time goes by...איך הזמן רץ כשנהנים

last last nice (acharon acharon chaviv?)

hello everybody,

this time no stories, we'll tell you about Sydney in Hebrew. and we don't really have time, in half an hour we're on our way to the airport.

just wanted to do this "last post from our travel", while we are still in vacation and before we'll be like most of you- working, sweating and jealous in those who have more freedom then us...

but we must say that from here it doesn't sound so bed, this "working" thing... we'll probably change our mind three days from now.

so that's it, see you all next week, in Hebrew, after we'll wake up from our jet-leg sleep.

salamat,

shachaf and ofer

easy peasy

hello everybody!

instead of going straight to a farm, we decided to take a free easy weekend at the Goldshmidts Errol and Zillah, at their home an hour north of Sydney. it was great. we wanted a rest from the long holiday, and we got exactly what we needed. just relax. thank you very much for that!

then we went on to our last farm, for a 'so called' "Havaya Metakenet" of the wwoofing experience.

only few days before the end of our travel and we still learn every day something new...
here, we learned a lot about human beings. did you know that human is a very social creature? people must have company, someone who'll listen to them, someone they can listen to him. not necessary a partner for life, or a great love. just someone ... to talk too.

otherwise... well... it's just not good!

no, we didn't changed our flight and spent some time with the Dali-lama. apparently you can get to the same conclusions just by spending a week (actually it was less then a week but who counts) with a crazy lonesome woman!!!

a little tip for you from us, for free, just because we like you - never go do wwoofing* with a woman who lives alone with a dog named "butterfly"!!!

we used to think of ourselves as very good listeners, we love to hear stories and learn more about... things. but not (!!!!!) when the person (in this case - a crazy woman) who tells them can't stop talking, and keeps repeating himself. lucky for us there was a very nice German girl with us, so we could listen in shifts, you know - 4-8 or so..

we got to her after the very bad wwoofing experience in the desert (look in the previous post), and hoped for someone nice who will talk with us... she was very nice (she really was) but most of the time it seems as if she talk to herself... and to the dog.

so, after a week (or less) of "easy peasy weeding", one "yaniv" game with the German girl, and lots of silence (from our side), we left her with her little dog (it was more little then a chicken!) and hips of unused furniture (which she keeps for no reasonable reason), and came back to Sydney.

we try to take from every experience its best. well - we must say that she was very nice, and we ate pretty good... and after listen to her complains about the whole world (and its sister...) we learned to except all human beings, no matter religion, race or sex. just because we don't want to end up like she did - unaware to our behavior.

we wish you all the same,

never stop listen,

and always have someone to talk to!

see you soon (very soon..)

shachaf and ofer

Life in a campervan isn't as easy as you think, and also life in the desert

hi everybody!

people say that life is all about ups and downs. well, our last days here defiantly had some very big ups which fallowed by very big downs! and by that we don't mean just the regular "down under" which we got very used to.

it all started when we left Adelaide with a 6 people campervan (it means that 6 people can live happily inside it, and we, as we hope you all remember, are only two). inside it we had a kitchen (better than we saw in some of the backpackers we've been to), 3 double beds (we tried only two of them), a shower (hot water and everything) and of course - DVD and PS2, because how can you spend the time in this dessert with out it? that was the 'up' part.. (see ,relocation deal*)

for three days we drove through nothing (really - nothing!). the only reason we couldn't see the end of it is only because the curve of the earth, or the ability of the human eye... any way -

we even didn't have radio and our mp3 died in NZ, so you can imagine the fun... after 48 hours you stop to "enjoy the silence" and start believe that the sound of "ein klita" is a great music. that was the start of the downs, so we thought, only because we didn't know what's waiting for us...

somewhere between "nothing with trees" to "nothing with some bush", we saw that we have a flat tire, or to be more precised - a totally ruined tire that there is no chance we did it to it!!! after waisting almost 3 hours in a place that in the map looks like little town but in reality is just a gas station, we replaced it (actually the replacing thing we did on the road, like in the movies, in the middle of the desert) and even got the money back from the company (200$ doesn't walk on foot, you know) after talking with almost everyone in that company. apparently, when it comes to insurance it's the same all over the world and they would always find the way to make you pay for the damage.

so, you can imagine the down it was...

