APEC Meeting and Protests

Last weekend, September 8-9, and the preceding week leaders from around the Pacific came to Sydney to the APEC meeting. It caused a great deal of excitement and a huge pain for those of us living here. A large part of downtown Sydney had streets closed off and 12 foot fences erected to control access. Bus routes and trains were rerouted or closed off. There were significant traffic delays. Despite all of that there was electricity in the air, with people going about their business with an extra bit of pep. It was very exciting to have the leaders of some of the most powerful countries in the world all in our city. Some of the leaders included, Presidents Hu Jintao, Putin, Roh, Yudhoyono, and Bush, as well as , Prime Ministers Abe, Howard, and Harper among others.
The first three photos are of downtown Sydney, aka CBD (Central Business District), during the APEC week. You can see the fences and heavy Police presence and empty streets which are usually full of traffic. The last two photos are from Saturday September 8th when there was a mass protest against APEC. There were expected to be between 10,000 and 20,000 people at the event. You can also see the very heavy Police presence at the event. Despite the large number of protesters and Police there were few incidence and only 19 people were arrested and at least 5 were later released without charges.
The police were accused of being heavy handed in that they wouldn't allow people to cross the road except at one controlled point. It was amazing to see so many people and police officers there. It was also neat to see the riot gear the police had and the huge water canon truck that was ready to be used in case of trouble. Over all an interesting experience, but I think most people are glad that it's over.

Cape Tribulation Part 2: The Rain Forest

These are some of the different areas of the Cape Tribulation rain forest, which is allegedly the oldest rain forest in the world according to our guides. There are the Mangroves which start at the beach and trap soil in their roots leading to the build up of land. These slowly give way to the eucalypti which grow among the rest of the trees, including palm trees of various sorts. Cape Tribulation is truly a place where the rain forest meets the Great Barrier Reef. Both ecosystems are awe inspiring and so varied, and yet they depend and build each other up. One of the things that was interesting about the rain forest was how busy it was. There were tons of sounds both day and night, as well as visual movement. Things were constantly changing, yet it was very peaceful at the same time.

Some one decided to throw that waterfall a bone. While Kt takes a self portrait on the ferry. There is also our little rental car taking a well deserved break, we drove it pretty hard. Some fuzzy trees with all sorts of plants growing on them. There are also some photos of prime croc habitat, but we did not see any this time. I guess this time of year it's too cold and the crocs stay buried in the warm mud. Stay tuned for part 3....

Our Trip to Cape Tribulation Part 1: The Great Barrier Reef

Here are some of our photos of our trip to The Great Barrier Reef. We just got a underwater case for our camera and so we took advantage of it. TV went scuba diving and took all the photos that have a blue tint on the dive. The rest of the water photos were taken while we both snorkeled on the reef. You will recognize the photos of the clown fish, turtle, and sting ray, but there are also good photos of brain coral, a blue starfish, razor fish that swim head down, and other underwater marvels. That's right folks KT even managed to control her fear and went snorkeling, the proof is in the photos. Stay tuned for the second installment...

A vacation from our vacation

We are off to the northern state of Queensland to investigate the Great Barrier Reef and some rain forests. We are flying to Cairns, which is mysteriously pronounced "cans", and are going to be shuffling around that area of the country for all of next week. Talk to you all when we get back!

Busy Devils!

This is video of two Tasmanian Devils at the Taronga Zoo. They are just so busy!

A La Zoo

Last weekend we decided to make a trek out to Blacktown to the Featherdale Wildlife Park. You get be up close and personal with some of the more friendly Australian animals and within inches of those that are not as nice. We tried to take home a Koala as a pet, but were caught.

NOT OKAY!

Thomas found this little fella trying to sneak into our house last night and he DIDN'T tell me until I found the pictures of it today!