Monday, March 20, 2023

Yesterday, we had another magical day with our Australian friends in Perth. I wish I could explain to you who have spent little or no time in Australia but it is impossible. We are now ending close to a month here. We have been to several places few have ever heard of in the United States and some really major cities that can hold their own with the other great cities in the world. Some we visited for the first times an others were have been to before.

Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth are all extraordinary places. They each have their own character and feel. They each have enormous wealth. I am not talking about nice houses. I am talking about literally one sub division after another where the homes, many of them second or third homes are valued between $5 million and $15 million.

Another really nice thing that really relevant to Australia’s infrastructure is that most, not all, places have free public internet.

There are literally thousands of great restaurants, first rate hotels, an infrastructure that puts ours to shame. Great museums and a crime rate far below ours. Their gun laws make sense. Some of their tax laws do not but, when there are problems, the majority of Aussies try to address them as one nation’s problem rather than just make their political opponents look bad.

Their educational systems is excellent. The medical and other profession training is excellent, and the overall standard of living would simply amaze most Americans.

Those who think the United States has the best of everything need to start learning about other places. We considered ourselves pretty damn sophisticated travelers and way above average when it came to knowing about other parts of the world. However, this trip has been a real eye opener.

The United States is, in many respects, still a great country, but we are losing ground. We must build new roads and bridges and improve other parts of our infrastructure. We must make our government function and work together to solve our problems.

The other day I really got shaken up big time when I wrote something about becoming a “white, Christian, heterosexual” country, and one of my readers responded, in essence, “what’s wrong with that?. Holy shit, people. We are in a time machine spiraling backwards. I literally got sick thinking that there are high achieving people who think like that.

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We now have three sea days on our way to our last Australian port which is Broome.

One personal note. The last two days with our friends from Perth were truly extraordinary. They were very beneficial on a number of levels. However, although I thought it impossible, my appreciation for all Barbara does for me has grown.

I had many more things to say but I am tired and will get to them in due course

See you tomorrow. At least that is my plan

Go Ukraine.