Exploring your own home city is important. It's great to know your neck of the woods, but you don't want it to transform into a stale marriage.

I have been taking some very early walks this week. It's pretty special waking up so early to experience the city before most others do. The city sleeps, it rejuvenates and wakes up bright and fresh in the morning. I like being the one who takes the first sip of the day. Get in there and suck off the foam before anyone else gets a chance to even smell the brew.

To experience the city in another light, walking around before the sun even comes up is a good start. I'm used to driving past the same things all the time. And it can get boring and depressing. Moving slowly- walking- gives you a different perspective. You're able to take so much more in within far less range. It's super exciting, actually. I walked from our place in North Gong down to our main shopping district which is smack-bang in the centre of the CBD.

Over the last few years, Wollongong City Council have made a pretty good effort to transform the "fugly old mall" into the vibrant Crown Street Mall. I strolled up and down it almost in total isolation except for another dude chilling out and the worker riding the street sweeper making passes up and down it's stretch.

I can hear the sounds of distant lone vehicles, the sound of my breathing and the rhythmic patter of my sneakers on the cement all while I'm inhaling what seems like virgin air.

Globe Lane. Wollongong's favourite missing sock.

No matter what part of the mall you're in, you are probably just one minute away from something huge and scarily realistic.

Just before you get to the top of the mall, there's a little alley very much worth wandering down.

Globe Lane sports two huge mural portraits, my local comic book store and a very popular cafe that serves a sweet, doughy-spiral called a Kürtőskalács. For those who don't speak or read Hungarian, our English-speaking eyes would read it as "Kurtosh". I'm pretty sure they're all vegan except for the nutella one. I CANNOT get enough of the hazelnut variety. When it's baked, the sugar perfectly infuses with the hazelnut pieces forming a thousand crystalline-crunch bliss bombs.

You'd probably expect self-portraits of local artists or the mugs of important locals. Not celebrities. And not Megan Fox. It's lovely artwork, though.

Another minute down the road and I'm walking through a vacant youth centre outdoor hangout complete with skate ramps and more artwork.

Having bright, magnetic places are important for kids to exercise and inspire their own creativity. I've been here during daylight hours and it's bedlam. As a child, I would have avoided places like this in the same manner I avoid animal products - with extreme prejudice. I just wasn't really an outgoing child.

Wollongong City Library has its own Deadpool.

Last year (or the one before), I watched a mural of Deadpool being spray painted for Comic Gong, which incidentally is on tomorrow. It was being painted on the street and now resides within the library in the Youth graphic novel section. If you're lucky, I'll take some snaps of it tomorrow and talk more about it.

With a ton more steps logged, I headed home.

Wollongong is worth wandering about. If you're in Sydney, take the train down here and see a less explored city. The beach and art culture collide in fireworks and sparks. You want to be a part of this light show.

Just don't walk at dawn. I like my peace.

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All the best,

Nick.

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