Quote:
Originally Posted by AstroTourist
There has been some comments about what happened at Bob's lookout during the eclipse.
One person told me that:
"police did not make any serious attempt to close Bob's Lookout, despite that clearly being advertised as 'to be closed' beforehand and used for emergency services staging (none of which was visible inland except at Palmer River Roadhouse). Apparently they turned up at Bob's Lookout an hour or so before the eclipse and their half-hearted attempt to move people on at that point was quickly laughed out of town (they then just tried to stop people who parked where they were blocking the highway)"
When I queried this with the police superintendent today I was told that was not correct and that Bob's lookout was barricaded off at 9PM the previous evening, that a couple of cars parked there were moved on and it remained closed.
Can I please have any first hand reports from anyone who actually observed from Bob's lookout or who drove past after 9pm the evening before so that I can establish what actually happened.
I need to be sure that what I put in the eclipse wrapup report is correct. Any photos of the area would of course be especially valuable.
Thanks & regards,
Terry
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Hi Terry,
We first drove past Bob's lookout at about 15:00 on the 13th. It it had
just been any day in the year with people stopping to admire the views, then
it was full. There were at least a couple of sizable camper vans and
many cars, but except for a few that appeared to be co-operatively double
parked, vehicles would have been free to come and go. However, it was
clear that everyone there was setup to stay. Camper chairs were out and gear
was set-up.
We then drove past again at 16:30 and one more time at 19:00.
By then some had parked on the outskirts of the lookout area in what normally
would not have been regarded as a wise parking spot. One 4WD vehicle on the south
side was arguably precariously parked, having made its way up to the very edge
of the drop-off where there was no safety railing.
However, all vehicles were well away from the road and posed no safety risk
to other passers-by.
So unfortunately I can't provide a first hand account of what happened there
after 21:00 the night before the eclipse.
If they had been asked to move on, what surprises me is that certainly nobody
turned up to our large obvious area which was a turn-off to the power line service
track.
The next morning we drove past one final time post-eclipse at around 08:30.
There were still quite a few there and they were packing up their gear.
We waved to them and they waved back as we passed by.
It would have been interesting to know what their eclipse viewing experience was like.
It certainly is one of the most fantastic vistas in the greater Cairns area and would have
potentially made the best of backdrops for any photography of the eclipse itself.