The first inkling Exmouth Tackle and Camping owner Steve Riley had that April’s total solar eclipse would be a big deal for his little WA tourist town of 2700 people came about three years ago.
“One of the guys who owns a caravan park in town had a phone call from a chick in America who said, ‘I want to hire out your whole caravan park for a week, what’s your number? Gimme a price’,” he said.
As the eclipse’s path of totality clips the western edge of Australia at 11.29am on April 20, it will travel perfectly over the North West Cape, making Exmouth one of the best spots in the world to experience the 59 seconds of total loss of sunlight behind the moon.
The WA government twigged that the phenomenon could be a moneymaker about two years ago and has spent $21 million to deal with tourists travelling to the world heritage-listed Ningaloo Marine Park region to witness it. But a mammoth effort is needed to deal with the convergence of so many people in such a sparsely populated region.
April is the start of the tourist peak season and normally the permanent population of 2700 swells to more than 6000. The government predicts visitor numbers during the solar eclipse to more than triple to 20,500 people.
Despite the anticipated influx, Qantas doesn’t intend to run additional flights to Exmouth and still has seats available in the week leading up to the eclipse.
The Shire of Exmouth expects 50,000 visitors to descend on the entire Gascoyne region, which includes Exmouth and other popular coastal towns Coral Bay and Carnarvon.
The state, businesses and Gascoyne shires are throwing everything they have at the week, including portable mobile phone towers and the installation of huge water tanks in Exmouth town.
Since August, the government has offered business grants of up to $25,000 to prepare for the event. It would not reveal how many grants have been paid or how much.
The latest example was two tenders released by the state government last week for the provision and installation of seven septic tanks with a collective capacity of about 197,000 litres on the Ningaloo coastal reserve and at state camping sites on Giralia Station.
Riley, whose business also hires out and sets up camping sites, said he had received bookings for the eclipse from across the globe.
“We got bookings from people in like Chile, New York, Japan and Europe and all sorts of crew that want to fly in internationally to camp, so they can be here for it,” he said.
“It’s gonna be interesting, man. We’ve just got to roll the dice. People are coming regardless.”
Steve Riley
Riley said Exmouth was “so not ready” and still playing catch-up with the influx of visitors during COVID-19 when the borders shut.
However, he also said Exmouth was a high-intensity tourist town that knew how to ramp up when needed.
“We are really good at going from no people in town to a million people in town within a space of a weekend,” he said.
“It’s gonna be interesting, man. We’ve just got to roll the dice. People are coming regardless, and we just need to try and get ready as best we can.”
Riley, who is a member of the Exmouth Chamber of Commerce, said food and drink businesses were bringing in extra containers and fridge trucks for storage.
The state government plans to run a three-day “Dark Sky Festival” from April 19 to 21 in Exmouth which will include stargazing, science and astronomy activities, music, and “unique dining opportunities”.
About $665,000 in new funding was provided to the Ashburton and Carnarvon shires to boost capacity at the Onslow Ocean View Caravan Park from 40 sites to 100 and improve tourist facilities in Carnarvon and at Coral Bay.
About 20,500 visitors are expected to descend on Exmouth during the eclipse.Credit: Celsius.
A Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation spokeswoman said 14 state government agencies were working on the event with local shires and the Department of Defence.
“This includes ensuring adequate water supplies, fuel, power, food, waste management, accommodation, telecommunications, traffic management, road and water safety, transport and emergency services across the three-week period surrounding the event,” she said.
“The WA government is currently finalising plans for additional support personnel during the event.”
A Department of Biodiversity Conservation and Attractions spokeswoman said the new septic tanks were being procured to meet the needs of additional visitors during the event.
Exmouth shire president Darlene Allston said she was confident the region could cope with the expected number of visitors.
“All parties are aware that our town is a special part of the Gascoyne, and it has to be preserved for generations to come, so appropriate risk mitigation will be put in place by the responsible agencies and the state government, while enabling everyone to experience a great time when visiting,” she said.
She said the shire had several initiatives in place to increase accommodation options for staff during the eclipse event, and last year amended its town planning scheme to allow for more housing and accommodation options.
The shire has also announced 1000 additional campsites in a newly developed overflow site near town.
Riley reckoned the town could avoid any major issues, pending a natural disaster.
“Unless we get a massive cyclone on the day I think we’ll be fine,” he said.
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