probably have had a longer sleep in. Not that we would have slept. Better go before the battery fails.
After an uneventful flight over the Pacific to LAX we fought our way through immigration and customs/quarrantine, a mere 2.5 h to clear the system, then on to the adjacent teminal for the LAX to salt lake city leg, with another half an hour of queuing for the security scanning. Luckily we allowed for a long connection time, so we didn’t need to panic. At SLC we caught up with Steven and Judy, collected the rental car and headed North.
Echo Canyon, Wyoming
Our route took us through Echo Canyon, site of the Utah War in 1857, where the US army sent troops to Utah to quell reported difficulties with the then Governor of the State, Brigham Young (also the second leader of the Mormon Church). The area has splendid scenery and is well worth a return visit.
Railway park, Evanstown, Wyoming
Then on to Evanston, a small town founded during the construction of the first trans-continental railway, for a food break in Railway Park (body clock wasn’t quite sure what time it was). From there, a quick couple of hours got us to Jill’s cousin’s place not far south of the Grand Tetons National Park, where we got a fabulous welcome.
In Etna we were too far south for the total eclipse, the midline passed north of Jackson, so next day we headed further north, to prospect potential eclipse viewing sites. At Jackson Hole, munching sandwiches in the park we got into conversation with a guy, John Kennedy, who, it turned out, made jewelry for a living.
John Kenedy-Jewler
He showed us some of his fascinating work at a nearby jewelry store. He uses cylindrical cut semiprecious stones – agate and the like, as light guides to convey shifting light patterns to the inset diamonds or other faceted stones, to enhance the range of colours and lustres that one saw.
Onwards, up Mormon Row, we enjoyed some lovely scenery with the Tetons in the background, and some historic farmhouses, before heading west, skirting the south of the Tetons and up a narrow winding road to Grand Targhee Ski resort which had a high view over the Tetons. All the ski lift tickets to the top of the range for eclipse day were long sold out (at $100 each!). we decided the narrow road would be clogged, and the mountain weather too uncertain, and scratched the location from our list.
Friday, and Don and Anita took us rafting down the Snake River. This was a gentle drift down about 9 miles over about 2 h (took us 3 because we hauled out and had a quiet lunch on the river banks with the Tetons laid out as a vista before us.
After returning home, we enjoyed hummingbirds in the back garden. What a lovely day.
Next day more rafting – this time a whitewater section that took us through many rapids, with peaceful stretches between to give time for the adrenaline to settle down and the clothes to dry. We took advice to leave cameras at home – they would have got rather wet and potentially lost in the event of a capsize. Thankfully skipper Don got us through without anyone overboard. At one of the rapids a commercial photography company makes business by selling photos they take as they traverse the rapid. Don kindly bought us a set.
Sunday was a day for getting gear ready, checking latest weather forecasts, poring over maps and general planning.
Monday: Eclipse day. We got up early, and on the strength of forecasts for probably cloud over the tetons area, we headed west into Idaho. As we went we re-checked satellite imagery for cloud cover, and ended up, eventually, heading for a wildlife refuge north east of Idaho Falls, where, the map promised, there were abundant lakes that might make an attractive foreground for wide-angle photography of the eclipse. Alas we ended up in a long and slow procession of cars on a one-way, no escape track meandering between the dried up lake beds. Eventually we got parked beside a dry reed bed… no water in sight. Hundreds of people obviously had the same idea as us, and the forest service people were working hard to avoid catastrophe. Despite the hassles, we had clear skies, and a fabulous eclipse.
Here is a composite image that shows the corona and some flares during the period of totality.
I cobbled together a 20 second video from shots I took during the period of totality, ending with the “diamond ring” stage.
Tuesday was a relaxation day, lounging around in balmy temperatures, and convivial conversations. And some packing. And some re-packing… eventually I got everything into bags.
Weds, up early, and off to Salt Lake City for the Long-Long overnight flight via LAX to San Jose, Costa Rica.
Our stay in the US was fantastic. Huge thanks to our hosts and family who made our stay so enjoyable.
Then on to the USA to visit Jill’s cousin Anita and family near the Grand Tetons National Park. The path of a total solar eclipse goes near on 21 Aug.
