Here are a few options based on what James and I found yesterday, including where I will be and how to get my crude reports on the weather inland. Company is welcome as long as you don't stand in front of the scope!
Mulligan Highway
After Mt Carbine, the Mulligan Highway heads WNW for about 25km, which puts the view back along it roughly in line with the sun in the morning. There are lots of areas along this road where you can pull off the road onto clear areas beside it (steep-ish road verges though). Towards the end of this stretch you should be in the zone where there is a reasonable chance of clear skies towards the sun. Closer to Mt Carbine your chances drop quicky.
After this stretch, it gets quite tricky (especially in the dark) to find spots where you could safely pull off the road and see the eclipse low in the east.
Hill past Bob's Lookout
16°27'58.01"S
144°52'28.99"E
About 1.2km past Bob's lookout, there is a track going up on the left hand side of the road. There's a bit of a lip getting onto the road so you'll probably graze the bottom of the car. It's rocky after that but otherwise ok in a 2WD. About 100m up (walk it first) there's a hill with reasonabe horizons though you're situated amongst trees (sparse, mostly burnt etc). Sunrise should be through a gap in the ranges immediately in front. The problem with this site is that it is very exposed to the wind which is not great for imaging. There's not a lot of room for parking along this dirt road but there is some, and the road extends quite a way. [Latest report at 5pm is it is very windy here.]
Flat spot on Mulligan Highway
16°24'5.66"S
144°44'55.30"E
This is where I will be.
From the road this is not obvious, but there is a bit of a verge where you can pull off and an overgrown track that opens out into a large clear area. The western end of this field has a large space with good eastern horizon but only a very small area up on a rise for an earlier view of the sun closer to sunrise. If you reach Spring Creek on the Mulligan Highway you've gone just too far.
I'll leave my satellite Spot Messenger on from when I leave home this evening (around 7pm). So to follow where I am visit:
http://tinyurl.com/philspot
As well as the numerous track points (every ten minutes), you will also see 'Check In' messages and 'Custom Messages' (both of which must be programmed in advance, and the content is not shown on this webpage anyway). But I encode some more information in these messages by the minutes past the hour when I send them, with the answer scaled from 05 (good) to 55 (bad).
The 'Check In' message functions as a weather update. A message sent at 05 minutes past the hour means crystal clear skies, while a message sent at 55 minutes past the hours means little hope of seeing the sun based on what I see at the time. Anything in between you can intepret to be scaled accordingly.
The 'Custom Message' functions as a traffic update. A message sent at 05 past the hour means traffic looks ok where I am and that there is space around me to park a car. 55 mins past the hour means don't bother trying to drive out to me. Bear in mind though that the worst traffic problems are likely to be back in the ranges which I will (hopefully) have no idea about.
It's a fair bit further, but worth knowing that at the Palmer River Roadhouse there is a temporary phone tower setup by emergency services so there is good reception (including data) in the immediate vicinity of the roadhouse. There are not great observing options here though.
Good luck wherever you are!
cheers
Phil
0438 037 567 (useless after ~7pm)
ossib le morning shower.Min*18Max*30UV*14Innisfail:C loudy. Shower or two.Min*21Max*28UV*14Cooktown:Showe r or two.Min*24Max*31UV*14UV Alert from 8:10 am to 4:00 pm, UV Index predicted to reach 14 [Extreme]
missed out on the venus transit and now the solar eclipse. I hate the weather gods
