A walk on the beach

I woke up fairly early. Had slept like a baby most of the night. It was great. The first streams of light from the sun rising in the west forced their way into the room. I decided to sleep in a bit longer. But about an hour later, I heard a noise that I assumed was coming from something of the local wildlife. A weird sound. I let it go. Closed my eyes and drowsed on. Around 9 I got up and had a shower, before going down for breakfast. Then I found the source of the sound. It was a powertool. They were renovating part of the hotel... I smiled.
There was a low tide. The restaurant at the end of the pier stood more or less on dry land. I was greeted by an ever polite waiter who invited me to sit wherever I liked, and eat whatever was on the buffet. I sat down by the window. Looked out towards Maputo, and the beach ahead. Beautiful view. But one thing I have found now is I regret not bringing a weater. I actually contemplated bringing a thin woolen sweater I have. But decided against it. If it weren't for the constant breeze, the temperature would have been great. But the breeze makes it slightly chilly. So I have to sit inside in the evening and morning. Before the temperature reaches 20C or thereabout. Then it's actually quite pleasant.
After breakfast, I had one prioritized task : getting certified copies of my passport and visa. The people here in Mozambique are on the whole very friendly and polite. But there is one group of people you should avoid at all cost : the police. They will rob you blind if they find any reason to do so. And they will. Actually, it is so bad that if you HAVE to go to the police station to fill in a report for insurance reasons, it is recommended that your bring as little valuables as possible. It has happened that people have come to the station, bringing lots of valuables, the police has arrested them for some made up crime and thrown them in a cell. Then robbed them blind and thrown them out. So therefore, I need a certified copy of passport and visa. If I had given them my passport, they might claim that something is wrong with the stamp or visa, and demand bribes to "ignore your crime". And of course, you need your passport. So they have you in a legal headlock. With a copy, they can do nothing. Telling them that you'll call the embassy might help, but not always. The advice is to avoid the police at all cost. But they normally roam around popular backpacker hotels and bus stations. So it is almost impossible to avoid them. But one should always try to stay where there a lots of others. They don't like to let others see what they are doing.
The receptionist copied my passport and the visa and called a hotel guard to take me to a notary office across the road. In the office, three ladies sat at each of their own desk. Obviously doing nothing. The guard showed me a chair where the upholstry was more gone than not. I sat down and felt my butt sinking through the whole seat. The first one took my passport and the copies, examined them. Stamped them. Then brought them to the lady with the biggest desk. She looked at it. Stamped it. The papers were brought to the third lady with the second biggest desk, and she looked at them, stamped them and signed. Then the first lady stamped them alot and signed all the stamps. 15 meticais please. About 50 cents. I gave her a 200 note. She sighed. The guard took the money and walked to the bank, which was next to the hotel. He came back and payed her and gave me the rest. We walked back to the hotel. I thanked him and went to my room to drop off my passport before heading out. I was going to go for a beach walk.
When I arrived yesterday, the receptionist asked whether I had walked on the beach to the hotel. I found the question a bit odd. But today I saw a lot of people doing that today. And I see why. The roads are in terrible condition, and the beach is leveled every high tide. So it is always in good condition. I decided to walk down to the ferry landing. People on the beach where preparing their nets for the tide to come in. Children were playing. People drove motorbikes. Dows and other boats sat on the beach waiting for the tide to lift them. Millions of sandcrabs had dug into the sand and dropping their sand-balls all over. I managed to take some photos of them before they disappeared into their holes. At the ferry landing, long lines of people where waiting to be crammed into the small boats crossing the bay. And cars waited for the large ferry to arrive to take them across. I took some photos of dows passing, the ferries coming and going, and a guy sitting on the dock fishing.
Beside the ferry landing, there is a small collection of bars and shops. And people walking to and fro selling stuff from baskets they are carrying. I wanted to find some bug spray for my journey. I found it in a small convenience store. When I was standing there, a young boy came to me and started to speak English to me. He asked me if I came over from Maputo. I said I lived in a hotel on the peninsula. "I work at your hotel!" he said and smiled. "Of course you do!" I said. That one was old three days after the first hotel was invented. He wanted to be my guide. I politely declined. He followed me around. I stopped at a local bar to have a coke. He jumped to my "rescue" and told me how much it would cost. I smiled. Put the money on the table. Then he started asking for money. I didn't like it, but I guess it is better to be a guide, than a thief...
After having refreshed myself on the coke, I decided to walk back the same way I came. Even thought the scene was the same, it was enjoyable. Almost back at the hotel, an army guy walked past me. I looked at him as we passed eachother, and he saluted me. I smiled a bit startld.
Back in the restaurant, I decided to try one of the Mozambiquan specialities. Seafood. I tried a shrimp cocktail. Normally, I would have been a bit weary about eating any such meal in many countries, but I know that here, it is always served fresh. And it was fresh. And delicious. With a wonderful sauce on a bed of vegetables. Yummy.
After the late lunch, I decided to use the last of the daylight to shoot some of the areas around the hotel. I walked whichever street I felt like and met people who smiled and waved. "Hello boss!" "Bom dia, boss!" I enjoyed it and only returned to my hotel because the sun was setting in the west. Killing the light. Not only for the camera, but also for me.
The past two days have been enjoyable. I am glad I went so far off from Maputo. Instead of shock-treatment, I smoothed into the country. Settling in after a long journey. It has been relaxing and pleasant. And I hope this has given me the energy I need to tackle the rest of the journey. Tomorrow, I am checking out and venturing into Maputo. My original plan was to go there today and buy a bus ticket for tomorrow morning. But today I decided to skip it, and spend one day in Maputo in som backpacker hotel. Then leave on Wednesday. Haven't yet decided where. But will do some surfing tonight for some ideas.
I have only included a small selection of todays images. Enjoy!

