Our time together in Australia passed so very quickly, but we created many wonderful memories: hiking through tropical forests, listening to the rushing water of several waterfalls, riding a ferry to Manly, gazing rapturously at the Sidney Opera House, actually seeing various unbelievably alien mammals and brightly colored birds, and eating succulent oysters and fish, and drinking wonderful wines.

Since my return, various folks have asked me what it was like. My answer has been distilled down the observation that most of the people we met were all oriented to the sea: they swim, fish, surf, boat, and live on the coastlines. If they do not live near the ocean, they pass by the ocean every day — or so it seems to me.