We flew from Cairns to Adelaide on November 30 and met up with Chuck and Elouise Mattox at our hotel. They knew a couple in Adelaide, the Fosters, and we were able to spend a most pleasant time at their house in Adelaide that evening. We boarded our bus for Arkaroola the following morning, December 1, 2002.
A couple of hours after leaving, we stopped for lunch in Burra, about 180 kilometers (112 miles) from Adelaide. Burra began in the mid-19th century as a mining town; when the mines gave out it kept going as an agricultural market town, but eventually developed a new identity as tourist center as well, a kind of gateway to the Outback. We found it a charming place. Sandie said it had the ambience of a Midwest American small town fifty years ago; I would have said pre-World-War II as well. Lads on bicycles greeted us with “G’day, mate” as we strolled the main street.
As we continued on from Burra, we began to encounter the real Australian Outback, and signs of civilization became few and far between. The land became barren and desolate, reminiscent of the Mojave Desert of California. Only the occasional kangaroo popped up to remind us that we were really in Australia.
After many uneventful hours we finally arrived at our destination, which rose up as a welcoming oasis in the endless wasteland. We settled into comfortable quarters – ours were in Greenwood Lodge, one of several hostels at the resort and conveniently close to the office, bar and lounge.
It turned out that Arkaroola had a couple of observatories, each equipped with an 11-inch Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, the same model as the one I had at the time (I still own it, actually). Douglas Sprigg, the proprietor of Arkaroola, took us up to one of the observatories and showed us the wonders of the southern sky. It was the first time that I had seen with my own eyes the Magellanic Clouds, the Jewel Box, Alpha Centauri, Eta Carinae and other fabled objects that lurk too far south to see from Southern California.
We had a couple of days to pass in Arkaroola before the eclipse on December 4, and a number of interesting activities had been scheduled to keep us busy during that period. The first was a bushwalk conducted by aborigine guides, who acquainted us with the local flora and fauna, and provided instruction in the ways of the tribes, their techniques of obtaining sustenance and otherwise coping with the exigencies of life in the Outback.
Evenings were occupied with parties in the lounge, featuring aboriginal song and dance, and also instructional sessions provided by Victor and Olga Gostin. Olga, professor of anthropology at the University of South Australia, acquainted us with the history and culture of the Australian aborigines in general and the local tribes in particular. Victor, a geologist, held forth on the geology of the area, in particular the Lake Acraman impact crater, the second-largest in the world, of which he was co-discoverer. The fact that both Victor and Olga both come from Russian emigre family backgrounds gave me a special interest in becoming acquainted with them and greatly enhanced the Arkaroola experience.
I can’t omit mention of the cuisine at Arkaroola. It was all superb, but the barbecue dinners were especially memorable. I should mention I love barbecue and do it all year round at home, since the Southern California climate is amenable to outdoor cooking. I would guess that the same is true in South Australia. In any case, it was summer, the days were long and warm, and barbecues were de rigeur as well as most welcome. Naturally one would expect a livestock-abundant country like Australia to have beef, lamb and pork aplenty, and this was indeed the case; but we also had the opportunity to try new and exotic (to us) meats such as camel, emu, kangaroo and koala.
By the way, I’m just kidding about the koala. Even if one were so unfeeling as to barbecue a koala, it would be illegal; they are a protected species.