View at breakfast

Low tide

Small fish to fry

Sand crabs digging for their life to escape the giant

Beached dows

Waiting for the tide

Cattle walking on the beach

"Nice beach property for sale. Some upgrades needed..."

Ferry

Dow in the wind

Waiting for the catch of the day

Church next to my hotel

Local shop

Typical home in Catembe

A room with a view

Finally arrived at my hotel. It is located in the Catembe area on the other side of the bay from Maputo. A more peaceful spot outside of the bustling city. Perfect for my first nights. The trip was long, and I didn't sleep much on the plane. As usual. I never do. The massive turbulence that threw us around in the air, didn't exactly help.
Most of the trip was event-less. Just airports, checking in and flying. And the usual fight for baggage rights in the overhead lockers, the crying kids and the over-sized people in the seat next to me. It wasn't until Nairobi it got really interesting. We arrived more or less on time. And where bussed along to a stair that we had to scale to get into the terminal. Like it has always been as long as I can remember. But with the interesting new feature that we had to fight for space with people going OUT to some airplane. I got into the terminal and found it just as adrenalin-rushing, bustling and claustrophobic as always. I found that my flight to Maputo would depart from gate 12. I checked in, and sat in the checkin-area. Suddenly everybody got up and started walking out to the boarding gate. Only to find out that there was another flight from the same gate at the same time. For Kigali in Rwanda... So we were stopped by the people in the door. We had to wait until the people for Kigali had left. And they took their sweet time arriving. When we finally were allowed to board the buses for our flight, the time was more or less the original departure time. "Oh well", I thought and smiled. "African time! Hakuna matata!". I looked at my ticked as the shuttle bus stopped outside the airplane. 16J. 16J? I looked at the obviously too small plane for such a seat number. In a regional jet liner? What were the seats like? 3 inches wide? I thought maybe the delay was in order to change from big to small airplane. But realized when boarding they only used four letters with BIG spacing. If it isn't big, make it sound bigger spacing the letters...
Half an hour after original departure time. They had finished boarding. Now the captain came on the speakers. There were some "VIP movement" on Maputo airport, so they had closed it for security reason until the VIP's had stopped moving. So we had to sit on the tarmac for another 30 minutes before taking off. Ah well... I sat there, looking at the people going about their business on the tarmac. Tractors pulling carts of luggage. Personnel talking and joking. I fell asleep.
I jumped when the sharp voice from the cockpit screamed in the speakers. We were ready to depart. An hour late. The plane roared into the air and I sat watching the houses of Nairobi disappearing in the morning mist below. The plane shook and jumped as we roared through the clouds. Soon we popped out into the blue skies above. I tried to sleep some more. But found it hard. Especially as the clouds broke up underneath us, and we could see the peak(s) of Kilimanjaro peeping out of the clouds. The red-brown landscape below. Lake Malawi. Smaller towns and cities. Rivers. I love watching this.
A few hours in the air and Maputo appeared below. It was bigger than I thought. But most of it was miles upon miles of houses arranged in rows and columns around the core on the horizon. I looked down as the plane descended steeply into the airport. The airport lay smack dab in the middle of the city. We hit the tarmac 55 minutes late. The plane rumbled across the uneven surface before it came to a stop outside the terminal building. Everybody off. Into a arrival area. I needed a visa, so I got into the visa line. Which was the longest, and the slowest. If this had been at home, my heart would be racing. But here, in Africa, on vacation, hakuna matata. I sighed. My body needed to adjust to the new tempo of vacation. Normally takes a few days. An older lady in front of me, holding a UN passport, asked me why the other queues were so much shorter. "They have visas. This is for those with no visa." I explained. "Ah! She smiled. I already HAVE a visa! Thank you!" she said and left the queue.