the day after, we walk up very early ( or very late at night, depends who you ask...) and went to see the sunrise on the Uluru, or Ayrs rock (again - depends... ). which is a huge red rock in the middle of oz, looks and feels like you stand right in the hart of this land. it is a very sacred place for the aboriginal and they even ask you not to climb on it, but then - they built the way up and they take allot of money to see it so we thought - everybody do it anyway and it is a great climb and the money probably goes to the drunk aboriginal in Alice spring so - we walked up and it was great! after it we did a little walk in the "olgas" (or Kata jota..) - another big-red-amazing-rocks-in -the -middle of -the -desert -that -important -to -the -aboriginal, and saw the sunset on them. the thing with the sunset and sunrise is that the rocks get a very special colors in those hours. it is really beautiful. and also - everybody do it so you just can't not do something that all the other tourist do!!!!

next day we went to Kings canyon, a nice short walk in a red canyon. the first place we saw here and wasn't very excited about... it was beautiful but not amazing as everyone say.

now - you need to understand that all of those places are at least an hour drive from each other - it looks close on the map, but we (shachaf..) drove the distance of Israel almost 4 times those days (2400 km!). and we still haven't decide if that was an "up" or"down".

at the end we got to Alice springs. the 'big' city in the middle of the desert. the biggest attraction in it, except the fact that she contains people and not just gas station and a kiosk, is the number of aboriginal there (or the way the locals here call them - the black fellows, very politically correct). we stayed there one night in a house full with french guys and snakes... (we can explain but it's late and it's also much more fun to let you imagine that and brake your head about it).

after a really good experience with the wwoofing* we did, we went to a farm near Alice spring (300 k"m... near. oh - and just 80 k"m off-road into the desert from the main road). now, if until that point we thought that drunk people in the street, flat tire, snakes near the dinner table and a broken mp3 are things to complain about, it's only because we still didn't see that farm. for 4 days we were alone with a weird family, which pretty much treated us as slaves or just as bad workers and didn't really speak with us. the only point of light there was a stuff worker, a nice Cristian boy, that we could actually talk with. but also his relationship with them was... weird.

the woofing is all about both sides give what they can - we work for free, they give accommodation and food. but somehow they didn't see it that way and it took us 24 hours to understand that we must get out of there, or they'll give us to the dingos. we booked a flight to Sydney and asked them to take us to the main road (not a simple task at all! ) and only when we got again to the "french guys and snakes" house, we knew we saved!

now - the french guys house (it's already morning so we have time to explain)is actually a house belongs to john - a really nice and welcoming man we found through the "couch surfing"*. apparently the guy hosts lots of people in his home, when we were there we met Germans, Belgiums, french, Sweden and snakes... a little tip for you - when you're traveling, try to meet people from France and ask them if they can cook dinner, you won't regret!!!!

and now - much earlier then we planed, we are back home in Sydney, at the goldshmidts mark and margo. hoping to find a farm around the city, to finish with good memories from the wwoofing*.

if you don't believe us, or just wanna see it:

http://picasaweb.google.com/shachafby/OZIntoTheOutback?feat=directlink

hag shavu'ot same'ach!!!

eat some milkey for us too.

see you soon,

really soon!

shachaf and ofer and Billy-Joe (the camper van...)

koala in action

Back to the third (and biggest..) island

Hello there everybody,

we found one thing that Israel is better at from NZ - we have a train to our airport and it works all night!!! they don't!

that's how we've found ourselves waiting for our flight from 2200 until 0630... yes, it's a long time waiting for 4 hours flight. good thing we still had some leftovers from our "tim tam evening" (the results of the competition, by the way, were that you shouldn't eat so many kinds of timtam all together. it just make you feel very sick!!)

the next morning we landed in the big flat land of Australia, directly to the gorgeous city - Melbourne.

the start wasn't very good (crazy winds, lots of rain, and a terrible backpacker*, which we left as fast as we could after a night without sleep).

but then we went to a great Sunday market, discovered that we can be excited from the amount of shops just as we were from the greatest mountains in NZ (the gozal almost cried from the Birkenstock store... almost as beautiful as in mt.cook and the cascade saddle...), lost some money in the casino and than earned it back the day after, did some gyro, saw some dinosaurs and other horrible creatures in the museum, met funny Israelis (one that used to work with ofer in aroma!), went to some free jazz festival shows and mostly were very surprised from the numbers of people that live there

Melbourne is huge and we could stay there longer but we don't have so much time here and we had to start the "great ocean road" which is exactly the way it sounds - along the coast. from somewhere after Melbourne and little bit before Adelaide (ye - almost 700 k"m before...).

