We were just minutes from descent to Australian soil when the pilot came over the audio to make an announcement.
“Sorry folks, we’re going to have to circle for a while — all air traffic into Sydney is on hold due to a lightning storm.”
We ended up circling to the north of Sydney for about an hour. Each time the storm came into view, any irritation I felt about the delay melted. It looked like a cartoon storm writ large: spectacular, wild and alive with lightning. “Let’s definitely not fly into that,” I thought.