Subject: Re:time has comeDate: Mon, 21 Jan 2002 19:19:56 +1100From: Joseph Cali <joe.cali@anu.edu.au>To: 2002 total eclipse expedition:;CC: kay@astro.columbia.edu, charles@atmos.albany.edu, rainbows@rpi.edu,     rainbows@bigpond.com.kh, small.exoticexp@erols.com, dan@mcglaun.com,     KOLODNY@Kolodny-Anteau.com, jrbt@eclipse.netDear all,For the benefit of the wider circulation group I will try to fill in somegaps & provide extra information wrt Glenns email. Please excuse me ifthere is some unavoidable repetition.  As Glenn mentioned, there has been abehind the scenes brainstorming session involving a barage of 20 or 30 longemail messages and it's getting hard to remember who has received whatinfo.The core group ( Mike Gill, Glenn Schneider, Joel Moskowitz, Joe Cali) willassemble in Canberra and depart on December 1st in two vehicles.Tibooburra is about 1.5 days drive by the most direct route from Canberra.Canberra has no traffic congestion & is a very easy city to move around.Buying provisons and getting out of town in convoy will be very easy.Definitely not the case  leaving Sydney. An out of town rendezvous wouldhave to be arranged.  Canberra is very quick to exit.  10 minutes from myfront door to the highway. The only difficulty is that the nearest Britz(4wd camper rentals) office is in Sydney so renters will need to have atleast one person fly into Sydney to collect & drive the camper to Canberra.You can also opt to meet us on the road but flexibility is our middle nameand once we have left Canberra,  our path will be dictated by decisions wemake relating to the weather.Our basic plan is to head to the NW corner of NSW ( Fort Grey )as perGlenn's email. At this site, totality occurs with the sun just 1.3 degreesabove the horizon.  The horizon is quite flat. Glenn found photo's on thenet and I've got magazine articles showing pretty flat horizons. I checkedthe horizon in the direction of the sun on a topo map and that alsosuggests a flat horizon.  If we get there early,  we can check using thesunset the previous day. I've just sent Glenn some electronic 250 000 scaletopographic map sheets of the last 200km of the track. Glenn will soon makethese available at his sight with refraction corrected paths overplotted.This trek involves driving over 10 metres sand dunes. If you are going torent a 4wd, I suggest you read my outback 4wd techniques guide which coverssome of the issues involved and some of the questions you should ask of theagency that rents the vehicle to you. If you are with us, I will be able toadvise and assist if necessary.http://joecali.members.easyspace.comFollow the eclipse links to Australia 2002.  The article is linked off thatpage.Anybody arriving on the 29 or 30th can rest up in Canberra either at ornear my place for a day before we set off. My apartment is only small so Ican't offer accommodation to all 16 people on this list if all participatebut I am happy to squeeze in as many as possible providing you don't mindsleeping on camping mats on the living room floor and bring your ownsleeping bags. If the bigger group materialises and want to coordinatetravel with us out of Canberra, there is a big motel just down on the mainroad 5 mins walk from my place to take the overflow of people. 7 day/24 hrsupermarkets are within a few mins drive of my place so buying provisonsetc is not going to be a problem.  There are also hardware and campingstores nearby for last minute supplies. They are opened 7 days standardbusiness hours. For those travelling on the cheap,  you can probably sleepin your campers in the shopping centre car park 50 metres down the road ifwe can't squeeze you in at my place.  The car park is pretty dark and dingyat night so nobody will notice you if you keep a low profile. Just don't betoo obvious what you are doing.  There is a public toilet for midnightemergencies and you can use shower & toilet at my place during the day orin the evening.  The suburb is quite safe.  I have no hesitation walking tothe shops in the dark of an evening.MONEY & SecurityAustralia isn't a third world country. You can't spend US$ here like youcan in Africa or Latin America. You can change US$ at an exchange bureau ora bank. Both  will be few and far between once we leave Canberra.  You canalso change travellers cheques at the same places. I'd suggest taking cashfrom an ATM through your visa card is the easiest way and use visa card topurchase most of your fuel and accommodation.  Personal security/ theft isnot an issue outside of the downtown Sydney area. Carrying cash does notpresent a security problem unless you lose your wallet yourself.Roadside camping is both safe and popular in the outback.  