After half an hour in line, I was allowed to pay my $78 for a visa. They took my photo. I almost laughed when I saw it. I had blinked as they took it. So I looked like had smoked something not recommended by the chief surgeon. My eyes just two thin slits. Whatever.
I was now allowed to stand in the line for passport control. I handed over my passport. The guy looked at it. "Norway. Is that in America?" I shook my head and started saying something. "Asia?" he tried again. I shook my head and started saying something again. "Europe?" he interrupted and looked at me almost surprised. I nodded. "North Europe" i said. "Scandinavia?" he asked. I nodded. He smiled. "Ah. I know!" he said. I smiled and nodded. Of course you did. He stamped my passport and gave it to me. I had to put my bag through an x-ray machine before I was allowed to leave. Nobody looked at the screen, so I'm not sure why they wanted to fry it. I got out and finally found an older guy with a sign from my hotel. I smiled. He smiled. "Ragnar" I said. "No!" he said. "Catembe hotel?" I said. He smiled and nodded. At least we agreed on that. I just remembered that I needed to change money. I changed a fistful of dollars. And he took me to his car. An old Toyota. I tried talking, but his English wasn't too good and my Portuguese is practically non-existing.
Me : "How many people live in Maputo?"
Him : "Many, yes!"
Me : "How many?"
Pause
Him : "Many thousand!"
Me : "Impressive!"
Him : "Yes..."
His driving was spastic. Full throttle, then flat out brakes before every crossroad. After a short and not to conversatory drive, we arrived at the ferry to take me to Catembe across the bay. "I call hotel! They have somebody to pick you up other side!" my driver said. I saw the line to the ferry, and given the size of the ferry, I expected the wait to be long. Then the driver waved me along "Here boss!" he said. And we walked past the whole queue. I hate this. But what to do? I tried not to look anybody in the eyes. Too embarrassing. When we arrived at the ferry, the ticketer shoved everybody aside. "Here boss!" he said and pointed into an overcrowded boat. I got on board. Then there was a short discussion between him and the boat driver. Then I was taken out and led to a new boat, where I was shoved first in line. "Here boss!", "there boss!", "come boss!". Finally, I sat down on a bench on the deck. We were off. There was a nice breeze as we crossed the bay. On the other side, I started looking for someone to pick me up. I walked to and fro, and found nobody interested enough to assume it was a driver. So in the end, I just started walking. It was a nice three km walk. People smiling and greeting me. "How are you friend?" "Fine thank you!". Children smiling and saying "hi". People in local bars smiling and laughing when I passed. I just smiled back at them.
After half an hour or so, I arrived at the hotel. The receptionist apologized. He had sent the driver, but he didn't find me. He had tried to call me twice. I checked my phone and found it indeed to be the case. I just hadn't heard. Oh, well. It was a nice walk. I had been sitting on airplanes for a total of 16 hours, so I didn't mind the walk. And since the temperature wasn't any worse than a normal summer day in Oslo. It wasn't too bad either.
My room is small, but it has a nice view of the beach below. The area is quiet. Only the gentle singing of crickets can be heard when the music in the restaurant is off. And the gentle breeze blowing through the trees. And the waves splashing towards the beach. It is wonderful. I am glad I opted for staying two nights here. Relaxing after 31 hours on the move.
"When a man loves a woman" sounds on the speakers. The cool, gentle breeze outside gives the air a smell of freshness. I am looking forward to a good nights sleep. And refreshed for new adventures tomorrow. Across the bay, I see the lights of Maputo. Above, the skies are clear and the stars are out. The full moon lights up the haze in the air. Blocking what could have been a wonderful starry sky here from this peninsula. But who's complaining?

