Astounding Australia-Asia
March 1-22 Watching a performance of the Magic Flute at the Sydney Opera House: can you think of a better way to start a new leg of this journey?! I can’t. We had three glorious days here, made all the more special as my cousin’s daughter and her family live here. She picked us up at the cruise port and gave us a fabulous tour of her neighbourhood (Mosman Bay, just bury me here) and a bunch of other charming areas. We had lunch at the Bather’s Pavillion at Balmoral Beach with a great view of families frolicking in the water. She had to pick up kids, so we hopped the ferry back to Circular Bay. The transit system in this city is amazing, ferries, rapid transit and busses, they all seem to work pretty seamlessly. Greg had a golf game lined up the next day, so I connected with one of my art students and hit a bunch of must-sees, including the Museum of Contemporary Art. There I was with my super enthusiastic printmaking student and what do we discover? A 10 meter long linocut by Australian artist Alick Tipoti! There go those art gods, guiding us directly to what we need to see. I love it. After three days in this fabulous city we made our way up the coast, Mooloolaba Beach, Airlie, Cairns. Great snorkelling everywhere, but nothing could compare to our adventures out on the Great Barrier Reef. Where we were was teaming with life! Sharks, turtles, so many fish, coral, the oddest and most Seussian underwater plant life imaginable. And giant clams! And the weather: we had hail, we had rain, we had sunshine, we had a blast!
Then off to Papua New Guinea. Lots of interesting war history here. It is obviously economically unstable and they’ve had such a history of violence, but the people we met were all super friendly and excited to share their history and their stories. Our first stop was Alotau, where the Japanese invaded at the beginning of WWII, drawing the Allies into battle. So it begins.
From there we went to the north of the island, Madang, where we were treated to the an amazing cultural show. I often feel like these song and dance shows are a propped up version of culture, a pageant just for our benefit, which I find kind of embarrassing, but this was not that. This was a gathering of all kinds of groups young and old enjoying and sharing their unique traditions and histories, and just having a fantastic time with their friends. It was beautiful to watch.
We stopped in Palau for a great beach day, then on to the Philippines. In Manila we visited the largest shopping centre in Asia. I wanted to go skating there, like the kids in the book Patron Saints of Nothing did on their dates, but they didn’t have skates big enough for Greg’s apparently giant North American feet. The next day I headed off with my buddies Lori and Vicki to explore the walled city on bamboo bikes. Such a fun way to explore!
Back on the boat: I was reading The Life of Susie Wong as we arrived in the Hong Kong, which of course brought the waterfront to life in a very different way. We’d spent time in Hong Kong before, and I have to say that recent events have thrown a visible blanket on the cities energy. Even the nightly laser show in the harbour is a shadow of what it used to be. I’m glad I got to experience it in the eighties and again in 2017. But we did go explore the Ten Thousand Golden Buddhas. Yes, it’s more commercial enterprise than holy space, but the artistry in those Buddhas, each with a unique expression, is astounding! Loved it. A spin around the ferries wheel, a little visit to the Temple Street Night Market where, for the first time in my life, I found nothing to buy, and we were ready to wrap up this segment and start the next.
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