Red Dust on Sydney Harbour (Flickr Image Credit: miro b)

Sydney-siders awoke this morning to what appeared to be Armageddon.  The skies at 5.30am were fire-red and thick with dust, the early stages of what has turned into a full-blown gale-force dust-storm. In what has been termed a “once in a lifetime event”, a storm has travelled across much of Australia, picking up topsoil from thousands of kilometres away, and carried it to my home state of New South Wales. Apparently, a good half of the state is covered!

Harbour visibility very low (Flickr Image Credit: traffman)

Now my first thoughts of course were how good the photos would be from a kayak on the water.  However 5 minutes outside quickly removed such thoughts as I was subjected to 80km/hr winds and choking dust. These weather conditions are quite literally hellish.

So no paddling today, will be locking myself indoors for as long as possible, watching the storm unfold.  And preparing for the inevitable clean-up that will come this weekend *sigh*.

Gale force winds - sand-blasting! (Flickr Image Credit: miro b)

Racing the clock to beat the storm

Sydney in Spring can offer up beautiful sunny days, and horrendous tropical storms. And occassionally, both on the same day! On this particular day I’d spent hours drenched in glorious sunlight, enjoying the warmth of the Spring sun. Then the sky started to cloud over and turned a very ominous green. A quick stop into Sydney Harbour Kayaks for a weather check and my fears were confirmed: a storm warning had been issued, and they were clearing kayaks from the water.

Rising winds and ominous rumblings. Bloody hell...

The problem for me was that, unlike most weekends when I park at Sydney Harbour Kayaks for launch, on this day I’d parked another 6km away, by the Roseville Bridge. Which meant I had about an hour’s paddle to get back, hopefully before the full brunt of the storm hit.

This was a good test for the Greenland paddle – ie could it get me somewhere fast when I really needed it to. I asked it the question, and it responded a firm YES. I was able to power through the increasing wind, passing other paddlers with relative ease on my race to Roseville. And as luck would have it I managed to beat the storm, and the rain, hail and lightning that came with it.

Love a bit of excitement with my paddles.

The last glimpse of sunshine before ice fell from the skies.

Sunrise over Manly

One of the real joys of getting out early in the kayak is seeing sunrises from the water. There is something magical about a dark horizon turning gold and then watching an amber rising sun reflected off the water, all whilst bobbing about in gentle early morning swell.

Call it a sudden moment of romanticism, but I was looking through past photos and realised just how many sunrises I’ve seen over the past few months. So I thought perhaps I’d share some of those moments. Enjoy – FP

Rising sun reflected in the Sydney city skyline

Dawn from Five Dock (west of the Sydney CBD)

Sunrise over Seaforth

Dawn over North Head

Dawn breaking over Berowra Waters

Sunrise bathing the Sydney city in amber

Sunrise through the mists of Bantry Bay

Stormy dawn, Berowra Waters

Sunrise over Grotto Point

Sydney Harbour Bridge at dawn

Amber dawn over Bradleys Head