We went to "Purple Downs", a site roughly mid way between Woomera and Roxby Downs. This included a marked off area, though many people settled outside of it. There was a lower speed limit for the area, and the police booked one person I noticed while there. Others took photos of the event ...

With the help of "eclipse shades" which we purchased at the Woomera Visitor's Centre, we watched the slow mechanical progression of the eclipse as the moon cleaved off more and more of the sun, and we generated lots of images of it from straw hats and tried to pick up differences in the shadows cast by the eclipse.

What surprised me was how long it took for the light levels to visibly diminish. This probably only took place when the sun was about 95% obscured. I guess the sun gives out that much light that even a fraction of it still illuminates.

And then, totality itself ! Wow ! Pictures do not do it justice. The corona sits there and glows - it is alive, and to sit there in the sky, with the surrounding landscape around you - wow

People didn't whoop or swear, as a British astronomer suggested would happen. Just an occassional spoken "wow" or "gee", but nothing dramatic.

It was impressive, though I certainly would not travel half way around the world (as some international visitors had) to see a 30 odd second eclipse. Maybe for a 3 minute eclipse ...

But this one was - by strange coincidence - here in Australia. By further coincidence, I was able to see it from Woomera, a spot reasonably convenient and familiar.

But the eclipse, in its own way, respects no boundaries. The earth becomes a celestial object, sweeping its way through the solar system in accordance with Kepler's laws, more than just a world spotted with continents.

The earth is reduced to its mathematical foundations; we have the sun, moon and earth in their orbital positions. We have latitudes, longitudes, and points on the celestial sphere.

And that is what the eclipse reminds us - that we inhabit a planet.