Waking up at around three in the morning for the purpose of actually doing something is something I generally don’t enjoy. Still, I do it as it will normally lead to some sort of enjoyment a little later.

Way way back, when I’d fly to Melbourne I’d normally be awake somewhere between three and four in the morning. I’d shave, have a shower, do my last luggage check and then head off to the airport in the dark of the night. Be there at around five or half past five, ready for a flight at around half past six. The airport would mostly be empty. It never was entirely, but it mostly was. I’d be there, wander on over to my terminal and wait, as one does.

The preference for early leaving is one I favour as I’m not much of a crowd person, or much of a people person for that matter. It’s always quieter in the early hours. It’s always easier to navigate around places. It’s also good for catching the sunrise.

Yesterday I woke up at three in the morning. Ewe and I were going to do a bushwalk in a spot we hadn’t and I wanted to be there for the sunrise. He was down. I was down. We did it. The weather wasn’t looking amenable for the sunrise, but we still went early anyway. Far less people to deal with on the road is always a load of stress off.

I got up, had a shower, loaded the car and drove off. I left ten minutes later than I was hoping to at the absolute latest, but it was okay. I still arrived around the time I was meant to.

The drive to where we were going to start was uneventful, which was great. Some people driving with their high beams on, but cars were few and far between. Some heavy fog at points, but I got to the walk with no concerns and that was great.

A few minutes after my arrival and Ewe arrived. We got ready and headed on out. It was still overcast, but the sun made an appearance for a short time, or rather first light and the subsequent sunrise did. It was a wonderful display of a small amount of colour breaking through some of the cloud and fog, and it was precious. It was wonderful.

We walked up an incline and left the path only to find it again soon after. We walked and saw a change in vegetation in that invasive flora was starting to consume what was endemic to the area. Bush fires likely had allowed for the invasive flora to start growing.

A lot of what was around us felt scrubby, and a lot of it scratched as we brushed past it, and that’s the way it goes sometimes. But we dealt with it. We kept on going, and the air should’ve felt cool, and maybe it didn’t, but at least I was feeling quite warm and so I wasn’t noticing it as it also felt humid.

We walked and walked until we reached a junction, and we wondered how much farther until we reached the top of where we were. Checked out map and realised we walked past the placed marker for where we were. The path we were on kept going, and descended a bit. We were feeling it a bit from the walk up, so we decided to turn around. Walked a few minutes, checked the map again, realised we walked past the marker again. Didn’t recognise it at the time; it was a pile of rubble that we dismissed. Didn’t double back.

On the way down we sat on a rock and watched clouds move through the area. A valley, gone. Engulfed by the clouds. We sat there for a little while, just relaxing. Enjoying the lack of view and the sense of isolation. No one else around. It felt peaceful, and perhaps it was. It had been a while since Ewe and I had sat somewhere, staring out into nothingness. Perhaps the last time was at Balls Head Reserve, looking out to Balmain, talking shit and relaxing. Being in various stages of some sort of turmoil. Here we were just relaxing and enjoying the time and space.

Eventually we continued on. On the walk back to our cars I looked back a few times to see the path obscured by fog and not by much of a distance away either. We walked through and on top of a massive area, but it didn’t feel like it for parts of the walk. It felt small and contained. Didn’t feel like what it was at all.

We headed back to where we parked and drove on out to go eat, and we did and worked out another walk to do, though with the second one we only did a little of it. It was partly due to not feeling much of a desire to walk upward at that point, and partly due to the second area seeing a lot of people there by the time we arrived, which was still in the morning.

We checked out another walk as we were leaving, but in its offering a descent, we knew we’d have to go back up and instead decided to go to a café to get something to drink. Which we did.

We sat there, talked in a rambling way, then headed off. Ewe went to meet another friend and I went home, in what was an easy drive. A lot of other cars by that point, but less than the amount coming in.

When I reached the motorway I put my windows down, did something I wouldn’t normally do in blasting my music, and rested my arm on the windowsill, and drove on. I was wrecked. I was tired. But it felt like a right moment. The music I was playing at that point was climactic, and even though this was regular, it felt climactic.

Got home without issue. It was a busy morning and a lazy afternoon, and perhaps there isn’t enough of that in my life these days, but I take advantage of it where I can.