Hospital, Sydney, Australia
After all our planning for Jeff's next operation and waiting out the days till we arrived in Cairns, Australia, we finally flew to the Sydney airport. It was evening when we got there and both of us were exhausted. We both thought why call an Uber, there are a bunch of taxis hanging around, just take one of them to the motel. That was a mistake. We ended up paying $100 for a 20 minute trip in no traffic. Uber would have been half, I found out later. Since then we have taken several Uber rides in electric cars. And they have been excellent experiences. Australia has been importing Chinese made electric cars. We got to ride in a BYD and Uber drivers like to talk. We conversed with a Japanese driver and an Indian driver, both men. Both had been in Australia about 15 years. They seemed to like being in the big city. Both agreed it is generally too expensive. The driver from Japan, his wife works in the hospital and they have children, he likes the flexibility of the job so he can be involved with school and activities. The Indian driver has a son and would like to return to India so his son can experience his homeland. We are resting at our motel and I am outside watching the wild cockatiels.
They are always in pairs. They perch in the trees and feed on the berries and new leaves. They show light yellow under their wings when they fly. Their crests are also yellow. They raise them when they greet each other or are startled and make a rough croak when they take flight. There are many exotic birds flying around here. Lorikeets, crested pigeons, ibis, ravens, whistling ducks, magpies, kukabara, and many more. They fill the air with their calls. We find out later that we are not far from a National forest. The birds are coming from there into the city.
After preparing ourselves mentally for the best and worst outcomes of Jeff's surgery, I left him at the hospital in the care of the anesthesiologist and waiting for the arrival of his doctor. From past experience I didn't expect to hear anything for several hours and this I thought would be no different. When a nurse called not too long after, she said Jeff was in recovery. So I went to the floor where he would be delivered and waited. Finally I got a call from Jeff! He sounded normal and not like he had just gone through surgery. Turns out he hadn't. The doctor had just received the sonogram that showed the size of his prostate. It was the largest she had ever seen! She said she could not operate, it might be fatal for him at his age. She advised he just go on with what he has. She changed the catheter in a flash and he was on his way. A lot of stress and waiting but I am glad he didn't have another surgery and subsequent recovery. We can get on with our lives. Any visit to a hospital where you come out alive is a good visit.
We have walked to the enormous Mall several times. The size and spiral design make it hard to figure out. We are told it is the second largest in Australia. Jeff and I have gotten lost there a lot.
We discovered a nice place to get breakfast and have located the Aldi's grocery. We concluded that there would be no practical reason to go to the Mall, if there were no grocery store. There are goods available, anything you can think of, but extremely expensive and more than 100 fast food restaurants, representing every kind of food you can imagine and more.
There is an ice rink and movie theaters. Everything is there for you, clothes, food, shoes, bedding, entertainment, jewelry, etc, etc. The message is, “If you have the money, we have whatever you want. Unless you want something practical, like hinges.
We have several days before the ship comes to Sydney so we are exploring. This area of Sydney, called Mcquarie, is a university town, with suburbs and all the wealthy trappings and prices of any major city. The Hospital and University are within walking distance of our motel and also the huge mall I mentioned. This is a massive culture shock after wandering around the island nations of the South Pacific for the last 3 months. We notice most of the local population appears to be mostly Asian, the doctors and business owners in particular. The nurses and students are a more egalitarian mix of native Australian, naturalized Indian population, Asian and Islanders. We spend several hours walking through the campus and take the opportunity to speak to the students.
What degree are you studying for?” “cyber security, medical doctor, lawyer, actuarian, environmental law, engineering…” Many are just returning from a break or beginning their tenure so there is a lot of activity and many clubs advertising for students to join. One of these is the socialists club. They had posters displayed with Marx’s portrait.
We attended their short lecture with an audience of about 50 interested students. (There are about 30,000 students at this university.)
A young, intense woman lectured for about half an hour.. The club defines itself as the “largest revolutionary socialist organization in Australia. We have branches in every major city and 21 campus clubs.” Some comments after the lecture when students spoke were:
"Capitalism is barbaric, from poverty to oppression to genocide and war. But another world is possible if we fight for it. It is only by building a mass socialist movement that we can hope to get there.”
“ Money "purifies" bad behavior. Money allows any behavior and power over other more talented people.”
“What will make the most money is the basis of decisions.
Food, housing, clothing, if people had these then people are not held hostage by “pay to live.” Life is not a human right.
Economic terrorism.”
“Brutality is the point, the US… People that cross them will be treated brutally."
Ice raids in the US. bring up the question of; " how do you want to live?"
“People came out to strike, Impressive!" (audience claps).
"Profit above human life."
"Restart in a new way. Sharing the wealth."
"Not impossible but inevitable." "Capitalism is pushing us that way."
" Pushing past the human breaking point."
“Breaking point will make people act…”
"Everything that is wrong in this life can be traced back to Capitalism."
"Destructive nature of Capitalism."
"Parasitic force in society...the working class has the ability to strike and challenge the profit making economy."
"Socialism and Communism I use interchangeably. Society without hierarchy. Non exploitative... "
"Revolution empowers ordinary people. Ordinary people must be the ones to rebuild."
While we were still in the area the Australian government “spilled” their Liberal leadership (which means conservative) of their first female Leader of the Liberal Party, Sussan Lea. She was replaced by Angus Taylor, a man who doesn't have a plan. He ran on, “I will do what is good for Australia.” The Labor party is the liberal party. Ms Lea is quitting politics. She may have been the scapegoat for the fallout from the horrible massacre of Jewish citizens on Hunakkuh, December 2025, on Bondi Beach. She sided with a call for gun control. People love their guns in Australia as much as people in the US. Antisemitism has been part of the social prejudices since the end of WW2. Only British or white European migrants were welcomed; the “White Australia Policy.”
We are back on the boat, on our way to New Zealand. This will take five sea days.
