I'm writing this
in Brisbane, Australia, where I'm doing a three day whistle-stop tour of the
area to assess it for a possible conference venue. As the city is quite keen
for us to bring the conference here, there will hopefully be some wine-ing and
dining. They've already given us a nice goodie bag of fifties which included
practical items - sun block and a power adaptor, to the bizarre - zit cream.
Anyway, I am writing while ensconced a hotel room - suite actually - which is
bigger than most of my college apartments, highly enjoying the pampered
decadent lifestyle. After seeing a certain X-files episode ( if you were a fan
it's the one with a spilt screen where you see Mulder, Scully and director
Skinner all taking bubble baths) - I've always indulged in a nice bubbly bath
in nice hotels - ideally with a glass of wine or book. It might seem a bit
girly but what's good enough for Fox Mulder is good enough for me ! Anyway, I
deserve a good soak n' sip, the journey to Brisbane took 24 hours and I can't
sleep on planes.
A bottle of wine
and 6 movies made the flight a little more bearable. I have to hand it to
Quantas that they treat their customers better than most US airlines. Of the
movies I watched I should highlight the very bizarre "troll hunter" -
a Norwegian film that is a little like the Blair Witch project meets Fraggle
Rock. Also, "Big Miracle" is worth mentioning. For those that don't
know the story, it's about a small group of gray whales that get trapped in the
ice off of Barrow, Alaska and the attempts to free them. I usually avoid animal
movies like the plague, especially marine animal movies - as a marine
biologists, it's a bit like a doctor watching General Hospital and grimacing at
all the things they do wrong. For example, I have never watched Free Willy
despite having lived with one of the technical advisors for the original book.
But although the gray whales kept singing humpback whale song ( which is only
produced by males on the breeding grounds, not sung to calves on the feeding
grounds like in the movie) and gray whales don't form nice mom, pop and baby
social units, I quite enjoyed it. I do have to admit though that I blubbed like
a baby in one emotional part of the movie (where Drew Barrymore cries too, so
I'm not the only one). Although the movie is pretty closely based on something
that actually happened, it's a bit sad to think how all of that publicity and
attention and concern for the whales pretty much evaporated. The exercise
itself cost the US government a huge amount of money ( and this was in the
Ragen administration) - and to put it in perspective the amount was equivalent
to entire the annual protected area (for wildlife) budget for Africa, for just
a couple of whales. But now it's extremely difficult to scrape together even a
few thousand now for whale and dolphin conservation.
I have to say
that entering Australia, was a pleasure. And although that sentence sounds like
I've just slept with a country (and she was a considerate, sensitive and quite
feisty lover), it really was. I don't think I've encountered customs and
immigration staff quite as friendly and
pleasant before. Quite a change from staff in DC who generally act like
doormen as an excessive night clue who really don't want your sort sort of riff-raff in their establishment bringing the tone down (or perhaps that's just the
attitude I invoke in them :-( ).
When Peter Cook
(long-time comedy partner of Dudley Moore, the 70s version of Stephen Fry, for
those not up on their British comedians) was asked by Australian immigration
whether he had any criminal record, he famously said "I didn't think that
was still compulsory any more". They wouldn't let him into the country,
but it must have been worth it just for that one-liner. They still ask that
question on the immigration for and it was sooooo tempting to write that on.
My first day in Australia, was a succession of
meetings which really won't be of terrible interest to anyone. But we were
wined and dined (an excellent veggie lunch washed down with very decent
Queensland wine) and had a great behind the scenes tour of the Brisane
convention center and talked to their head chef about their sustainability practices
- which are excellent. They have a policy of buying all their produce wherever
possible from within a 100km radius, from suppliers that have a good
sustainability record. The chef - a nice bloke called Martin, from Pinner,
London - wax lyrical about how he can
tell you the agricultural practices of all their main suppliers from the animal
welfare standards to the chemicals used in farming, how much mercury is in the
fish and the type of gear used, and the strict standards they have on environmental
contaminants and sustainable practices. Quite a nice change from hotels in the
US gladly serving up mercury-laden sword fish. We also got treated to lots of
tasters, local cheeses and fruit, cakes, fresh doughnuts, so much so we had to
skip dinner, we were so stuffed. They had make their own chocolates - which
were divine. They put pictures of dugongs on top them for us (if you don't
know, a dugong is like an Indo-Pacific manatee, but with stubby tusks and a
dolphin-like tail, and speaks manatee with a strong accent - actually their
"voice" sounds like a big mouse squeaking "eek, eek, eek",
so really more of a New Zealander accent).
The wine is
pretty good. Queensland hasn't got the wine reputation that other regions have,
but it's getting better, partly because of climate change improving local
conditions for grapes, so it's not that different from vineyards in Virginia.
Good alcohol is going to be a feature of this conference - plans are afoot to
include a wine tasting, and to see if we can get sponsorship from the local big
brewery "XXXX" or "four X" (because the locals can't spell
beer).
I've been awake
now for 45 hours straight, and the caffeine and chocolate that has kept me
functioning, and bouncing around like Tigger all day long, is wearing off, but
the wine from our final meeting is kicking in, so g'night Australia, and stop
hogging the duvet, you saucy minx of a country.
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