Life was seriously disrupted in 2019
and 2020. First by horrific bushfires and then by the Covid crisis.
Throughout the months of bushfires and lockdown, I never forgot how
lucky we were to live in a wealthy country with all the essentials of
life. But, there was a little pizzazz that life usually held
missing, so one week in late autumn I decided to get up and be
outside somewhere - self-powered - to see the sunrise every day for
one week. This is the story of that week.
Day 1 Currowan Ridge:
Doug is sceptical about my ability to
get up when it is still dark, but I wake up before the 5 am alarm,
make coffee, fill a thermos and am out the door by 5.15 am and on the
road to Currowan forest.
Early morning Currowan forest
I have a secondary purpose, which is to
look at some large granite boulders, so I walk up a fire road to
ridge top in the dark. The sky slowly brightens. A lovely sunrise
over the forest to the east. I am high enough above the valley to
watch as the sun tips up over the horizon. The spotted gum forest
has been burnt by bushfires but the gums are coming back. Now,
however, their trunks are pale white and in the low light of a winter
sun they glow luminescently in the dark.
Sunrise over Currowan forest
There are good boulders and I spend a
few hours happily wandering through the forest. A big granite dome
provides an excellent breakfast spot.
Breakfast rock
Day 2: Sea Kayaking and Surfing
It is a short trolley to our local
beach which is quiet year round and deserted before dawn. Orange and
pink tingeing the sky as I launch and slide out on the inky water.
It is a cool morning and I paddle across the bay watching the sky to
catch the moment the sun slides above the forested ridge. Cool air
is draining off the land to the warmer sea and there is a haze of sea
mist along the shore.
Before dawn, Sunshine Cove
It feels late, almost 7 am, when the
sun finally breaks right above the trees and lights up the bay. With
the sun behind me, I paddle around to Cullendulla where, when the
swell is large and the period is long, there is good kayak surfing.
I catch a couple of waves into the beach. I am stiff from the cool
air and almost capsize a couple of times but a sunny spot on the
beach, a warm jacket and some hot coffee from my thermos and I am
refreshed and more importantly warmed up.
Morning sun over Murramarang
Day 3: Observation Point
Sleep in this morning as I don't have
far to go. Onto my bike in the early dawn and up to a local lookout.
Dawn over the bay and islands with hot coffee from my thermos.
Snapper Island from Observation Head
Day 4: Sunshine Bay
This mornings
sunrise was one of the best this week. Cold air from the land
draining over the warm sea made a band of sea fog that was drifting
slowly across the ocean. Snapper Island and the Tollgate Islands
floated eerily through this mist. It was gentle dawn as I walked
around the little headland track from bay to bay.
Sea mist floats towards the Tollgate Islands
Day 5: Wimbie Hill
It is a warm
morning as I leave the house in the dark and walk an hour to the top
of Wimbie Hill. The view is sheltered by big spotted gums that
luckily survived the New Years Eve bushfires as this is a beautiful
bit of remnant forest among residential housing. To get an
unobstructed view I scramble down and up the rotten ridge that juts
into the ocean. This is a tenuous route as it is steep and very,
very loose.
Sunrise from Wimbie Hill
Coffee as the sun
rises and the sky trends deep red, crimson, pink until finally just a
bright beam of light shines down on the Tollgate Islands.
Beam of light on Tollgate Islands
Day 6: Mouth of the Clyde River
I am getting into
the groove of rising in the dark, filling the thermos and heading
outside for shoes, bike or kayak, whatever is the self-propelled
transport of the day. This morning it was bicycle. I planned to see
the sunrise over Snapper Island by cycling down to the breakwater at
the mouth of the Clyde River. Although I have paddled past many
times, I have never been by bike or foot and it was a little
difficult finding my way in the dark.
Sunrise across the Bay
The big story of
the morning was the moon which was huge and bright. The sun kind of
slunk up the horizon, slowly without much fanfare, definitely
overshadowed by the super moon.
Super moon from the mouth of the Clyde River
Day 7: Round Mountain Lookout
Watching the
sunrise on day seven from Round Mountain lookout was strangely
satisfying. The seven day sunrise project was not a big audacious
goal. It required only minimal change to my normal daily routine.
Getting up an hour or so earlier, and leaving home in the dark,
instead of at first light, and yet, there was something about the
project that made me appreciate each day a little more.
Early morning light on single track
I have
always thought that the secret to happiness in life lies in finding
the joy in small things, and this week every morning I found joy in something that happens with metronomic regularity every single day - the sunrise. Finding some natural place in our increasingly unnatural world and watching the night fade and the day begin makes even the most ordinary day an extraordinary gift. Go do it now.
Sunrise from Round Mountain
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