I do it all thetime.When I travel in the outback, I usually bring a decent amount of cash topay for fuel. Most farmers have fuel storage tanks. Fuel can be purchasedfrom farms or small general stores in very remote areas. They obviouslywon't accept visacard, amex, US cash or travellers checks. Diesel fuelprices are presently A$0.90 per litre in the city,  A$0.75 on the majorhighways.  In the outback fuel can cost up to 40% over the city pricedepending on the remoteness of the supplier.  We are looking at a roundtrip including post eclipse sight seeing of up to 5000km depending on theamount of post touring. The basic trek there and back is 3500km. To thebasic rental cost of $200-300 per day(3 person capacity), you should add atotal fuel budget for the vehicle of approximately A$700-1000 for the trip.COST SHARINGI suggest we segregate cost sharing into three segments aircraft / vehicles/ catering.  People will need to sign up for the aircraft in the next 4weeks. Each group can arrange 4wd hire.  Each vehicle is probably the mostobvious food catering unit.  Cooking for more than 3 people on small stovesis a pain.AIRCRAFTIf we do fly on E-day, the plane will be grounded possibly at a smallairstrip away from our base camp. Those people already on the plane willneed a lightweight overnight "survival" kit to see them through the night.Sleeping bag, food bars or simple food that does not require cooking,drinking water, torch and toilet paper. If pressed, we could always catch asnake or goanna and spit roast it if we get desperate :-)MOTEL BOOKINGSAt this stage, I believe there are far too many road permutations and routechanges in the event of weather problems to be talking about pre-bookingmotels just yet.  If we observe from Ft Grey and are forced to fly to clearskies,  we will probably have to land in Pt Augusta that night and returnto pick up the vehicles the next day or possibly be grounded for the nightat whichever bush airstrip we fly to. For those from the wider circulation,this is because the dirt airstrips don't have landing lights so that nighttake offs and landings are prohibited.If we were going to book one night,  it should be Dec 02 see travelsceanrios below.If the weather is perfect.........I would suggest establishing our bush camp at Ft Grey on the morning of Dec3rd & staying on the night of the 4th.  That gives us two nights ofobservation with plenty of time to align equatorial mounts, doastrophotography etc  and a couple of days to look around the park on theafternoon of Dec 3rd and morning of the 5th.Possible travel scenario's?CLEAR WEATHER SCENARIODEC 1    DEP Canberra 7am, arrive NYNGAN early pm.  Check weather ( We willalready have been monitoring weatherin the days beforehand.)  If continentlooks really clear drive to Bourke first night.DEC 2    DEP BOURKE  arrive TIBOOBURRA by lunchtime motel in TIB night ofthe second?Stay in TIBOOBURRADEC 3CLEAR SKIES?  DEP TIBOOBURRA.  Establish bush camp at Ft Grey.Astrophotography, explore desert trip to Camerons corner etc.DEC 4Eclipse at Sunset.  Bushcamp at Ft Grey or sleeping on the runway of somelittle airstripDEC 5Sight seeing__________________________________________________CLOUDY SCENARIODEC 1    DEP Canberra early, arrive NYNGAN early pm.  Check weather ( Wewill already have been monitoring weatherin the days beforehand.)  If cloudis moving across, drive towards BROKEN HILL first night. Possibly reachCobar or maybe Broken Hill. Check weather prospects.DEC 2CLEAR SKIES?  move to TIBOOBURRA then as per previous scenario Cloud?       Move to Pt Augusta.DEC 3CLOUD MOVING IN?  Stay in Pt Augusta track weather systems.DEC 4Eclipse at Sunset.  By mid morning, choose Ceduna, Woomera or Lyndhurst orstay at airport in Pt Augusta & prepare to fly.DEC 5Sight seeing__________________________________________________Those thinking of meeting us "on the road" may find it a very hit and missproposition.Sight seeing optionsPossibilities include Flinders Ranges, the Strzelecki track  & Strzeleckidesert, the wine growing areas,  Broken Hill, Kinchega and Lake MungoNational parks. The Coorong (Mouth of the Murray river) the Great Oceanroad and various salt lakes.Regarding costs.  Apart from the vehicle and fuel costs estimated above,free or cheap camping is widely available in the out back, national parksand Caravan parks (RV parks) In the more remote areas free camping is thenorm. Some national parks have small use/camping fees A$3-7 per night.Caravan parks charge A$5-15 per night depending on facilities offered.Scenic flights may be chartered over major tourist attractions like LakeEyre, Flinders Ranges.When the group settles & decides on how many days it will want to go sightseeing, I'll  suggest some more detailed possibilities.  Before deciding tobook a night post eclipse at Tibooburra, could we consider the possibilityof continuing straight across the Strzelecki Track to the Flinders ranges.CheersJoe Cali