Travellers from around the world are packing up in Western Australia’s remote north after witnessing a rare total solar eclipse that turned day into night.

April 21, 2023

Thousands of stargazers from around the globe are packing up in Western Australia’s remote north after being stunned by a rare total solar eclipse that turned day into night.

The celestial phenomenon fell across the North West Cape in WA at 11.29am AWST (1.29pm AEST) on Thursday when the moon completely blocked the sun for about a minute.

Temperatures dropped and darkness grew as moon covered sun, revealing stars and a halo of brightness amid an “otherworldly” light.

Some onlookers shouted for joy and others cried before silence fell across the huge crowd as they marvelled at the sun and moon in perfect alignment.

Deputy Premier Roger Cook also witnessed the event, saying it was a “truly spiritual experience”.

“The darkness descending on the area, the overall vibe from the people gathered, it was incredible,” he told reporters on Friday.

“The light that came during the total solar eclipse was just extraordinary. It only lasted just over 60 seconds but the memories will last a lifetime.”

More than 20,000 people are estimated to have travelled to the region from around the world to witness the event at towns and outback cattle stations.

Visitors and locals were treated to pop concerts, gala dinners, astronomy lessons, a night sky drone show and foreshore parties during a week-long festival.

The town of Exmouth’s population swelled from about 2800 to about 18,000 as visitors pitched tents in front yards and on dusty blocks of vacant land.

Mr Cook rejected criticism that the government’s messaging about potential overcrowding and shortages may have caused some tourists to stay away.

“Our priority was for the event to be safe and that’s why we made sure people understood it could be crowded and they needed to be patient,” he said.

“The businesses were very busy and we did have some fairly alarming early estimates in terms of the number of people that could come here (but) I think we hit the sweet spot.”

Japanese eclipse chaser Kaori Zaitsu travelled to WA with eight friends to see their first total eclipse.

“We’ve been planning for a year,” she said.

The group will now drive south in their rented cars to Shark Bay to see more wonders during their first visit to the state.

Schoolgirl Georgie Gibbs and her family set up their camper trailer at Bullara Station, about 100 kilometres south of Exmouth.

They plan to stay in the region for a few more days to swim with whale sharks at Ningaloo Reef.

“It was really cool. It looked like the moon was fire,” she said after the eclipse.

“It made me realise how small we are in the universe.”

The spectacle was reported and beamed across the world, streamed live on the web and generated millions of social media posts.