it's a beautiful road with great views of the ocean (some time you drive really close to the sea and on the same level!) that is actually really good for surfers, because you suppose to stop in the beach and... surf. but we don't really have the time for that and, ya... we don't really know how to surf...

the main reason for us to stop was the koalas, which we saw a lot and couldn't have enough of that nice lazy bear (they mostly sleep all day long after eating the eucalyptus leaves that makes them get high - just like drugs), and saw some shadows that appear to be small penguins colony (that we waited for them for almost two hours and gave up already.

it took us 3 days to get to Adelaide from Melbourne, where we are now... well - 1 hour from the city, here it means that we are just near it.

we live with a very nice family, at their house, and do some "wwofing"* here.

surprisingly, we are the first Israelis they have at their farm so we found ourselves teaching them about the history of Israel and the middle east (from our point of view, of course...!) and even some Hebrew.

on Saturday we are going up north to the desert, the outback - heading to Alice springs. we did a relocation deal, so we have a camper van for 5 days and we pay a ridicules money for that...

from there we planed to go norther to Darwin but than we found out that there are 25 kinds of frogs and sweet-water alligators over there so now the gozal not really sure if she wants to go there at all... so, we'll see.

well, that's it for now.

hope you're all good over there

see you all in less than a month...

shachaf and ofer

Goodbye pork pie, hello OZ

Few hours before we leave this country, to the bigger island in this ocean, we want to say few words..

First, we sold the car, so called Menashe, which was a sad and happy thing, at the first day we tried, in the car market in Auckland.

Second, we re-booked our flight as early as we can.

And third, we relaxed. as much as we could, in this wonderful place in beach-haven, which is a 20min drive on the high-way from the city, but still, a suburb of Auckland.

an amazing-young family with four little boys.

they gave us great hospitality, even when they where gone for two days, and another perspective about rising up children...

so, beside relaxing and baby-sitting, we traveled the big city a bit, had some Chinese food, that seems to be the locals food in this city, visit the museum (also been at the Holocaust room due to the date) and went back home.

during that time, we had to finish all of our spare food, which appear to fill us up, and of course, the Tim-tam event!

today we went to the ANZAC march and service, and experienced a different memorial day.

Now, right before the main part of our journey is about to end, we can say out loud that it was an excellent choice to come all the way over here.

plenty of outstanding-different-powerful views in such a small land, that surprises us every time.

we know that we got a lot to see around the world, and we will, but , still, a good start...

until the next time, from Melbourne

take care

shachaf and ofer

hard to find in new zealand:

some of the things took us lots of time to find, some we didn't even try to find, and some we understood at the end that are just not exist here...

tehini,

kiwi (the bird),

desert,

bridge with more then one lane,

road with more than two lanes,

town with a clear and easy to pronounce name,

a hole week without rain,

nice and useful DOC people,

orange triangles in the other side of the river,

weather forecast for more than 3 days,

locals who leave at the same place they were born,

locals who love (or at list like) Australia,

people that you can understand what they say,

people that talk with cellphones on the streets,

mt without bush (we don't count volcanoes... and even they have it sometimes!),

coin phone,

cheap vegetables,

free hot springs,

libraries with free Internet,

a road without constructions

or camper vans

or dad animals and wild birds on them...,

a strait road,

alive possums,

high buildings,

a place with out scenic flights

or bunjy jumping

or sky diving

or kayaks,

dumpsters,

Japanese without a camera,

small trolleys in Pack & Save.

to finish with a good point of view-

easy to find in NZ:

Israelis

and sheep!

Matana la'Hag! she'haya...

"it wasn't me, it's the earth that stinks"

hi everybody

it's been a long time since the last time we wrote ... or maybe it was just a week but for us it feels much longer.

in case you were worried about us, and we know you were, we did a "seder kahalacha", if you call a great dinner (chicken with fruits and batata in the oven) with some songs and religious talking with two Cristine couple "kahalacha"... and we also took some "hofesh pesach" from our trip and did a hole day of nothing watching stupid local sope operas on tv (did you know that there is still "neighbours"?!?). so you can all calm down, we had a great pesach!

last time we said that we're planing to climb to the taranaki mt, but again - the weather. two days before we got there the mt summit covered with snow and they told us the next time we can climb it is the next summer (their, not ours, which means - December). we had to laugh, this time, on our "good luck", and did another tiyul that goes as high as we could without the special gear. but we had great views, saw this great mt really close to us, and did some snow walking . actually it was quiet enough snow walking for us, you can't believe how fast it goes from "oo, look at that snow" to - "fuck, i hate that snow, i can't feel my legs and where the hell is that stupid hut?"

