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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/07/world/australia/coronavirus-joys-ocean-books-food.html
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| Smile, Australia. Look at What’s Flourishing Despite the Pandemic. | Smile, Australia. Look at What’s Flourishing Despite the Pandemic. |
| (6 days later) | |
| The Australia Letter is a weekly newsletter from our Australia bureau. Sign up to get it by email. | The Australia Letter is a weekly newsletter from our Australia bureau. Sign up to get it by email. |
| I was going to write this week about what the world should take away from Melbourne’s resurgent outbreak and Stage 4 lockdown, but then I thought: Maybe we need an escape? | I was going to write this week about what the world should take away from Melbourne’s resurgent outbreak and Stage 4 lockdown, but then I thought: Maybe we need an escape? |
| The pandemic’s grinding repetition is enough to make anyone feel like Sisyphus. We wash our hands only to dirty them again, stand too close together then remember to step apart, open up our businesses and social lives only to be told, no, sorry, wear a mask or go back to isolation. | The pandemic’s grinding repetition is enough to make anyone feel like Sisyphus. We wash our hands only to dirty them again, stand too close together then remember to step apart, open up our businesses and social lives only to be told, no, sorry, wear a mask or go back to isolation. |
| No wonder one of the women I interviewed for my story on the situation in Melbourne posted an event on Facebook called “stand on your front porch and scream.” | No wonder one of the women I interviewed for my story on the situation in Melbourne posted an event on Facebook called “stand on your front porch and scream.” |
| But as a group, we’re not just screaming. Here are three of life’s (and Australia’s) great joys that are flourishing alongside the virus. | But as a group, we’re not just screaming. Here are three of life’s (and Australia’s) great joys that are flourishing alongside the virus. |
| Diving Into Nature | Diving Into Nature |
| There are more surfers and swimmers in the cold winter waters these days — and spearfishers too. I recently had a chance to write about spearfishing’s surging popularity in a Dispatch that brought me lobstering with the Gamay Rangers in La Perouse, and spearing off the coast of Manly. | There are more surfers and swimmers in the cold winter waters these days — and spearfishers too. I recently had a chance to write about spearfishing’s surging popularity in a Dispatch that brought me lobstering with the Gamay Rangers in La Perouse, and spearing off the coast of Manly. |
| Michaela Skovranova, a talented Sydney photographer, joined me. That image above? That’s me, thanks to Michaela. Looks peaceful, right? | Michaela Skovranova, a talented Sydney photographer, joined me. That image above? That’s me, thanks to Michaela. Looks peaceful, right? |
| Dive shops report record interest in spearfishing since the coronavirus emerged as people are won over by the meditative aspect of freediving and the sense of control that comes with sustainable fishing — selecting what you shoot, not just casting a line into the deep. | Dive shops report record interest in spearfishing since the coronavirus emerged as people are won over by the meditative aspect of freediving and the sense of control that comes with sustainable fishing — selecting what you shoot, not just casting a line into the deep. |
| National parks in New South Wales are also reporting up to a 60 percent rise in visitors. Nature, it seems, is what many of us turn to in times of trouble. | National parks in New South Wales are also reporting up to a 60 percent rise in visitors. Nature, it seems, is what many of us turn to in times of trouble. |
| Reading for Resilience | Reading for Resilience |
| Earlier this week, I called Mark Rubbo — the owner of Readings, Melbourne’s most popular independent bookstore — and I expected him to be downbeat and stressed as the lockdown commenced. But he was just as observant and jovial as usual. I asked him what the city felt like. He looked out the shop’s window and said it felt like a Sunday in the 1950s. | Earlier this week, I called Mark Rubbo — the owner of Readings, Melbourne’s most popular independent bookstore — and I expected him to be downbeat and stressed as the lockdown commenced. But he was just as observant and jovial as usual. I asked him what the city felt like. He looked out the shop’s window and said it felt like a Sunday in the 1950s. |
| He also said book sales online have been surging, a sign of people shut up at home, finding calm in imaginary worlds and in the resilience of others. | He also said book sales online have been surging, a sign of people shut up at home, finding calm in imaginary worlds and in the resilience of others. |
| The most popular book of the week: “The Happiest Man on Earth,” a hopeful memoir from a Holocaust survivor who argues that contentment can found even in the darkest of times. | The most popular book of the week: “The Happiest Man on Earth,” a hopeful memoir from a Holocaust survivor who argues that contentment can found even in the darkest of times. |
| Food for Local Thought | Food for Local Thought |
| The farmers market in Mullumbimby, north of Byron Bay, is always a lively place, but when I visited last month for a soon-to-be-written story on localism, several farmers told me that the pandemic had created a new pool of customers. | The farmers market in Mullumbimby, north of Byron Bay, is always a lively place, but when I visited last month for a soon-to-be-written story on localism, several farmers told me that the pandemic had created a new pool of customers. |
