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The transfer bus from the dive company picks us up at 7.50 am, as promised. We’re off for a day on the reef, snorkelling and swimming and bearing witness to the largest living thing that exists on the Earth, apart from the Earth itself. (more…)

The conferences are behind us and we’re eager to get on the road. We’ve rented a tiny little car, not much longer than she is wide, and we’re soon on our way to Port Douglas. (more…)

The opening ceremony begins, as is customary, with a welcome by the traditional owners of the land on which we’re meeting, the Irukanji people. The Irukanji get their name from one of the local poisonous jellyfish, the tribal elder tells us. Watch out for Irukanji, the old woman warns, or he might sting you.

It seems like suitable way to begin an HIV conference. (more…)

Compared to ASHM, the NAPWA conference is cut from a very different cloth. This year’s conference brought together about 200 people, most of them living with HIV, from all around Australia — gay men, women, indigenous people, heterosexuals, recently infected and old warriors like me. It’s the only event on the calendar that brings together so many positive people from so many different walks of life and the positive energy that creates is a wonderful thing to be part of. (more…)

Today is the one day we have off between the two conferences. Last night Jo, my boss, made it absolutely clear that I was not to do any work today (bless her, but I think I had that figured out already).

Kuranda is a small town in the hills above Cairns. It was originally a mining town (I think) and, during the 1890s, it was joined to Cairns by a steam railway, cutting the two day journey time down to four hours. The railway winds its way leisurely around the hills and across the Barron Gorge, past some spectacular scenery before arriving at Kuranda. Apparently, after the gold ran out, the town became a popular holiday resort due to its cool temperatures. (more…)

The first full day of the ASHM conference. ASHM is the main HIV/AIDS medical conference in Australia, held once a year for the last fifteen. Most of the attendees are doctors and medical researchers. It has the usual drug company promotional stands offering free gizmos and geegaws of various kinds (it’s a great opportunity to stock up on sticky notes), batteries of intensely complex presentations on the scientific and medical aspects of HIV, and a smattering of community representatives and media, of which I am one. (more…)

Brent at Riverbend Books

After spending the day idling about in Brisbane, including a visit to the amazingly good suburban bookshop-and-sushi combination that is Riverbend Books, just down the street from A&A’s home, we’re off to Cairns. Even at 6 p.m., the heat and humidity hits us like a medicine ball to the belly as we step off the plane — it doesn’t look like we’ll get much use out of most of the clothes we’ve brought. (more…)

Australia has crawled into bed with some very unsavoury types in it’s decision to sit on the fence for today’s UN vote on Israel’s iron curtain:

The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approved late on Tuesday a resolution demanding that Israel halt construction of a barrier cutting deep into Palestinian West Bank lands.

The vote was 144-4 with 12 abstentions, with the United States and Israel voting ‘no’ along with the Marshall Islands and Micronesia.

Abstaining were Australia, Burundi, Dominican Republic , Ecuador, Honduras, Malawi, Nauru, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea , Rwanda and Tuvalu.

The vote capped six hours of haggling between European Union and Arab governments over the text of the measure, which initially had been drafted by Palestinian UN envoy Nasser al-Kidwa and took a harsher line against Israeli actions.

In the end, all 15 EU nations agreed to sponsor the compromise, which said the barrier was “in contradiction to international law” and demanded that Israel “stop and reverse” its construction in Palestinian lands.”

(Reuters report by Irwin Arieff, via Crikey.com.au, emphasis added)

I suppose the fact that we didn’t actually vote ‘no’ along with the US should be of some comfort, but it’s hard not to feel despair at the fact that my country has so little regard for human rights, international law or plain decency. Sad.

Furiously harried and overburdened by work, uni and travel pressures … it’s always like this whenever I travel, of course, but this is just too much like hard work and it feels like there’s nothing but more hard work ahead.

Our flight to Brisbane is largely uneventful, except for the fact that Brent and I have been booked on different flights, his a half hour earlier than mine. Just as well we got to the airport early or he’d have missed his. And of course, despite both planes being half empty, Qantas won’t allow us to fly together; in fact from the expression on the ticket clerk’s face when he sees the ticket class we’re booked in I’m surprised we’re allowed to fly at all.

Flying on separate planes is not that big a deal of course, although naturally I’m worried that there’ll be a plane crash with just one of us onboard — the worst possible scenario. We agree that it’s way better if both our planes collide in mid-air and let someone else organise our joint funeral.

My little brother Andrew picks us up at Brisbane airport and delivers us to his home, a sprawling old Queenslander hidden behind a mass of banana trees, gigantic heliconias and even giganticker palms. Obviously we’re on our way to the tropics — it’s HOT here! We’ve always loved their house and Andy and Amalia always make us feel incredibly welcome. We spend the evening drinking Andrew’s home brew and yarning on their verandah before falling into bed.

Tyler on monogamy:

Monogamy is more often than not a whining tone, a hurt look, a statement about disbelief and distrust; moreover it is a term that works well to channel a musty moralism about how “people today” lack discipline or self-control. It rarely acts as a simple description of a person’s emotional and physical arrangement and the conditions under which they feel comfortable.