Visitors from around the globe converged on Port Douglas for this morning’s total solar eclipse, all with their own stories.

Despite slight cloud cover, thousands of visitors were thrilled to see the event after several years’ anticipation.

Ross Mitchell and Trish Wilkins, from Sydney, were seen proudly emblazoned with their limited edition Solar Eclipse shirts at Flagstaff Hill.

They had camped in their two-man tent in the surrounding scrub since 10pm on Tuesday night, setting up three cameras - one a custom-built telescope, another with time lapse to capture the eclipse every 10 seconds and a video camera set up over the vista of Four Mile Beach to capture the changing shadows over the beach.

“We spotted our camping position in January,” Trish said.

Originally from Austria and now living in Townsville, Peter and Renate Mohringer were no strangers to Port Douglas, having first visited 20 years ago whilst still living in Europe.

The couple also enjoyed the view from Flagstaff Hill with NQ Security guard, Ian McIntyre, who himself had landed the opportunity of a lifetime to view the eclipse.

Only having been in town for a month, it was only the recent resignation of a fellow employee that earned Ian the call-up to patrol one of the town’s most stunning vantage points.

“I can’t believe how lucky I am to be paid to see this,” he said.

PortFM radio station owners, Michael and Helen Gabour, had visitors from Washington DC who had become eclipse devotees since seeing a solar eclipse in Siberia in which 40,000 people turned out.

Once they heard about today’s phenomenon in Far North Queensland, they booked their tickets immediately to fly into Australia and stay with the Gabours, even if only for a couple of days.

Japanese tourists also made the most of direct flights to Cairns.

From where I was positioned on Flagstaff Hill, Japanese visitors started to sing as the eclipse took shape, adding to the eerie, yet spiritual, experience, along with the birds, also chirping pre- and post- the sun’s disappearing act.

Tsutomu Mori had intentionally spent his hard-earned dollars working in Melbourne to buy a camera, black filter and tripod to return to Port Douglas for the eclipse.

“I first came to Port Douglas ten years ago. The eclipse was very special, but there was no diamond ring, unfortunately,” Tsutomu said, referring to the first glimpse of shooting light synonymous with clear weather conditions.

With P&O cruise liner, Pacific Dawn, on the horizon, media scrums in all areas, scientists brimming with excitement, helicopters buzzing around to take the best pics of the onlookers on land, paddle boarders bobbing on the surf and thousands of people packing Four Mile Beach, the Solar Eclipse was truly the spectacular it promised.

It is sure to be talked about, around the world, for a long time to come.

Images by Kerry

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