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09/03/2007: "JOHN HARDING EXPOSE ...... a travelling diver"
I’ve done a lot of traveling, mainly up and down the east coast. Cairns to Melbourne especially. My Toyota 4Runnner (pictured) has 506,000 km on the clock. The best car I’ve ever owned for reliability.
My old base is/was the southern Gold Coast, of Queensland. Probably still my choice of anywhere to live. Good beaches and especially clear ocean currents with big fish. Further south the ocean currents veer offshore and blue water is less of a guarantee on the coast.
I had all my 16mm projectors and movie films in a storage facility which doubled as an office.
My block of vacant land (pictured) was going to be where I built a home – one day, perhaps.
It didn’t happen. The land was sold and I’ve been spending the money on visits to Taiwan.
Why Taiwan and not elsewhere friends ask?
There is much to see. It would take a lifetime to know Taiwan well.
Mountains higher than any in Australia, coral around the offshore islands, a strong fishing culture with a fleet of international fishing boats, a population larger than Australia’s in a country half the size of Tasmania.
The scuba and snorkel activities are minimal. Neglected. The older Taiwanese fear the ocean and believe spirits in the sea are evil and seek to pull you under, I read. How common this belief is I don't know.
A Lonely Planet guide book said Chinese culture in Taiwan is more original or better than on the mainland where western international culture is now a growing and obvious influence in the big cities.
This is evident by neon signs.
Films I’ve seen of Shanghai for example, show most neon signs for big brands in English.
In Taipei (Taiwan) the neon signs are still mostly with Chinese characters. I find this very appealing.
Australian residents get a free 30 day visa upon arrival. My future blogs here should detail what happens during the coming visit.
I’ll keep a nautical theme where possible but anything might appear. I'll visit the National Palace Museum again where everything changes each three months. They say it would take you more than 15 years to see everything in the archives.
All was saved from potential destruction (on the mainland) by sheer good timing.
There are several sea world type shows. At Haulien whale sharks are captured live for overseas aquariums. Green Island is the place for diving, and the aboriginal people of Taiwan have newly discovered DNA that links them as the original Polynesian people of the Pacific!
