We’d left Melbourne at about 6 pm for the long boring drive up the Hume highway to Bright, dinner of a truck-stop hamburger with the works at Avenel, then back in the car to continue up to Glenrowan, exit the freeway and follow the minor road to Oxley, Milawa, Markwood and on to rejoin the Great Alpine road near Myrtleford. Somewhere around dusk we’d joked about where this comet we’d heard about might be — McNaught something — but neither of us had any real idea of where in the sky to look. South-West-ish somewhere, straight behind us in the glare of the headlights we guessed.
Turning off the freeway and passing up and over the bridge I glanced across to the southern horizon and there it was; an absolutely enormous comet head down to the horizon, with the tail spread ten degrees or more up into the night sky! An absolutely incredible sight for the next hour or so as we tried to drive straight and stare right at the same time until finally it disappeared behind the hills as we neared Bright.
Definitely one of those times when I wished I had a good digital SLR, and a tripod, and had taken the time to stop and try and take some photos of a sight I probably won’t get to see again.
