“It seems to me you’re a bit of an early riser?”, a colleague said to me the other day. She’s been living in the US and UK for over a decade and has recently taken up a new role. Both of us will often write emails first thing in the morning, though we often don’t send them until a little later. She’s been at work for only three weeks, and because we’re working at home, we’ve only met each other twice.

We both agreed we were night-owls in our youth. But with the passing of time for me, and the arrival of two small children for her, we’ve both moved to a new phase in our lives. “That said, with two small children, I’m often still a night-owl as well”, she added.

Mum and dad were early risers, though I don’t know if that related to their early lives (dad spent the early part of his life on a farm), or the ageing process. And even now, I’m not sure if dad was an early riser or a night-owl. As a child, dad would often go to bed early, and then wake up around 1 or 2 in the morning.

He would listen to radio station, 2CH, which could be heard in Lismore on a crackly signal from Sydney. There was a presenter called Friel Smith who played old time jazz standards, including the likes of Benny Goodman and Glen Miller. As a teenager interested in radio, I wrote to him about my dad’s listening patterns, and I remember receiving a package of stickers and a lovely letter.

I don’t recall exactly when it happened, when I made the transition from night-owl to early riser. And even now, there are no fixed rules, which is why I’m blogging close to midnight. But I really love getting up early, mostly around 5.00am and going for a walk.

And one of the things I love doing is keeping an eye out for a potential sunrise. We had a terrific one on Thursday morning. I woke early and hopped on the light rail down to Circular Quay.

Is there anything better than Sydney Opera House at dawn? The combination of nature and architecture has to be seen to be believed. If you’re visiting Sydney at any point, I’d highly recommend getting up early and heading down to Circular Quay.

Generally, there’s only a handful of people around. A few photographers here and there. There are tradies heading off to work. But generally, it’s a lovely peaceful time.