well, finally when we arrived to the hut (so far - the last one for us) it was great, with nice people, fire place and, of course "timtam shel yom shishi". this time it was the hazelnut - mmmmmmmmmm, almost a winner!

from there - we went east to the tongariro - ye, another volcano. we did it in one day and decided that this time we are going to "see the white in the eyes" to that mt. so we climbed it (not the tongariro, another one which is higher and better but we really can't pronounce it's name... sorry) and this time we could actually see the steams comes out of it. this whole day was amazing and left us with the feeling that we are very little on that huge globe. we walked between steaming lakes, cold lava and great craters when all the time we could smell the stink that comes from the earth. scary and beautiful at the same time.

from there - up north to taupo, where we found matan (that traveled with the davar in oz) and a great deal in dominos pizza (the second one for free!!).

... and norther to rotorua, where we looked for free (or at least cheap!) hot springs. a very hard task in that tourism monster. thanks to the lonely planet we've found one. the davar was very excited and immediately jumped to the hot water but the gozal thought that it looks and smells to much like a stream that comes from tul karem - bad!!!

now, after we tried to get out of this very smelly area and spent another night in the home of a very nice "hit" couple, we're in Auckland. shocked from that huge city (now we know where are all the locals hiding...) hope to sell our car this week, so if you know any one... it's in a really good condition!!!

that's it for now,

wish us good luck tomorrow,

shachaf, ofer and menashe (the car...)

everywhere you go, always take the weather with you

After 7 weeks we decided that it's just too much, we couldn't see any more of that amazing, beautiful, breathtaking views... so we left to the north island, where there more people and volcanoes and less mountains and send flies.

the last day in the south we spent doing kayaking in Charlot sound (an like fiords, the sounds were made due to water floods and the rising of the sea level so it looks different... if you want to know). we must say that it looks nice but it's actually can be really scary when you're out on the sea (for the gozal...) and really hard work with your hands (for the davar...), but like one of the Israelis here told us - a "chavaia" is a "siyut" in the past... but it was fun and no ferry or wail killed us, so...

the next day we took a ferry from picton, saw some dolphins on the way (no pictures this time, you'll just have to believe us, but there were a lot of them, really!) and after 3 hours we were in Wellington, the capital city and for us - the first real city in NZ, where you can actually see buildings with more then 4 flours and rodes with more then 2 lanes, amazing...

we stayed there in a "hit" member house (the organization we told you about... nice people, religious, love Israel) which looked like a combination of a temple and a sport hole. we also had a very (very!) weird tour around the town with one of his friends... well, it's just too hard to explain, lets just say that we're alive, out of wellington and every thing's OK now!

we started to go up north, and again pray for the good weather (our new hobby here), this time for mt.Taranaki, one of the volcanoes here which is still "working" (last time was in the 80's) and we hope to climb on it and see if it's true. don't worry, many people do that, and if we survived wellington we'll survive everything!!!

but in the meanwhile we're waiting for the sun in whanaganuy, very tired from the south island (we think maybe we have a "jet leg"...), doing some "chofesh pesach" from the trip, and maybe we'll do the Seder some where here... still don't know.

we hope you all ready know where you'll be, but where ever it'll happened -

hag same'ach!!!!!!!!!!

eat for us,

drink for us

and shana ha'ba'a beramat-gan habnuya

(the davar got in to tlv university!!!!!!!)

davar ve gozal

Belief is a good thing as long as you are a beliver

We started to believe. so, at the first time we have been in wanaka and the mt Aspiring NP - the weather was very bad so we did nothing there, and after that we met way too many people that told us that it is so beautiful and we must travel there, especially the Cascade Saddle - we decided to go all the way from nelson to wanaka (a day and a half of driving), and pray for good weather over there.
on the first day we climb to the Brewster hut, which was amazing, but we couldn't decide what was more breath-taker - the climb or the view! (pics on the end of the last album)
then we spent the whole weekend in wanaka, thanks, again, to a shitty weather. but in this time, we manage to play candy-poker (which gozal won and earned the ninth-weakly-timtam [the timtam here is price less, about 5-6 shekels each and there is big variety!]), a movie in a special-coaches-cinema with huge-amazing-hot cookies at the break time.
When the good weather came we went to the mt Aspiring NP, spent the night in the hut, and on the morning, with not too good forecast, we decided to take the risk and climb to the divine Saddle.
WOW! it was worth it, as you might see in the photos.after a hard climb with heavy clouds we made it. god was with us (or just wrong NZ weather forecast) and gave us clear sky!
and for desert we had, again, the red-star burger, as you can see, and 'Cascade project' had succeed.
we drove back north throw the west coast, we saw some dolphins (try to find them on the beach pictures..), and hips of sand flies.
Now, in nelson, two days before going on a ferry to the north island, relaxing and eating some meat-pies (delicious!)
the frequency of our writing and photos uploading isn't measured by the amount of beautiful places and adventures we are having, but by the amount of free Internet library we find.
so there is some nice photos on:
http://picasaweb.google.com/shachafby/CascadeProjectLoopingAgainTheSouthIsland?feat=directlink
no, we don't know where we gonna do the Seder, looking for an Hagada, and planing a really good dinner.