| “There are a lot of faces here I’m not used to seeing,” said Andrew Cameron, 38, a bearded cattle farmer selling cuts of grass-fed beef. “Right now a lot of people are realizing we need to really look at how our food systems work.” | “There are a lot of faces here I’m not used to seeing,” said Andrew Cameron, 38, a bearded cattle farmer selling cuts of grass-fed beef. “Right now a lot of people are realizing we need to really look at how our food systems work.” |
| Like many others, he told me he wasn’t sure how long the interest would last. But for now, more and more Australians seem to want food grown closer to home, keeping people employed. Add to that all the home-cooking that’s going on, with more family meals, and you have to figure that our eating lives are more thoughtful than usual. | Like many others, he told me he wasn’t sure how long the interest would last. But for now, more and more Australians seem to want food grown closer to home, keeping people employed. Add to that all the home-cooking that’s going on, with more family meals, and you have to figure that our eating lives are more thoughtful than usual. |
| There’s a sense of solace, in fact, that comes from all of these activities: eating healthier food, reading more, exercising in nature. Maybe some of these habits will stick around. | There’s a sense of solace, in fact, that comes from all of these activities: eating healthier food, reading more, exercising in nature. Maybe some of these habits will stick around. |
| What are you doing to stay calm and happy that you hope to hold on to after the pandemic fades? Tell us at nytaustralia@nytimes.com. | What are you doing to stay calm and happy that you hope to hold on to after the pandemic fades? Tell us at nytaustralia@nytimes.com. |
| Now here are our stories of the week. | Now here are our stories of the week. |
| Behrouz Boochani Just Wants to Be Free He fled Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. He exposed Australia’s offshore detention camps — from the inside. He survived, stateless, for seven years. What’s next? | Behrouz Boochani Just Wants to Be Free He fled Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. He exposed Australia’s offshore detention camps — from the inside. He survived, stateless, for seven years. What’s next? |
| What Lockdown 2.0 Looks Like: Harsher Rules, Deeper Confusion Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city, is becoming a case study in handling a second wave of infections. There are lots of unanswered questions. | What Lockdown 2.0 Looks Like: Harsher Rules, Deeper Confusion Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city, is becoming a case study in handling a second wave of infections. There are lots of unanswered questions. |
| The Best Movies and TV Shows New to Netflix, Amazon and Stan in Australia in August Our picks for August, including “Project Power,” “Doctor Sleep” and “Portrait of a Lady on Fire.” | The Best Movies and TV Shows New to Netflix, Amazon and Stan in Australia in August Our picks for August, including “Project Power,” “Doctor Sleep” and “Portrait of a Lady on Fire.” |
| 3 Men Marooned in the Pacific Are Rescued After Writing SOS in the Sand Three days after their boat ran out of fuel and drifted off course in Micronesia, the men were found in good condition after a plane saw their giant plea for help spelled out on the sand. | 3 Men Marooned in the Pacific Are Rescued After Writing SOS in the Sand Three days after their boat ran out of fuel and drifted off course in Micronesia, the men were found in good condition after a plane saw their giant plea for help spelled out on the sand. |
| This Is Inequity at the Boiling Point Earth is overheating. This year is poised to be one of the hottest ever. Millions are already feeling the pain, but the agony of extreme heat is profoundly unequal across the globe. | This Is Inequity at the Boiling Point Earth is overheating. This year is poised to be one of the hottest ever. Millions are already feeling the pain, but the agony of extreme heat is profoundly unequal across the globe. |
| The Unique U.S. Failure to Control the Virus Slowing the coronavirus has been especially difficult for the United States because of missteps by the Trump administration and a tradition of prioritizing individualism. | The Unique U.S. Failure to Control the Virus Slowing the coronavirus has been especially difficult for the United States because of missteps by the Trump administration and a tradition of prioritizing individualism. |
| Witnessing Nuclear Carnage, Then Devoting Her Life to Peace Setsuko Thurlow, a survivor of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima 75 years ago, has used the power of her personal story to try to rid the world of nuclear weapons. | Witnessing Nuclear Carnage, Then Devoting Her Life to Peace Setsuko Thurlow, a survivor of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima 75 years ago, has used the power of her personal story to try to rid the world of nuclear weapons. |
| Sweatpants Forever: How the Fashion Industry Collapsed Even before the pandemic, it had started to unravel. What happens now that no one has a reason to dress up? | Sweatpants Forever: How the Fashion Industry Collapsed Even before the pandemic, it had started to unravel. What happens now that no one has a reason to dress up? |
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| For more Australia coverage and discussion, start your day with your local Morning Briefing and join us in our Facebook group. | For more Australia coverage and discussion, start your day with your local Morning Briefing and join us in our Facebook group. |