APEC Weekend and Melbourne!
Last week, Sydney hosted the APEC conference. We had helicopters flying all around the city, roads being blocked off, police check points. It was nothing like I had seen before in this city so far. Whenever the presidents/prime ministers came in from the other countries, they would block off major roads for hours at a time. There was quite a bit of grumbling in this city about how much money had gone into Sydney's hosting this meeting. Even some guys on a TV show tried to break through security gates. (I don't know if you guys saw the TV show, Chaser's War on APEC, but here's a clip from youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuxqFZUW_Ug )
We were given an unofficial holiday at work because we were close to the city CBD. So with a three-day weekend, Jackson and I went to Melbourne!
This was my first trip to Melbourne and I was really excited! I had heard that it is a great city with great shopping. So...the first day, Jackson and I walked around the city, visited the Old Melbourne Gaol (Jail), went to the Pixar exhibit, and went to see Ratatouille. The next day, we took a drive out to the Dandenongs and rode on the last steam train in VIC, Puffing Billy and visited the Fairy penguins down on Phillip Island.
The penguins were ADORABLE! They would come scurrying up the beach and if they got scared for any reason, they would turn around and all of them would go running back into the water. If they mustered up the courage then they would continue waddling up the beach to their homes. My favourite little guy was this little fat one who was so out of shape that he would take a couple of steps, then lie down to catch his breath and then start all over again. The only bad part of the trip was that my sister-in-law got really sick, probably because Phillip Island was FREEZING. Otherwise...I had such a great time down in Melbourne. The city is so beautiful (especially since it wasn't raining) and the buildings are absolutely gorgeous. Te city has so much charm and history.
I can't wait to go back...
posted by Leighna @ 12:45 pm
0 Comments