Hag sameh!
goz&dav

few photos for now

still on the same 'little' island

So, we left Suky, Brent and Hugh, and now for the last time, probably :-(
this is definitely the place to tell them ( and you..) how much they helped us, and gave us much more than just soft landing! the guidness they gave, the knowledge they have, the warm and cosy hospitality were a lot more than we could ask for, and we hope they'll come to Israel, so we can give them back as much as we can.
From there we continued to Arthur's Pass. an historical pass in the southern alps, and one of the only places even today that you can cross these mountains from east to west. this is what makes this erea so amazing, and in three hours we went from beach to snowing mountains and huge rivers, and again into rain forests and great ocean. the eyes almost can't catch it all in such a short time. We stooped in the mountains for three days, and did a beautiful Tiyul-Gadol, with two Saddles (that seems as if competing who will give us the best view), and we walked two big rivers up to the place they start from, so we could see how those 'monsters' are just little streams at its beginning (even in Israel terms..). for these two days we were all alone and it was a great feeling to have those mountains for miles all to ourselves (+30 beds hut as well).
we loved it, but our bodies thought quite the opposite. the gozal ruined her left knee on the way down (a long way down..) and the davar did the same to his right ankle. now together we are a whole cripple person! lovely..
From there we headed down to the west coast, for a two-days-cripple-trip along the shore.
here you can't say 'tiyul-zkenim' because the old people are doing pretty much.
we, actually, found out that this country is so amazing that you can be excited and surprised, even without hurt your body so much (for the crazy-Israeli-trampers attention..)
from the comfortable seat in the car, and a little walk, we still could see two glaciers in the middle of the rain forest, rocks that looks like lots of pancakes, a seal colony that we were happy to see that can be seen also we there is sun in the sky, and one crazy-wild food-festival that looks like purim with the costumes and drinking stuff (try to imagine a small town full with 50,000 people all drunk and looking for wild-food).
The glaciers, Franz josef and Fox, aren't as people usually think, are created due to heavy snow and special climates in the valley. the regular soundtrack around the glaciers is usually avalanche because of the 'work' of the glacier on the rocks, and lots of tourist helicopters that you can almost think you are in an air-force base, or at least in the middle of a war.
A trip in the car can be really exusting, and again its started to rain, so we head to go north to golden-bay, and take a rest. golden-bay is located in the north-west corner of the south island, and has beautiful beaches. beside sleep and making ourselves a really good burgers dinner (the hardest part was to buy them - when you have to pronounce BURGERS with this tooth breaking accent). we went to seethe farewell spit, a long and thin bay that made mostly of sand and has interesting and different shapes in high or low tide. traveled around in Takaka, a very nice and beautiful town, and of course, we found a home-made chocolate factory...
Now, after resting enough, we could start the Abel-tasman, or as the kiwis* called it - the most beautiful tramp, well not exactly. the abel-tasman suppose to be a tiyul-gadol along the tasman bay, but in fact, it goes mostly in the bush and we did it in a day and a half. except the last hour - when we walked on a great cliff above amazing blue water, one interesting experience in the high-tide, and one great sunrise in the morning, it was pretty boring. the hitch-hiking that we did before and after it was much more interesting and faster than we could do it with our car!
Now we really needed to rest. from this boring bush, we went to a nice old couple in a farm south to nelson, that we've found throw the 'Hit' booklet. we spent there one night in separate rooms for unmarried couples.. and left them to Nelson lakes.
thanks to a very nice Israeli couple that we met there, we've changed our plan, and earned a great Tiyul-gadol, with freezing river-crossing at 7:00 am , a beautiful bush walking (hard to find), and very interesting climbing between water falls to the amazing Angelus hut, and its alpine lakes.
we couldn't decide what was better, the way to the hut, or the way down, when we could see the view in both sides of the ridge until the sea that is very far away. we also met there only nice Israelis, that made this place even better.
Now , back down to Wanaka, waiting for good weather, to see some more beautiful places.
why? when? where? how?
that will be written on our next 'article'...
pictures will be upload as soon as we can...
bye bye
davargozal

beans, beef and rise can really warm-up your cold nights in a tent

purim same'ch!!!!!!

