On going down under

If you've spoken with me in the last couple of months you know I am going to Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, the northeast part of Australia, in March.  There are a number of reasons for this choice, but if I had to combine them all in one word, it would be "adventure."

On the one hand, this is part of a very serious deliberation concerning permanent immigration out of the United States.  Should this country persist in the current march towards Emperor Trump and the New Free States of America, I will be permanently moving to a country with a democratic form of government and a national health system.  Australia, while it has it's own problems, cultural and political, is on my short list along with english-speaking Canada and Scotland.

It is also the most distant, and in some ways the most difficult to explore, so I'm going there first.  I am truly curious about what it feels like to me to be in a different hemisphere, far from where I have always lived.  I know what others say about this experience, I want to feel it in my own bones.

My choice of Brisbane was really rather random, and I intended that.  I felt visiting Sydney, at least primarily, might be a bit like coming to New York City as a way to get introduced to the US.  If one were to do that, one would get a taste of the US zeitgeist, but you would lack exposure to very large and important aspects of American culture because NYC is really the westernmost city of Europe.

I would recommend to a person desirous of genuine exposure to the USA (by visiting the Northeast, anyway) that they visit Philadelphia, DC or Boston primarily and make a side trip to NYC.  That would expose them to a much wider spectrum of people, norms everyday lifestyle in the USA than booking a nice hotel on Sixth Avenue for a week would, even though that might be more fun and comfortable.

Brisbane also has an office for a software company that I know well, so it's likely to have companies there with jobs appropriate for my skills, it is closer to the countries of the Pacific Rim I want to visit, and I have an online acquaintance who lives there whom has been helpful with practical aspects of the trip like where to stay and how to plan to get around.  I plan to visit Sydney also, as a side trip.

Aside from that, I know next to nothing about it other than what I've read in the last few weeks.  It's on the coast, there's a resort area nearby called Gold Coast that looks like Miami or what Atlantic City might have been.  There's beach, hotels, theme parks, etc.  I generally eschew that kind of stuff in the US, so I'm going to go down there to expose myself to something I might not like in Australia in order to acquaint myself with the full spectrum of the zeitgeist.

I want to see some Australian animals and plants, there's a koala preserve and a national park in the area, as well as botanic gardens.  There's a well known Modern Art museum in Brisbane as well.  These are the things I like.  This might be why Brisbane might also be a good place to settle, as well as a gateway to understanding myself in this country.

It is also the first time in my life that I have gone this far from home, and also the first time to make a major trip alone.  Like a frog sitting in a slowing heating pot of water, too much of my life has passed while I have waited for something that, or someone whom, I can't quite name, someone who sees travel precisely as I do, or some opportunity to do this in a less scary way.  I've been awaiting some physical manifestation of a travel muse, a person who wants to go to exactly the same places for the same reasons I do, or for some plan to emerge that is so convincing it removes all doubt.

No more.  I'm going that-a-way, folks.  I'll write when I get work.

Seriously, I will be blogging the trip here.  I will tag those posts like this one.

I am seeking Australia, I am seeking my next home, I am seeking deeper self-knowledge, I am seeking a good meat pie.  I have no idea what I will find, I'll do my best to tell a good story here.