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Cairns Esplanade
Just returned from a fact finding mission, travelling up from Cairns to Port Douglas.The city foreshore will have a problem with C1 to C2 because the aboriginal reserve will be in direct line with the suns path. (Elevation for C1 2deg above horizon and 108 degrees SE. Totality at 14 deg and 105 degrees S.E could also be a problem. We stayed 1.5km up towards the airport on the 5th floor which should improve things. The Coral towers hotel has posted pics taken on Nov 14th last year and show the sun well clear of the 800m peak, but this may have been taken from the roof. Still plenty of accommodation and a really nice spot.Further up Yorkeys knob and Trinity have excellent horizon views but apartments are expensive with most taking 5-7 day bookings at up to $300 a night! Eclipse week is a double high in the low season.Anyway we booked the big caravan park in the city at only $31 per night and will probably go up to Yorkeys on the 13th. Forget Ellis Beach CP-its full. It was cloudy on the horizon every evening and morning in Cairns so exact visual determination was difficult. We used google earth to calculate distances and angles. I am sure all the northern beaches will have some sort of "celebration" on the lead up days so its going to be pretty congested.
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