we celebrated it with these ozney haman that we made (not amazing but nice for first time... maybe some more milk in the pereg and more knowing how to make them could help...) and of course - with a glass of 'pinot-noar' wine that we bought throw the way, at suki's house (we know it's not enough alcohol for purim but it's the best we could do).

but the best purim celebration was to climb up to muler hut which is the highest you can get to see mount cook (the highest MT in new zealand - 3700m or something) if you're a normal person. within 3 hours, though, everybody say it's 4 and more but we are so good!, we made it to the 'top' ...and in shape, jyro is hard, you know.

you find yourself standing in front of stunning views and around you just snow, great mountains, few clouds and, how not, few israeli guys!

words can't really express this beauty. and to think that we got there by a mistake... we were suppose to start the 'galispi's pass' tiyul gadol on mnt aspiring and because of the surprising bad weather we headed up to suki. but on the way we passed the closest town to "cook" and found out that the weather for tomorrow is good for climbing (just when we started to curse this crazy unpredictable weather and all the mauries gods). we changed plans, again, and in less then an hour we were driving near amazing light blue lake, towards a huge snow mountain.

maybe the mauri's gods aren't so bad because we had great weather (for mount cook, in Israel we would call it - "what are those crazy winds?") and during the climbing there was sun and amazing views, we couldn't ask for better tiyul katan*...

our knees maybe could, we almost lost them in the way down...

from there - to suki, as we planed, to the warm shower, good food (it was more than good - we got apple crumble when we just got into the house that night. don't worry, we'll have the matkon and you'll eat that too) and a very comfortable bed.

now, after resting one day we hope to find good weather in the mountains and climb another one...

till then, you can check out some new photos(there two new albums, but one is a missing part from christchurch with its incredible botanic gardens), respond to them, or to our blog, and you can even send us an email, if you are so into it, like most of you... or not...

whatever...

we are still having fun, with or without..

so, drink and celebrate ad-lo-yada, also for us!

hag-same'ah!

davar and gozal

!here comes the sun!

hello to you all!
since the last time we wrote, we drove up north in the fiordland to the famous Milford sound, which is actually a fiord( and not a sound), that was created by a glacier, but the British, who discover it, weren't aware to it.
anyway, it was amazing sailing in this fiord, even though, it was cloudy and raining (again...) and due to that we saw much more streams of water around us!
now, if we would tell you that for the next four nights, we slept in few different lakes beaches, with beautiful sunrises and sunsets, you probably think its cost us a lot, but it is surprisingly amazing what you can do with 10$ and a tent!!! (and what about beef steaks with mashed potatoes with fried onion for two people for about 15 shekels total!).
when the rain stopped, we decided not to do the obvious thing - another tiyul gadol, and to spend these sunny days in few towns around.
we left the fiordland, with its rain and tones of sand flies (know we know what is it 'akitzot begodel shel kombain'!), and drove norther to queenstown. no, we skipped all these sky-divind and bunji-jumping (looking at others doing it was scary enough..). from there to glenorcy, arrowtown and chromwell, which surrounded with a lot of vineyards, and of course, we had a nice wine tasting in one of the wineries.
a bit dangerous thing to do on the morning..
now, in wanaka, hoping for good weather for another tiyul-gadol, we'll see... and you'll see the pictures...