Nairobi airport. Waiting for the light to flash. Ever.

The breakfast restaurant at the hotel

Shadow parasols on the beach

View across the bay towards Maputo

My hotel

The beach

From the balcony by night

Going, going, gone!

Summer is here. Vacation is nearing, and I am ready to head out. Looking for new adventures. New land. This year, Africa is the main theme, although I added a small surprise on Wednesday. A country I didn't believe I would be able to go to. But that's for a later update...
But first : Mozambique and Malawi. Two countries in the southern part of Africa. I have been thinking about going to Mozambique for many years. But for different reasons, I never got around to it. I still have a Lonely Planet book for Mozambique, Zambia and Malawi I bought 12 years ago. When I was in Zambia to see a Sun eclipse. That's when I started thinking about it. Now, twelve years later, I am going. Since it is an old book, there are bound to be a lot of changes, so I have read up on the current state of things. And there are of course changes. Mostly on the numbers of tourists. Still comparable little to the "big ones" like Kenya, but still. So the biggest question is how much have changed? And what?
I know from experience that things can, and do, change dramatically in "new" tourist countries. When the influx of tourists increase, things do change. Countries that used to be benign, become "touristy" in that the people change their attitudes towards foreigners. And sadly, it is mostly due to travelers who have little or no sensitivity to the local cultures and traditions. I have seen this several times, and have probably done some thoughtless things myself. Things that might seem insignificant to us, or even things done with the best of intentions, may trigger changes that nobody had foreseen or wanted. But they do change something. People, attitudes, cultures. We often talk about not destroying the environment when we travel. Maybe we also should do the same for the people and cultures we meet?
As usual, I will travel alone. A colleague in the prison group I lead sat talking with me about my upcoming travel, while we waited for the inmates. He asked me : "Do you prefer to travel alone?" I thought for a few moments before I said "Not really. I actually prefer travelling company. But most of the times when I have asked, people have said no. Because it was either the wrong time of the year, or the 'wrong' destination. So now, I have just stopped asking."
But most of the time, I end up meeting people on the way. Some for a dinner and a chat. Some I have traveled with for a short while. Some I have stayed in touch with. Some have become friends. They constitute some of the best things that can happen on a journey.
Soon, I am off. My travelling feet are tingling. Eager to tread new soil. My eyes to endulge in new images. My mouth to taste new food. My ears to hear new languages and music. And my nose flairing for new smells.
Going, going, gone!

