In the lull in the storm --

Dave and I couldn't resist heading over to have a look at the sea, in the lull in the storm, and I grabbed the camera on the way out the door. Heading down Beach Road, the view was dramatic before you even reached the Esplanade --

Massive waves crashing at the end of Beach Road.

We parked and stepped out into the teeth of a 30mph wind. You could lean on it, and it was extremely cold -- colder than Jen had expected, since it's actually not cold at all when you're not right on the coast. The waves really were massive:

Huge waves off Adelaide's metropolitan beaches.

 Looking south across Noarlunga Bay, you were impressed by just how these coasts are being hammered:

Noarlunga Bay being pounded yet again. September 2016.

Spume piles up, in some areas right onto the boardwalks ... the sea is breaking at your feet.

And of course, "it's an ill wind," as they say. The surfers are happy. They were still arriving in many places along the shore by the time we'd had enough...

Surfer at Christies Beach

Good for him. Meanwhile, Dave and I were just about to call it, and one of us was growing very cold indeed. Another photographer was on the boardwalk, getting essentially the same photos, and he and Dave traded off, so we all have snapshots of each other to mark the occasion:

Dave and Jen in the lull in the big storm, September 2016.

And by this point, it was time for hot chocolate -- seriously! Fortunately, we were only a matter of minutes from a safehaven:

Beck's Bakehouse

And Beck's Bakehouse has a very nice line in hot chocolate. Notice how bundled-up the other patrons are, in the background of this shot:

Hot chocolate. Life saver.

Delicious. Suitably revived, it was time to head back out into the wind and the chill of the foreshore...

Portrait of the photographer, in the car window. 30mph is blowing out here!

The wild weather is not good for seabirds. Populations nest at the mouth of the Onkaparinga River, and the site is taking a beating. Many gulls have given up and gone inland, where they're roosting with pigeons beside swollen and still-rising creeks. These, below, are toughing it out, but they're swirling around by the thousand, in barely organized chaos:

Silver gulls flocking at the Onkaparinga outfall

 And before anyone relaxes, just take a look into the south, or southwest (below). Uh huh, we're weathering up again. The rain began before we were home, and the local creeks are rising rapidly...

Weathering up again, ready for the next wave of this storm.

That's it for this episode.  I'll sign out with a windblown selfie, in the car, somewhere out there in the arctic wilds!

 The photographer in person.