so, shabat-shalom!
hoping for more sun for us, while more rain for you...
shachaf+ofer

mamash lo bakivun*

hi kulam
4 days of rain! it's not rain that you can say - OK, I'll stay here for 15 min it will be over, no! 4 days without sun, not even a little bit above the clouds. so, we thought that it won't be so smart go up the mountains, as we planed and as we told you the last time... and - from oumaru we drove on the east cost to Dunedin (that we also told you) and hoped for better weather which didn't really come.
but apparently it helped us see much more.
the otago peninsula and the Catiline's (on the east coast) are not only beautiful beach line with amazing cliffs and bays, it's also the place to see wild life. and the bad weather for us is a very good one for them. so, we had two days of traveling on great beaches in a crazy weather and we saw many seals and some penguins, but the most amazing were the sea lions which are so big and fat, you can't believe 'till you see that.
as we found out that it is gonna be good weather, we decided to skip steward island and head up to the famous fiordland.so we moved to the west coast, and the sun came out, when we almost forgot that its exist...
on the next day, after a good night in an amazing backpacker, we started the Kepler Tiyul Gadol*. It were four beautiful days, included steep climbs, outstanding view of mountains, lakes, rivers, skies etc, while spending the night in these cosy, crowded and expensive huts. we were glad to hear that this is a pretty hard tramp for beginners, for us it wasn't that bad, and we enjoyed it very much.
now, back in the same backpackers, relaxing and preparing ourselves for the next days, in fiordland, hoping for good weather, that will give us a purpose to climb up some more mountains.
but, one of the main adventures, happened in Dunedin. we went to visit the Cudbery chocolate factory, which was terribly tasty, and we earned some extra snacks, by answering the guide questions, and for volunteering to hold the door!

that all for now,
until the next free-internet-library,
shabat-shalom from lake te-anau
davar vegozal

new photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/shachafby/NZSouthIsland1?feat=directlink

we've found them

hi everybody

we are very very happy to say we've found two very very nice Israelis who didn''t have a "track competition" with us (which we always loose at...) and gave us the feeling that we are doing the right thing by not going with a "track list" and a "kotzim batachat" as it seems that all the others do...
we know we promised to start tracking but the weather here thought exactly the apposite and it was to dangerous to go to the mountains now so we've found ourselves in a beautiful town call oamaru. it used to be a gold mining town but when they didn't have any gold to fined they just left and everything is now as it used to be than. the buildings here are amazing, like Europe in the other end of the world. it's defiantly the perfect place to stay at when the rain just doesn't stop...
so we're in a great backpacker* which is in an old hotel and it is very worm and cosy and the Internet is free so what do we need more? yesterday we had a "yom shishi dinner" with the two nice Israelis (we think the lonely planet should write about them so other people can see them too) and one of them was (a very big surprise) udi, the one who travelled with davar in ozi. we met him when we went to see penguins last evening. well... we saw 3, one from really close, but we found one udi so it was worth it, and immediately we took him with us to dinner (did you know that from rice, eggplant, wine and meet you can make the best meal?).
so from here we're going south do Dunedin (all the Israelis here call it - dani din... i thought i started with that but then everybody say that, it's just the way the map says...) and hoping to see more sea animals because there are a lot of them in the otago peninsula (google that...) and when the rain will stop we can compit the other crazy Israelis.
shabat shalom lekulam. we're going to eat a shabat breakfast in an old bakery we've found yesterday (near the whiski and the wool factory...).
oh, and we were in the most beautiful botanic gardens, promise the pictures soon!
yalla by!
davar and gozal and the rain...

just keeping you informed, you polish mothers!!!

The following information is relevant only for our parents, and for those how like details, so if you aren't in one of these categories - you can skip this...

since we arrive NZ we have been staying at Suky's place in the Banks Peninsula, at Robinson Bay, Tizzard rd, and spent a lot of time in the nearest beautiful town Akaroa. you are more than welcome to 'google' these places.

Right now, we are in the big city - Christchurch, and hopefully, gonna leave on Friday to MT Cook, for our first self-trek, unless the weather will think different.

Today, in our first day in the city, and without suky's help, we managed to buy a station-wagon, and the needed gear for our trip!

So, after a long sub-way and a big Starbucks coffee, we found ourselves in a big library, trying to plan our trip here and shachaf's studding in Tlv...

in the mean, we are trying to avoid the huge amont of israelies that insist to tell us how great thier trip is, and how many treks they've already done. and believe us, this is not a very simple mision, when most of the car cellers called oded, netanel, eran and so on... and moreove, the car market is located in Asaf St!!!

so, form the farest israeli settlement, we wish you all the rain that gonna fall here on our new rain-pants!

