How beautiful is it starting your day off with a sunrise. We refer to sunrise sometimes as that early morning glow, but it’s actually just that moment when the outer edge of the sun rises over the horizon. Have you ever noticed that sudden ‘pop’ it does from night to day- it’s just magic.
In my pre-child life I enjoyed a few sunrises- usually on the way home from a big night on the town; maccas in hand. I also have lots of memories of sunrises with friends on early morning hikes or camping trips; on these occasions we sometimes were organised enough to have croissants and champagne. I think back on all of these occasions with such wonderful memories.
Then I entered motherhood- a lot of sunrises were seen in this period. None of them enjoyable. Night and day, dawn and dusk; it all was one big blur. I don’t ever remember taking a moment to look out the window and appreciate the sunrise. For me it was just a time of day signalling to boil the kettle because I needed coffee STAT.
Our youngest is now 1 1/2 and I thought it would be nice to start family traditions. I came up with the wonderful idea to start enjoying more sunrises together. Troy researched hikes that would be easy enough with 2 kids. He has hurt his back recently so I knew it could be up to me to carry both kids at any point. I bought out the toddler carrier and packed lots of snacks. We decided on a mountain that was mostly 4-wheel drive and only 1/2 hour of walking.
The next morning at 4am the alarm went off. My head was aching; I was coming off the back end of a head cold and the Madness did her usual song and dance all night. I poked Troy. He moaned at me about how little he slept. “We can do it another time if you want more sleep”, I said. “Nope, I don’t want you whinging at me how I ruined your sunrise trip for the family”, he grumped.
Ronin was actually excited about us waking him so early and immediately flicked his energy switch to full-swing. Maddi woke with what was probably my cold and despite her grumpy mood I decided to give her some panadol and troop through. We eventually arrived at the 4-wheel drive track to Mount Ninderry; it actually went on a downwards angle to begin with. The snacks I prepared were already gone. Ronin was still excited and was ready to explode if he didn’t get out of the car soon. Maddi complained the whole way about how cold it was. We had only driven for a couple of minutes on the track when we saw a fallen tree across the road.
I didn’t know if I felt disappointed or happy that I wouldn’t have to brave the cold with 2 toddlers. The only way out was to reverse up the hill. It was so dark and misty it was hard to see behind us. Troy ordered me out of the car to shine a torch up behind him while he reversed. As I floundered around trying to get my balance on rocks, the torch went in every direction but behind the car. I’m sure he was cursing me under his breath the whole way. We made it out and found a sign that said 3 hour return walk from this point. Not doable with 2 littlies. I smiled at the thought of heading back for an early morning coffee.
“Let’s go to Point Glorious, we can still make sunrise”, Troy said. I remember wanting to marry this guy because he has this ability to make things happen and keep pushing through. I didn’t appreciate this quality now. The kids were really over it now and wanted to get home where it was warm just as much as me. I was wondering why I would start a tradition like this in winter instead of summer.
We arrived as the sun was starting to come up. I finally started to get excited! We did it. It was only a short walk to the lookout. The kids immediately turned the complaining up a notch. I tried to get them in the mood doing star jumps and other exercises to keep warm and hopefully entertain them. It seemed to do the reverse as they started scrambling up my legs complaining about how cold it was. I tried to get a few pre-sunrise glow photos in. I saw a big rock nearby and thought it would be a good idea to sit on top to get a photo. The kids were crying and demanding to be picked up. Troy picked up Ronin and his demands to be with me amped up; knocking Troy’s sunnies over the ledge.
I jumped down from the rock to search for them and while I was under the guinea-grass, butt up in the air, Troy yelled, “There it is!!!”. Damn. I missed the ‘pop’. After taking a few photos with the family we decided it was time for coffee. I hoped that the early start meant early nap times. I was shattered. On our way home we pondered that maybe we were probably more like sunset type of people.
