Uluru

Getting up early to see the sun rise at Uluru wasn’t something I really expected to enjoy, it’s now one of my favourite memories. Since I was there just before Easter (April in 2017), I only had to be up at about 5:30 to get there for the 7 am sunrise. I got to watch as the sun changed the red hue of the sandstone landmark over the 3 or so hours it took to walk around. There really is something about Uluru is truly special, maybe it’s the fact that its around 550 million years old or that the aboriginal people had special purposes for different areas and that they share their knowledge with visitors, but getting up early to see the sunrise is something everyone should do if given the chance, and the sunset is just as beautiful, but I would recommend getting to the sunset viewing area early to get a goo spot as it usually get crowded with tour busses quickly.

Lake Matheson

Lake Matheson is one of those places that you pinch yourself to make sure you’re not dreaming. I arrived somewhere around 7 in the morning, and it was a small hike, nothing strenuous, to get to the lake itself, but the views from the different platforms are all equally stunning. To be quite honest it was cool (according to the people I was there with) and I felt right at home by the lake walking in the fresh air with Fox Glacier off in the distance. Getting here early is important not only to see the mist over the lake and to see the sunrise, but to avoid the crowds and to see the lake when it’s still and you can see the mirror like reflection on the surface of the lake.

Franz Josef Glacier

Franz Josef isn’t something you have to get up super early for, but the full circuit up the hill to the glacier viewing area and back, and then off to the side areas that have even more beautiful views than the ones you get up close. The main walk is up hill, but one of my favourite views was from a little side passage that was on the side, the view with the small lake and the mountains with the glacier are awe inspiring.

Kings Canyon

Kings canyon is completely do-able for people as long as they can walk up semi-steep areas and don’t have too many issues with walking for long spans on uneven surfaces. Kings Canyon is an incredible area with fossils imbedded in the ground you walk on and has some beautiful plants, like the ‘Grandmother’ fern which is about 1000 years old. The walk around on the top of the canyon, back down is beautiful but be sure to stay away from the edges of the walls, not all the areas are as strong as they look and pieces sometimes do break off, or people lose balance and can fall off, like the young woman who died in 2014 when she fell from a ledge she was on trying to take a photo which is no longer permitted, the company’s directors we’re convicted and fined 140,000$ as well as a fine of 12,290$ in legal costs to NT Worksafe.

Great Barrier Reef

While you don’t have to get up to actually see it early, you do have to get up early, so you can get there. Taking a boat can take around 2 hours from Cairns, and to be honest I put my head down and slept since I had gotten in late the night before and hadn’t really had anything to eat since I had arrived, except some dry cereal I had been kindly given by my tour guide in the outback, since she would have tossed it anyway. Spending the day at the great barrier reef not only renewed my love of scuba diving, but it was also an opportunity to see the reef up close. Growing up I saw images of the brightly coloured reef on TV and in movies but I’m sad to say my experience was that the once bright reef has dulled where there is still colour, but many parts are white, the fish, which I’m quite happy to say I was able to spot an adult clown fish with a baby (you know what my thought was right away).

Hopewell Rocks

The Bay of Fundy is a pretty unique site. The tide at Hopewell Rocks goes out in the morning, allowing visitors to walk on the muddy surface of the sea floor to see the beautiful sea sculpted figures that have been given names like Diamond Rock, Flower Pot Rocks, E.T. Rock, Bear Rock, Apple Rock and Mother in Law Rock. If you visited before 2016 you might have gotten to see Elephant Rock, sadly the tides that formed them were the demise of the rock. If you do visit, make sure to check the days time table because they will not come to get you if you get stuck, in fact they have a stand built so that stranded people can stay out of the water until the tide goes back out. The tide comes in incredibly quickly, so it can take you by surprise.

Anzac Day Dawn service

Being from Canada, I knew that Australian and New Zealand forces had helped us with the other allies in the second world war, but I had never heard anyone talk about Anzac Day. I’ve been to probably around 80 Remembrance Day services, attending one at school every year, going to another with scouts and sometimes going to one with family too, but the Anzac service I got to attend on the Royal Caribbean cruise I was on (Which was a great service according to multiple service members attending). I can only imagine a service at a monument in a city would be even more beautiful than what I saw in that small ship service by the pool.

Sunrise at different sites

Angor Wat in Cambodia, Machu Pichu in Peru, a solstice sunrise at Stonehenge, it seems every country has a site that you need to be up at the crack of dawn to watch the sun come up, and every country has beautiful places to watch the sunrise. Getting up early while visiting a country you’re visiting for the first time, or for the 100^th time, is always special, even though the event is the same every day, its somehow different every single time.

Sunrise over the ocean

For some reason, seeing the sunrise over the ocean is different than seeing it on land. Being at sea for days at a time especially when you change time zones it can see strange that the sun still rises and sets but you don’t have anything to obstruct it at all, just the sun rising from the ocean or sinking into it at the end of the day. Looking at the sun come up over the ocean is also incredible because you can see ho the weather varies, being cloudless where you might be, but seeing storm clouds where it’s clearly raining in the distance. It’s an absolutely beautiful scene if you’re lucky enough to be able to see it

Vatican City/Trevi fountain/ any other busy site

There are hundreds of sites all over the world that are super crowded. The best way to get around that and to get the best photos is to get there early. This can vary based on how far away it is from where you’re staying and what you’re hoping to see. Getting to different museums and sites early can let you see without having to avoid crowds, it can help you avoid line ups into places to take photos.