Peak Jacaranda comes late this year

Sydney's jacaranda month was traditionally November, and in recent years climate change seemed to have moved it forward a bit, to late October/early November.

This year it's gone the other way. We're into December, and Peak Jacaranda has only just arrived. In fact lots of seasonal markers have been a bit unhinged lately - presumably due to the unusually dry year we were having until recently.

I headed for McDougall Street in Kirribilli, where media reports told of uncommon hordes of tourists invading this particular purple patch. There are hundreds of streets around Sydney which are particularly blessed in this way, but for some reason it's McDougall Street that social media have singled out.

Sure enough, there was a small group there, doing a semi-serious photo shoot, with models in traditional oriental costumes. McDougall Street's jacarandas are in fact a bit past it this week, so I told them about all the other spots they could visit (ie just about any suburb to the north), where the show was still at its peak. Too late, they said. We're doing it here.

I went exploring then, and confirmed my advice was correct. North Sydney, Naremburn, Artarmon, Chatswood, West Pymble, Hornsby, Westleigh. Everywhere you look, it's still Peak Jacaranda.