The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Still Travelling To Raja Ampat
It is time for us to leave Fiji, but not before we are invited back, an invitation to stay in a village on one of the 300+ islands, a third of which are inhabited. We accept and make changes to our travel plans, but this is after Raja Ampat, so I will tell about Fijian village life another time.
The Fiji international airport is under renovation. We are flying coach to Brisbane, Australia before we fly to Indonesia. We wait on stained seats in an air-conditioned lobby, far from the gates but not far from the Duty-Free Shops, which were the first things renovated at this airport.
I feed my husband a chocolate bar, as he worries about missing the summons for our flight. When it comes, we have to struggle through a throng of Chinese, blocking passage. They are waiting at the bottom of a single escalator, which leads to the gates. Guards are preventing anyone, but those whose flight has been called, to mount that escalator.
The Chinese block our passage, all waiting for uncalled flights, pulsing, ever ready to pounce the escalator agents as they desire to be the first to board that flight to Hong Kong. What a total zoo!
I feel like I'm in a refugee camp, trying to get to the food. End up having to shove people hard and yank my husband along, just to get to the escalator. We show our boarding passes and are permitted to ascend.
I am so happy to be out of that airport, that I do not mind the 4.5 hours cramped in extra economy with terrible food. My husband and his daughter did an 18 hour flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam, 2 hours off and then 7 hours Amsterdam to Chicago in cheapest economy without leaving their seats. But, now that he has flown from LAX to Fiji in a business class bed, he looks at me and says, "I guess I need to budget for more expensive flights."
I could kiss him! We have now agreed that any flight over 8 hours will be in Business Class. All others are back by the toilets.
Since we have RFD chips in our passports, we can go through the short line at Brisbane airport. It takes a lot to convince an agent to stamp my passport. Seems that the day of stamping passports, like tacking of hotel labels onto suitcases, is fast coming to an end.
To get from the airport to our hotel, we hop an airport mini-bus. No room for luggage below, the buses pull a trailer into which we entrust 6 weeks' worth of luggage, but not the scuba vest, which I am still wearing.
There are times, crossing streets, that I am startled by the appearance of a car, for in Australia, they drive on the left. No one jay walks, they push the cross walk buttons and patiently wait.
The women are wearing panty hose and the black business wear that we wore 20 years ago. Flat black shoes or tennis shoes are the norm, with pumps here & there. No bare toes. No flip-flops.
The men are trim or very obese, nothing in between. The trim wear ironed long-sleeved shirts tucked into dark suit pants, dark leather shoes. No ties. Very few suit jackets. The fatties are either in maintenance/service uniforms or creased blue jeans and tennis shoes. No facial hair. Shorter hairstyles.
Lots of Asian women working in restaurants. Lots of young Asian men walking with each other, not speaking English. The "Asian Invasion" the Aussies call it.
The immigration has boomed the population to 2M and is expected to hit 3M in 2026 with all of the immigration from China.
This all seems to have started with the World Exposition in the 1980's. That opened acres of public facilities on the previously industrial south bank of the Brisbane River.
It brought large hotel chains, who brought conventions, who brought entertainment and restaurants, who brought international business chains, who brought foreign workers, who brought their families, which brought both tax revenue and tax demands for roadways and schools.
And, the building boom continues. The high rises are all designed by architects that seem to be competing to be the most fashion forward. Yes, they are green and are required to have 2% of their cost be allocated to art installations.
From the Australian Bureau of Statistics:
Australian industry has invested 9% of its annual income on Capex (land, buildings, machinery, equipment, and vehicles). This breaks down as follows:
Mining 50% of its income on Capex (boom going on)
Transport operations 18% (seeking more efficient equipment)
Media companies 11% (consumer driven)
Manufacturing operations 5% (broader sustainability challenges)
Agribusiness 9% on Capex. The tax code entitles farms with a turnover of less than $2M to claim a $20k credit for the purchase of capital equipment, with annual depreciation. As opposed to our section 179, a deduction with no depreciation.