I also have the sense that Australians are torn about Sydney. If Sydney is the future of Australia, it's a
future many Australians have mixed feelings about. It's a competitive, multi-ethnic, global future in an
Australia that still yearns to be white, privileged and left alone.
I have mixed feelings about Australia. It's an utterly incredible place both in harshness and in beauty. That
anyone has been able to survive here at all, let alone prosper is a monumental achievement. But it is a young
country with some dark secrets that it is only just starting to face. There's also an insecurity that Australians feel being in an unforgiving land surrounded by an Asia that grows more economically aggressive every day.
Still, the Australians have it good. They love sports, love the outdoors, have created a world class wine
industry from nothing and sit on a motherlode of the world's mineral wealth. So whatever clouds loom on the horizon, the good times keep rolling and after all they've had to deal with, I can't really grudge them that.