Ragnar
Enthusiastic globetrotter

Southern beauty

I haven't been out much in the sun here in Australia this time. Only for the Sun eclipse. Most nights, I have been out taking photos of the night sky. I have learned a great deal on how to set up the telescope under southern skies. And not the least : How to take better photos. It has been a steep learning curve. But it has been worth it. Rewarding is the word.
I found a spot about 1.5 hours drive west of Cairns. The entrance of a farm. Just beside the road. During the night, I would listen to the sounds of the forest close by. The cracking of a twig. Thumb of a foot. And the noise of insects. Yesterday, the spot was infested with mozzies. The mozzies come from miles around to dine on my blood. That is how tasty it is. But soon, I heard the relieving sound. "Tzi! Tzi! Tzi!". Batman to the rescue. The bat was flying around me for a couple of minutes. Mozzie-problem solved. You gotta love those guys!
Anyways : Here are some of the photos (Click on images to see larger versions):

First : The Large Magellan Cloud. 40 minute exposure, 85 mm @F/2.0, ISO 400. It is called cloud because that is what it looks like. A cloud in the sky. It is so big it doesn't look like a deep sky object. It is a satellite galaxy to the Milkyway. That is, it orbits our galaxy the same way a satellite orbits the Earth. Only it takes a few million years to orbit once...

The folowing images where taken with a Pentax K5 through a TS triplet APO. ISO 1600. Exposures ranging from 40 to 60 minutes. Stacking using DSS. Processing in Gimp and Irfanview.

The globular cluster 47 Tucanae. It is the size of the full moon in the sky.

One of the most beautiful objects in the southern skies, Eta Carina nebula.

The following objects are also visible in the north.

The Horsehead nebula. Enlarge to see why... I only managed 10 minutes of exposure for this one, since the Sun was rising.

The great galaxy of Andromeda.

The Orion Nebula

The passenger in seat 70E

Finally, I was on my way. I had just delivered a document to a colleague, had a shower and did the last check in my head. Nothing forgotten. I left the apartment and headed for the airport express.
My first concern was the weight of the backpack. I had measured it to be 22.6 kg using the bathroom scale. But the scales at the airport tend to show a little more. I did not want to pay for excess baggage. Not all the way to Cairns. To my relief, it weighed in at 22.9 kg. 100 grams under the limit. I sighed in relief. Normally, they aren't that concerned with a little overweight, but you never know. I got my boardig passes for the whole trip to Cairns. I walked away from the checkin-desk with a smile. Then I suddenly remembered. What seat had I gotten? I was so focused on the backpack I completely forgot to ask for window-seat. I checked my boarding passes. From Oslo to London, window seat. From Melbourne to Cairns, Window seat. From London to Melbourne. Mid seat? 19 hours squashed between two people? I dreaded the very thought.

God proof

When waiting to board the A380 in London, I went through all possible scenarios on how seat 70E might be an isle seat. But no reasonable seat configuration I could come up with, made it so. I prayed to God that it would be an isle seat. After a while, we started boarding. I walked down the isle, and arrived at row 70. I stood there, looking a bit surprised at my seat. I looked up the isle to the front of the plane. And then down the isle to the very back of the plane. All rows but row 70 had seat D. On row 70, seat D didn't exist. Which meant that all I had to the left of me, was an empty space. Which meant that I could stretch my legs without running the risk of tripping someone or blocking the carts of the air hostessess. The Big Guy upstairs likes me!

