Last days in Port

Our last two days in Port were uneventful. The weather was fabulous, which unfortunately meant I spent a good deal of time hiding from it. On the plus side, this has given me ample time to finish my book. After my disappointment with Richard Dawkins’ argument or lack thereof, I thought I would try Christopher Hitchens.

‘God is not Great’ is an amusing read- 350 pages of argument can essentially be condensed to 4 objections to religious faith: ‘that it wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos; that because of this original error it manages to combine the maximum of servility with the maximum of solipsism; that it is both the result and the cause of dangerous sexual repression; and that it is ultimately grounded on wish-thinking.’

He does have some good arguments against religion, but these are somewhat overshadowed by his pompous tone. I would be surprised if Hitchens liked anything in the world, religious or otherwise. He is flawed in the same way Dawkins is flawed: by suggesting that people of faith cannot and do not acknowledge the flaws in religious belief and behaviour. He assumes that all good acts stem from humanism rather than religion, but that all bad acts are a result of religious belief. I certainly enjoyed reading his work, but I don’t think it has swayed me from my Christian agnosticism yet.

Book reviews aside, we did have some great meals in Port. On our last night, we went to Nautilus, which is an outside dining restaurant. I began my night with a 5 spice pineapple daiquari, followed by a white pepper lamb starter and followed by ‘A Taste of the Sea’: seared scallops in Japanese pepper with lotus root, plum aioli & wakame; char grilled bay bug tail al vino bianco; pan seared tiger prawns with garlic & brandy cream; grilled Reef fish with mud crab butter & cucumber noodles. By far the biggest surprise of the night, however, was Graham, who ate two of his least favourite foods- a duck starter and an entire coral trout for his main.