Lights & Highlights: Solar Eclipse in Australia

Travel to Australia in the Path of Totality for the next great Total Solar Eclipse. 

On the day of the eclipse viewing, you will be accompanied by Professor John O'Byrne, research astronomer in the Sydney Institute for Astronomy at the University of Sydney.  As well as being the Secretary of the Astronomical Society of Australia, John is an experienced educator and just plain astronomy enthusiast.  He will also meet with the group the day before the eclipse, to share his enthusiasm and prepare you for this phenomenal event.

Our choice of viewing location near Cairns is in the center of the eclipse’s Path of Totality and well-situated for cultural exploration before and after this stunning celestial event.  The drama of the first moment of totality is breathtaking, incredibly powerful and moving.  Only a total eclipse really demonstrates humankind's dependence on the sun and only during a total eclipse are you free to look straight at the sun and view the glorious, far-reaching corona. Total eclipses happen about once a year, on different paths, at different times of day, for different lengths of time.  This one will be in the very early morning, which means the sun will only be at about a 13-degree angle up from the horizon, looming HUGE in the sky.

The eclipse will be the climax to a lovely Australia visit that begins in Sydney and then continues in Cairns in Northern Queensland. A day cruise to the outer Great Barrier Reef is included.  Multi-day extensions are also available to the rain forests of Far North Queensland, or to Alice Springs and Ayers Rock in Australia's Red Center.  JOURNEYS Destination Specialist, Gail Scherer, and her husband will accompany this trip.