Last Day in Perth

With an extended stay of three more days I've mostly been working remotely in hours that are not terribly out-of-sync with the rest of the team. Nevertheless, the extra time in Western Australia has afforded me the opportunity to catch up with a number of other people. The stay in the newly renvoated home of doctor_k_ and strangedave has been great, and I've had the opportunity to explore a bit of the Mount Hawthorn region which I lived in a for a while way back in 1986. It also has been the opportunity to catch up with several other Murdoch people from that era. Yesterday, I had a late lunch with Fabian U., and former Senator Brian G.. Apart from reminiscing on past times, a portion of the conversation turned to real estate. Fabian was looking for a place to purchase for his son, whereas Brian had worked for many years in the Real Estate Industry of WA. My own contributions to that discussion were mostly on the virtues of land tax and the problems of negative gearing. Afterwards, on a whim, Fabian and I went down to Fremantle to end the day. Fremantle is the harbour side town to Perth the city, and is a much more beautiful and welcoming place with its Victorian-era limestone buildings. We had a great chat about the relationship with deep learning and language. Likewise, the previous day I had caught up with another former Murdoch University colleague, Murray W., and discussed matters such as the state of various RPG clubs in comparison between Victoria and WA, and especially the political landscape, both on an Australian scale and with international comparisons.

Although there is not much that draws me to Perth in terms of style or culture, there are many old friends and memories here. In that regard, this has been quite a great trip. Apart from the aforementioned I have had the great opportunity to catch up with many and have spent extended time in the company of Bruce T., and thefon, Andrei N., and Arnold H., in particular. The journey hasn't really caused any great loss in productivity either, as I've been able to beaver away on various projects in early mornings and evenings, in addition to the time spent at the HPC Advisory Council conference. I am rather looking forward however to getting home to normal life back in Melbourne with caseopaya and Mac the Cat. Nevertheless, there is one most important thing to do here - and that's attend Erica W.'s funeral - and with Lachlan S.,'s on Monday, one can tell in advance what my next journal entry will be.