Rockhampton and the Biggest

Hello there,
so now we are in Rockhampton and the rain has stopped. There are blue skies today, which are nice to see. I have been collecting, and observing signs and notes of the biggest, best, most, first, etc. I thought that I would share some from one brochure on Rockhampton just to give you an idea of how common these statements are:
- The beef capital of Australia
- beside the largest and most picturesque river in Queensland
- largest studding venue in the southern hemisphere.

But the brochure does not mention that there is a large military base here. There is Shoalwater Bay Military Training area, and the US and Australia are doing military training exercises there. The largest in Australia! Protesters are there highlighting the environmental and evil associated with these actions.

Alice to Douglas

We are still on our trip around Australia and have traveled from Alice Springs, to Cairns and now we are in Port Douglas.

Port Douglas is one point of access for the Great Barrier Reef. We have not gone out on the boat since it has been rough and the woman at the travel centre recommended against it. So we went on a tour to the rainforest today.

In Alice Springs the local paper had articles on the “Pine Gap Four.” These four Christian activists were arrested breaking into Pine Gap, near Alice Springs. Pine Gap is the US military base and has 2-3000 US troops stationed there for two year assignments. In Alice Springs there were many indigenous Australians, but only white people worked in the establishments we went to. There were a lot of indigenous art galleries, with some interesting pieces. This picture is of Simpson's Gap, which is nearby.

Next we went to Cairns and it is a pretty town and stayed at a place on the beach. It was very relaxing. They had a lovely botanic garden there with lots of cool plants that would be fun to grow. We went to the market and they had lots of fresh food there; pineapples, avocados (five for $2.00), tomatoes, and exotic fruits.

Now we are in Port Douglas and unfortunately it is rainy. We did see some crocodiles on the river and they were big. Here is a picture of one.

Uluru - Ayers Rock to others....

Hello there,
so the journey around Australia has begun. Last week we went around Victoria to Bright and Euchua. Did you know that outside of Melbourne there are only white people living in these towns? We went to some grocery stores and only saw one person of colour. It is weird out there, I'm not too sure what is happening outside of Melbourne.

Here in Uluru (although many people insist on calling it Ayers Rock), there is a large tourist compound. Apparently, it is owned by a multi-national corporation. In 1985 the Commonwealth government returned the land to the traditional owners and then promptly had them sign a 99 year lease back to the government. So the tourist compound is not on the traditional land, and instead this companies land. They have a 60 year supply of water and do not recycle it. Also the power comes from a diesel generator over near the airport. So like mining, when it's gone, it's gone.

The Anangu people have a 100 person community nearby, but we did not see it. We went on a tour by with the only indigenous tour company, but most people opted for the McDonald's of tour companies -AAP. I have not seen any indigenous people working in the tourist compound, not even the 'local' artist. Also, all the guests seem to be white or Japanese. I'm not sure what that means or why....

Howard Happy with Harper for Canada's Withdrawl from the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples!

So being reported on the news here is that Howard is not that bad since Canada agrees with him. Canada is seen as a progressive country so if we agree with Howard, that means he is not entirely evil and racist (even though he is). And the international reputation of Australia is protected.

The Globe and Mail reported on June 9th that
"Canada's decision to withdraw support for the United Nations Declaration on the Right of Indigenous Peoples coincided with a visit to Ottawa by Prime Minister John Howard of Australia — a country that strongly opposes the declaration...But the United States and Australia remained staunchly opposed. And Mr. Harper walked away from his meeting with Mr. Howard believing the declaration would be problematic, the sources said...Mr. Benjamin (Craig Benjamin, an aboriginal-rights campaigner for Amnesty International) said, “You can see how important it would be to them to get a moderate state on side — a state with a positive reputation, a state that countries with much more limited technical resources were turning to for advice.”

So Harper is ruining Canada's reputation by turning us into a country like Australia. But it's ok, since that brings us closer to the Americans too. We can be like Britain and Australia, trailing after the US on their globe-trotting missions of destruction.

“The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples presents an inspiring alternative vision of collaboration and reconciliation among Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples working together to advance the rights of all,” Irene Khan, secretary-general of Amnesty International."

Sounds like the exact type of thing we want to avoid. Advancing rights....

"Mr. Harper and Mr. Howard have reportedly been fast friends since becoming acquainted at a 2005 meeting for the International Democratic Union, a forum for conservative leaders."

I didn't even know they had a forum for conservative leaders, (apparently Howard is the chair)sounds like a good time. I bet they eat endangered animals and cackle a lot. Good times....