In Australia, Diving Right Into Summer

So glad you are visiting and talking about Perth. I call it one of the world’s best kept secrets because of its remoteness to most of the world and to many Eastern Australians. Having been there three consecutive years I am mystified that not many people have been there. I keep coming back for the friendly people, food from all over the world, thriving craft beer scene, ability to walk everywhere alone at night and general safety. Oh, and no guns.

NY Times : Who will be traveling next year? Please don't tell me its now politically incorrect to promote travel? Perhaps a trip around the world with locations in order to reduce the distance ? More bikes, boats, trains, electric cars , community rides....but please don't stop this year long adventure. It keeps me reading .

Thank you for all your thoughtful essays this year. Many places I will never see seem more real to me now.

I hope some of the questions you ask yourself is, "how can I eat more plant-based foods while travelling?". Ethical travel, and its implications, should include eating food that does minimal harm to sentient beings and the environment.

Thanks, again, for sharing another travel adventure. I am sad thinking that your year of reporting is almost over. I have thoroughly enjoyed your pictures on Instagram and your informative, thoughtful writing. Your caring, kind spirit and sense of humor always shone through in each piece. As other have mentioned, I’m so sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience towards the end of the article. On some days it feels “like the best of times and the worst of times”. The daily news is so disturbing, but when I witness an immense kindness to someone, I can take a deep breath. I think many of us with white privilege thought positive steps were being made in the area of race relations, but clearly there is a long path ahead towards justice all over the world. I wish you only the best as you move on from this journey. You are such a talented writer and I am sure great things await you!!!

I enjoyed Sebastian’s article about my adopted homeland (expat American for 35 years). One day I’ll try Fleet but there are so many other places on the coast to enjoy along the way. Bushfire season is horrific and it’s important to have accurate info. The article points to an app called Fires Near Me Australia for bushfire information. The app appears to compile info from many sources. Readers beware—in NSW, I would put my faith in the NSW Rural Fire Service’s app (Fires Near Me NSW). In my recent experience with local bushfires, real-time information on the Aus app sometimes lagged the NSW app. Fires Near Me NSW is available for iOS and Android and you can set watch zones and get notifications.

Wait. I thought we're supposed to avoid increasing our carbon footprints by not flying in airplanes all over the world. But, the New York Times is encouraging world travel with articles like these- visiting 52 places in 52 weeks? How about encouraging walking and bike riding in our own neighborhoods? Wouldn't THAT be more consistent with the "green" message of "the left"? (Written by someone on "the right" who does not fly in planes).

So sorry to hear about the racism you experienced. I send an apology on behalf of Australia and hope it doesn't sour your memories. I am glad you found that lovely tree - a bonus to make up for the terrible experience you had.

Sorry to hear you encountered the worst of Oz as well as some of the best. But thanks for putting in that last anecdote - if only to destroy the smug aura around Byron's wokeness. Just as many blockheads there as elsewhere. But please don't let it stop you from coming back, or feeling welcome by the vast majority of us.

Not sure how you came by our event, but thank you for joining us at Scarborough Beach. I hope this provided some counterbalance to the negative experience. Your description "people from across ages and ethnicities paired up and twirled", epitomises our event in 10 words thank you

Nice work. Thanks for the picture of the tree! This tree and that awesome dog in Croatia are the best travel pictures by far! This particular piece is outstanding: You capture, objectively, a place and a feel for being in that place and with the last few sentences in the article you manage to also do me an immense favor: convince me to not bother to visit the country. It seems beautiful and your descriptions are evoking, those beaches in Perth are incredible, but the cheap racism, who needs that? Would be interesting to know if your parents experienced similar incidents when they took you there. I hope not. Safe travels!

Gold luck to all who wish to see Down Under after many hours cooped on a plane. And what about the Australian food: is it a mixture of aboriginal and 18th century English food brought by the Transported convicts?

I would encourage you to research that species of tree. Your relief may be short lived.

All seemed idyllic and pleasant (if not a bit perfunctory, if we're being honest), until the last few inches of this piece. Thanks for sharing your confrontation with blatant racism in Australia, which is the omnipresent danger of traveling while being of color. I think western society, especially white people, has been inured into believing that we are all in this post-racial world and that minorities (racial, sexual, religious) are just being overly sensitive and interpret calling out bigotry as "virtue signaling." Even I have to admit to being somewhat oblivious to the notion of myself being a minority in America on a day-to-day basis. So then when I am attacked with a racial slur, it feels like a bullet through the heart; all of my confidence, all of my goodwill, all of my joy just drains out of my body in an instant. I am instantly reminded of my "otherness" and this notion that society at large places me in this second-class cattle car by default. White people may just scoff at such an incident and assume that these are merely words. Which is true to an extent. But it can be devastating on a visceral level and that cannot be controlled. Seb, I admire the fact that you can take solace in a great tree with a strong root system. I'm sure there is an allegory in there somewhere that I am too stupid to grasp.

I have really been enjoying your articles--this one especially. So sad to read about the racist incident, but it seems you have had so many wonderful experiences meeting people (and trees!) on your journey and that more than makes up for it. Hopefully, this ignorant, immature kid grows up to experience, and share, himself, all of the beauty you have encountered.

great article. My wife and I would like to take a trip to Australia and New Zealand soon, and we really enjoyed your descriptions.

What a thoughtful conclusion to an engaging travel piece. As an expat American residing in Australia for more than four decades, I've been to many of those places. I've eaten at Fleet and it was indeed a wonderful experience. The last paragraph reveals an ugly truth in touching and thoughtful close. I know bigotry and racism have always been here but how much has cheap exploitive tabloid media and cable networking legitimised ignorance, racism, bigotry and vitriolic resentment of science and education and given it voice. Social media hasn't helped. How much has it divided us as people and left us disempowered? These northern regions of New South Wales where Mr Modak takes us is where I reside. The northern border of NSW reaching 600km south to the magnificent city of Sydney and beyond is now covered in smoke and has been for the past month. In the face of horrific bushfires, drought, loss of wildlife, property and life we still face a portion of media that preaches Climate Denial in defence of Coal and Fossil Fuels. It seems to me one of those questions our travelling friend must be left with is how certain interests can value profit over the survival of what was once such a beautiful and pristine environment.