I saw the 1976 total solar eclipse in Bombala with three friends. (I didn't bump into Ric though ... no IIS ... not even the internet then).
There's no doubt about it, this phenomenon needs to be experienced to be believed! I'd advise anyone that it's worth travelling halfway round the world to see one.
We were in the township itself a few hours before the eclipse, but the clouds seemed to be getting worse. About half-an-hour before totality we thought it looked clearer some distance from town and jumped into our hired slide-on campervan and madly drove in that direction.
Set up our 4-inch junk reflector in a field about 5 km out of town with a home-made projection screen held in place with a bent stick, prayed for some clear sky, and tried out our bits of (no. 3?) welder's glass.
Five minutes before totality, it looked pretty grim, but one lass who was with us decided an 'eclipse dance' was in order (the opposite of a rain dance) and guess what ... it worked!
Due to this bit of jiggery-pokery we didn't miss one of nature's oddest, most spectacular happenings: sunset all around the horizon, birds confused, a definite drop in temperature; cows deciding it was time to call it a day, and a great view of the brighter stars and planets. Luckily we were on a bit of a hill and I recall seeing the umbral shadow racing towards us over the nearby properties. There were no trees around, so didn't manage to see any 'pinhole' projections, and I also looked for and couldn't see any 'shadow bands' ref:
http://www.earthview.com/tutorial/effects.htm
It was all over an a minute or so, but left a lasting impression for life.
Interestingly, when we returned to Bombala, everyone we spoke to said they'd been clouded out .. so, Ric, were you in town or just outside it?
No photos to post - all on Kodachromes and not yet scanned.