How I came to visit the Art Museum
Given the rain, I switched to plan B—go visit the Australian Museum of Art should it start to rain. I didn’t bother to take out and put on my raincoat since the rain had reduced to a drizzle. In a minute I was climbing the 25 steps leading to the Museum of Art.
At the front desk, I asked about the current exhibit. A bright-eyed woman of 25 told me that the entire first floor exhibited the works of Janet Laurence—a naturalist who spent the last thirty years creating art that represented the patterns of trees and plants onto cloth. . . .
Congee Beach
Elena and I took the train and then the bus that took us right to Congee Beach. Elena adores the blue skies and the clean, blue waters.
I am amazed how much the coast resembles Southern California here–stretches of rocky cliffs broken up by inlets that feature off-white sandy beaches. The flora is not like that of the CA coast, however, save for the succulent rose and occasional century plant.
We take the trail that follows the cliff coast. After a half-hour of trekking, Elena announces that she cannot wait any longer to get into that marvelous water. So we change into our swim suits and edge our bodies into the cold waters. Once wet all over, however, the water hardly seems cold.
A trio of dogs is swimming with their master. Beach bathers are chatting, eating, sunning on the rock shelves that line the inlet. We had the presence of mind to bring some foods and eat and sun alongside them.
Nigel and Marty
We resume the trail and come to another beach. Elena plunges into the water while I take a nap on the grass in the shade of a small tree. I become curious about the tides. So I ask a well-tanned muscular surfer whether he understands the tides here. In a few minutes, he is telling me about the hollowness of his heart and about his hunger to discover true love. Elena and Marty join us. Marty has been doing Yoga for 40 years and their conversation turns toward those yoga leaders that they know in common. Meanwhile, my conversation with Nigel now turns to the story of how he lost his first wife to cancer after forty years of marriage. . . .
I tell Nigel about my own longing for many years to find true love. “It takes courage to sustain and enlarge the yearning for love. I found that most men abandon the suffering that is involved and throw themselves into work, into drinking, into some addiction by way of quieting the hunger in their heart.”
Then I tell him how, three years ago, just before Christmas, I was telling my Christmas angel about the longing in my heart and my angel told me not to give up for my future lover was urgently seeking me. “If you give up the quest, Nigel, your true love will never be able to find you.”
Nigel liked the idea of knowing that his true love was out there and urgently seeking him. He tells me that tears came to his eyes as he was listening to my narrative. Knowing this meant that he was not pulling all the weight and doing all the suffering ALONE. “Your beloved is seeking you out and all you need to do is to be willing to be found.”
Nigel offers white tea and chocolates to Elena and me. I use this occasion to make a toast, “To Niguel’s true love who is out there seeking him and to my true love, Elena, who found me three years ago.”
Marty is so taken with this toast that he takes out his iPhone and asks me to record the toast for some future use.
Then Nigel asks about the red string around my wrist and another story unfolds. . . . To cap things off, he takes me surfing on his long and light surf board. . . .
I am amazed by all this. This is not the first time this has happened. It is the third time in three days. The first time was my encounter with Fritz on the docs who shared with me the story of his16-year-old daughter who kissed him goodnight and went to bed to take her life. The second was my encounter on the tram when an Asiatic woman told me of the deep sadness of leaving her life-long friend.
Something awesome is working here among these Aussies. It’s amazing!
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Then click on the adventure that you would like to visit next:
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#2 Sydney is hot and cool
#3 Surfing at Congee Beach
#4 Swimming with Sharks
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#6 Encounters with wild Aussie animals
#6a Why Australia has so many marsupials