The Sunshine Coast is the land of the early bedtime. It is a place where sunrise is king.
Observe the foot traffic along the pathways on the coastal fringe as the sun makes her grand entrance before 6am, or the human stream climbing Mt Ngungun or Coolum in the pre-dawn cool.
Consider the packs of cyclists pulsing along the coastal arteries long before the workday begins, and the caffeine cravers wiping sleep from their eyes as they stagger towards their favourite coffee shop at daybreak.
Night times are largely a non-event – particularly during the working week.
Even those eateries catering for tourists will be vacuuming around the feet of patrons come 9pm.
We should be loud and proud about our early-to-bed and early-to-rise rhythm.
It is a point of difference – the yin to the yang that is the late start to the day observed in Melbourne, Paris and Rome.
I say we should use it as a promotional tool.
Let tourists know.
Encourage visiting musicians to offer “sunset sets” instead of taking to the stage at the ungodly hour of 10pm.
Few of us on the Coast very often see the witching hours around midnight.
Perhaps we are cognisant that not much good happens in the dead of night.
Oscar-winning actress Jamie Lee Curtis caused a stir this month when she declined an invitation to the exclusive awards nominees-only dinner because it started at 7.30pm.
Her reason? She goes to bed early.
A 7.30pm dinner to her meant eating about 8.30 or 9pm: far too late for any reasonable, healthy person.
We are Jamie’s kind of people.
Do you have an opinion to share? Submit a Letter to the Editor with your name and suburb at Sunshine Coast News via: news@sunshinecoastnews.com.au
In a world of larks and owls, the larks win hands down on the Coast.
When a visiting NSW colleague intoned: “Man, your town is sleepy” on being unable to find a restaurant that would take a booking for 8.30pm on a Wednesday, I was secretly chuffed.
So, those in southern states who must fiddle with their clocks as their daylight saving comes to an end can have their extra hour of sleep.
We will have made good use of that precious hour by the time they rise.
We will have welcomed the day, moved our bodies and been reminded we live in the best spot on the planet.
We are the people of the sun.
Dr Jane Stephens is a UniSC journalism lecturer, media commentator and writer. The views expressed are her own.