Up in the sky

On the screen in front of me, I found an option I really loved. "Skycam". This is a camera mounted on the tail-fin. This gives you a "birdseye" view of the plane and its surroundings. During takeoff and landing, it gave a exciting new view. Not just looking ahead or below the plane, but seeing the plane itself underneath the camera. Seeing it bank and roll. Loved it. Ok. I'm a fan of the fancy little things. :-)

New Chalon

Arriving in Cairns, I got my baggage and went to the car rental counter to pick up my car. When I took out the receit for everything I had booked, I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to bring the address and phone-number of the hotel. I stood there thinking hard and long before I managed to squeeze some info from the farthest backalleys of my brain. "Bruce Highway" popped up. South of the city centre. I checked the map I got from the rental company. I memorized the map on how to get through the city to Bruce Highway. I got in the car and drove off. A zillion red-lights later, I was finally on the highway. I drove for about half an hour before I realized that it could not be this far away. I took a u-turn (probably illegal) and headed back towards Cairns. On my way back I realized that I had to check the internet somewhere. I saw a sign for McDonald's. I figured that they normally have WiFi for their customers. I stopped at the restaurant and went in. "Do you have WiFi?" I asked. The girl behind the counter asked the boss. "Yes!" she replied. I went out to the car and picked up my gear. Ordered a meal and sat down. I looked up the networks available and found it. It required a password. I went to the counter to ask for the password. "Eeeerrrr. We don't have a password. He came with me. "Ah. Err... We've had some problems with the WiFi lately. It hasn't been fixed yet!". Oooo-k... Thanks for telling me... I finished my meal and walked up to the counter again. Showed them the name of the hotel. "Do you know this hotel?". They all looked at the name. "No. Never heard of it." A bit downhearted (and tired), I walked out to the car again and drove off. 200 meters later, I saw a sign by the road. "Cairns New Chalon". What the hey? They had never heard of a hotel that lay 200 meters away? Oh well.. I parked outside and walked into the reception.
Behind the counter sat an old, smiling lady with a squeeky voice. "How are you, sir?" I gave her the passport, and she found my reservation. Did I want WiFi? Is the pope catholic? Of course I wanted WiFi. She gave me a couple of xeroxed tags with username and passord. In my room, I tried to find the WiFi spot the info said should be there. But all I found was "God". (Yes, that was the name of the network). I tried logging on, but none of the passwords worked. I went down to the reception and explained the problem. She smiled. "Did you find the blue cord?" I nodded. "That's the broadband". "But that's not WiFi!" I demanded. "Nooo. I keep telling them that, but they won't listen. Even on the internet they claim we have WiFi." ARGH! Now I have to eat a lot of McDonald meals or find some other place to hook up my computer. Why didn't I bring the USB-to-ethernet dongle for my ultrabook? Cause I read on the net that this hotel had WiFi...
After this failure, I crashed on my bed and fell asleep.

Under a southern sky

I woke up at 9 pm. It was dark and quiet outside. I felt more awake and ready. I went outside and looked up at the sky. Cloudy. I thought it would be a perfect opportunity for me to try out the gear I had brought. Cloudy nights are for testing. Everybody knows that. I packed my gear into the car and drove off. I wanted to try out a place I had found on Google Maps. It was dark and far from any lights. It took almost two hours to drive, so I arrived at around 1 in the morning. I parked the car and set up my telescope drive. I looked up at the skies and just took it all in. The brilliantly clear Milkyway. And the two only "clouds" in the sky. The Large and Small Magellan Clouds. Satellite galaxies to the Milkyway. They are huge!
I realized that I had no idea where the south pole would be in the sky. In the north, we have the clear polar star. In the south, they have an insignificant small star near the pole. After some time, I managed to get it reasonably close. And I could take short exposures with my camera and an 85 mm short telelens. Below are the results. For whoever it may concern : LMC photo : 85 mm @f/1.4, ISO 800, 17 exposures @ 30 sec each. Stacked in DSS, cropping and levels in Gimp. SMC : Same lens, ISO 400, 6 exp @ 1 min each. Stacked in DSS, cropping and levels in Gimp.
While waiting for the expores to finish, I saw one of the most spectacular meteorites of my life. It lit up in the east, and slowly moved west across the sky. Pieces fell off it all the time, making it brighten every now and then. It lasted at least 7-8 seconds before it disappeared behind som clouds just north of me. Truly a spectacular sight! I saw several other meteorites this night, but they were more "regular".

