I had originally planned on this day to do a walk on the Northern Beaches, but the forecast was poor, so I delayed my departure and sat at home and kept an eye on the weather radar. It looked like some interesting storms were moving up the coast from the Illawarra. So I thought it may be nice to go on a walk to Cape Banks in Botany Bay Kamay National Park. There is some shelter from storms on the Cape (in caves) and on the way there in some old bunkers on Henry Head.
So I left home, but on the train to the city, it looked like I was too late. The storm was overhead. So instead I crossed the Harbour Bridge and was going to head to Balls Head – hoping got get photos of the storm over Sydney. However, when the train emerged from the underground and started over the bridge – it was raining very heavily, and it looked like I would be too late to get photos from Balls Head, so I got off the train at Milsons Point and considered options. It was too wet to get some photos nearby, so I got a train back to the Wynyard and another to the Quay and then a bus to La Perouse. When I got off the bus at the terminal – another storm cell was approaching.
The storm seemed quite close both visually and on the radar, so I delayed my departure on the walk, and stayed close to shelter at La Perouse, near the fort at Bare Island. It was certainly a dramatic sky!
When the storm hit, I ran back to the shops and sheltered under a shop annex, but it got too wild and wet – very heavy rain and strong winds, so I sought shelter inside. It was a nice cafe and I ended up staying for lunch while the tempest raged outside.
After an hour or so, the storm had passed over and the rain had stopped, so I went outside and looked around. I went the short distance down to Congwong Beach. The small creek there was a spectacular torrent. Too big to cross. So after a few photos I went back up to the road and along the higher track out to Henry Head and then to Cape Banks. Although there was a number of trees fallen over the track, conditions were still quite dramatic for photography. Mammatus clouds had formed as they often do as a thunderstorm passes over.
I stayed a while on the nice rock platforms at Cape Banks and then headed back the same way.
On the way back I found a cluster of Bonnet Orchids. Only a few of them had survived the storm intact.
This turned out to be a very pleasant and interesting day out. More photos are online on my website here.