An elemental day

The black bits in the water are whales. I now have many photos of sea and sky as these teasing creatures didn't appear for more than a fraction of a second until the boats turned for home and we had put down our cameras. Then they leapt from the sea and waved us away, flipping their giant tails with what seemed like a good riddance flick, or possibly something less polite.

Who can blame them? Out on the Pacific Ocean, bobbing about in a piece of fibre glass and polystyrene, one has to be conscious of the teeming life below and remember that however intrepid, we are visitors in another world.

After my exhilarating afternoon I spent an even more amazing evening sitting in what the cashier told me was the absolutely best seat before in what was claimed to be the largest IMAX screen in the world, with an astronaut in my lap. At least that is how it seemed. The incredible images from the extraordinary documentary Hubble 3D had me literally spaced out. From the title sequence on I was hooked as I found myself steering my own private capsule out into the infinite, marvelling at the persistence, resilience, patience, self-control, bravery and good humour of the team who volunteered to conduct the equivalent of brain surgery in oven gloves on the giant space telescope that orbits Earth scanning space for the next Australia.

As I later sat beside the roaring flame of a Firestick patio heater in a restaurant overlooking Darling Harbour, sipping a free cocktail (Absoluteness) and waiting for my supper of prawn and chilli noodles, I reflected on my day that had encompassed all four elements. At the Maritime Museum I had read the stories of some the first immigrants, forced, eager or just desperate, who have arrived on Australia's shores - including children virtualy kidnapped to create a workforce. I think I can begin to understand the importance of the race to find an alternative haven far out in space before our earthly paradise turns forever sour.