At 4 am, a thick cloud-cover from the east filled the sky. I knew this was it. No more photos. The clouds had come and gone the whole night, so it wasn't too productive. But I was happy. I packed up my gear, and headed back to the hotel. On my way down from Mareeba, it was obvious that I had chosen the right direction to flee. The roads where soaked all the way to Cairns. I hadn't had a drop the whole night. Although, I once packed up my gear, fearing an imminent shower. It never came. And this whole morning, torrential downpour has been coming and going. We will see what the night will bring. Maybe I will find some spot with internet, so I can be more prepared? Maybe I will try another night under the skies. But this time with my telescope and autoguider? Who knows? All I know is that if this is the trend for wednesday morning, it all looks a bit bad... But I will keep my hopes up.

Ragnar
Amateur astronomer

7 is a perfect number

Venezuela 1998, Austria 1999, Zambia 2001, Australia 2002, Turkey 2006, China 2008 and now : Australia 2012. 7 visible total eclipses of the Sun. As I said before, it is indescribable, so I won't even try to explain. I will just leave the pictures to speak for themselves.
I got up early in the evening and headed out. Checked with a friend for the latest weather updates. The best prospects where on the other side of the mountains. I got into the car and drove 2 and a half hour northwest. Constantly checking my GPS to see where I was.
In the middle of nowhere, I parked my car beside the road, at 1 in the morning. Enjoying a night of starry skies before the big morning arose.
The Sun rose already partially eclipsed. As always, it was a beautiful, out-of-this-world experience. I can only give you the pictures. Enjoy!

I got 1 minute and 57 seconds of totality from the spot I was standing. Slightly less than the max in the area. But I didn't care. I got to see it. The beautiful corona. And I got to share it with some guys from Australia, Japan and Italy. A truly worldwide bonding experience! :-)
The Italian, before setting off back to Port Douglas, said to me "See you on Svalbard in 2015!". We will see.

Ragnar
Sungazer

Sometimes, the Sun is eclipsed by the Moon

Ten years ago, almost to the day, I was standing in Woomera Range in Australia. In a closed area, with unexploded ordonance removed for our safety. Waiting for God's own spectacle. A total eclipse of the Sun. I have been called a lunatic. A fitting name for someone who is chasing the shadow of Luna. And I do feel a bit crazy when totality hits. I have screamed in excitement. I have seen grown men cry. Calm people start dancing.
The first time I saw a total eclipse was in Venezuela February 26th 1998. I was excited, but totally unaware of how I would react. Standing on a beach with several million others. When the shadow hit us, the whole beach exploded. So did my mind. It was something out of this world. The sight, the light, the beautiful corona glowing around the sun. The roar and screams of the people around me. Just under four minutes later, the Sun appeared from behind the Moon and it all exploded again. I knew I was hooked. I had become a lunatic.
I have travelled to 7 eclipses so far, one of which disappeared behind the clouds. Luckily, that was the only one so far. And that is always the big fear of lunatics. I have checked the weather forecasts. It looks a bit worrying, but I am keeping my hopes up. You never know. And forecasts are less accurate the further away they "predict". And they say it is clearing and getting better on the day of the eclipse. We will see...
Some people ask why I do this, why I spend so much money and time travelling to weird places on the planet just to experience a few minutes of darkness. The only way to understand is to eperience it. Not seeing a photo. Not seeing a movie. Being there. Seeing the light. The beauty. Feeling the changes in wind and temperature. Seeing nature preparing for night in the middle of the day. Emotions going wild.
The last time I went to Australia, I stayed for five weeks, so the eclipse was just one of the things I wanted to see. This time around, the eclipse is THE main event. I am only staying for a week.
One week. And 70 hours travel time round trip. I had to think long and hard before deciding to go. But being a lunatic, it takes a lot of selfcontrol to say no. And two days in the air in exchange for 2 minutes in heaven is a small price to pay.

My name is Ragnar, and I am a lunatic...