saionara

davar aher ve uf gozal

As time goes by in the Kiwi* land

hi everybody,
i really like that thing that you all answer us the moment you got the mail. such good friends, really, this great love off yours gives us the energy to write more and especially reminds us what great friends waiting for us at home. and please - don't give us these bullshit about "we're busy and not all the world is around you guys and when we we're there you didn't write so now you know how it feels" because when you where here (or there...) we read everything so... let's not go under for the little ones, sababa? sababa!
any way - we know the Autumn is one month from us now (here, not there...) and that we suppose to be really nervous and start our big trip before we'll froze in the south, but we're having so much fun in Suky's* home that we just don't really care about the near future. this house is like a new-Zealand tzimmer, but a really good one, and we also get guiding about the native plants, history and Kiwi's* slang which are all in the same priority... we even understand now almost everything they say...
so yesterday we walked around the property and marked the territory with the dog (you know, a small little 100 acres...) and today we had a Little trip to a sleeping volcano right up the house and had an amazing look of the pacific ocean ('till now we saw only the Tasman sea which is in the other side of the island). now we're looking for a car that will make our life much easier but in the mean while we don't care to spend more time in our tzimer... pancakes in the morning and burgers at night and trips around the farm to the bay nearby.
we have nothing else to say, and we are pretty tired, so goodnight.
PS who is our prime minister...?
chao
shoosh and muki*

When two become one

Hi everybody, it's ofer...
now i know how it works - you pack your bag, you give a lot of thought to what you're going to take, how many pants and t-shirts, "should i take another one from this? and what if I'll get cold? isn't it summer there? i think i need to by more like this... but i don't have enough place for everything! fuck! and it's too heavy! fuck fuck fuck!". and then you come to hong kong and they solve it all by throwing half of you're stuff away. such good people in hong kong, you should go there too, send them my love... and if you see some hand lotion, tooth paste and a sunscreen - please bring them to me! they're mine! not the hong kong goverment's property, even if they tell you so!!! antishemim kulam ani omeret lachem, ma yesh? az yarinu al kama aravim, big dil (i know its 'deal'...) im hayu yorim til ehad al hong kong hem kvar hayu lokhim lekol haolam et hakrem yadaim , zonot! veod shel dr fisher leor ragish!
lucky me, i had a "havaya metakenet" with the new zealands which decided to go further, and open my big bag just to see i didn't bring any bacterias with me...
you can tell in Israel that the Hezbollah did his revenge - he sent the costume workers around the world against us!
but now I'm here, in this amazing 'hand-made' house, which every view from the window here is like a picture. so i don't have Dr fisher, but i have my Davar and that's what counts.
In the meantime, shachaf, so called davar, or shakof, had spent his last day in Aussie by himself in the big city. He found himself sitting in the Texas Hold'Em Poker's table in the Brisbane casino. and in two hours, while he was showing these amateurs some trick's from the EGPCA, his 100$ turned into 300$! Lucky Shachaf is back in business! tired and happy, he went home, for his bed, and in few hours, he was on the way to the airport, for the big event. and the rest has been said...
So now, we are in our relative's beatiful place, some of us is trying to plan the trip, and the others are trying to fix their jetleg..

hope to update you with some good news and amazing photos ASAP.
until then
may the shwartz be with you
goz&dav

!Always was, always will be - Aboriginal lands!

Hi there!
first some new photos, which i think you should look at after you read, or while.., on the following link, enjoy:
http://picasaweb.google.com/shachafby/AustraliaEastCoast3?feat=directlink

since the last time i wrote, a lot had happened.. well, ya... as time is passing by, that what usually happens...
Brisbane, the big city, third after Sydney and Melbourne, which i had to figure what am i gonna do form Jan 18Th, the day we arrived there, till Feb13Th, my flight to NZ - about three weeks.
the first few days we, me, matan and udi, spent together, relaxing in the hostel, drinking beers in the brewery, saying goodbye to our van and exploring the city.
Then i moved t Juliana's place, which she is Eli's friend. she treated me excellent, while joining her lifestyle, an activist, organic, environmental - was very special for me. that included: organic food, few chocks on the garden, documentary film about the west bank + discussion, with humus at her friends. protesting with the Aborigines during Australia day, bicycle as the mine transportation device, and so on...
after joining the wwoof organization, i started looking for a farm for the next wo weeks. after two days I've found myself in a cattle farm, just me and Ian, his dog and a hundred cows herd. we had really good time together, gardening, axing, slashing grass and blackberries with the John Deer tractor that i missed so much from the ostrich farm in ein-gev. having mutual meals with some beer and wine.
on the weekend the family had joined us, and spent together the time ping0pong, horses riding, composting and relaxing.
after one week there, i had to move on, so i went to Ian's friends farm, for the rest of my time. an American/Australian couple with a Swedish guy, that used to sail together for may years, that decided to build up a farm. so that what we are doing! it is very interesting to be in a farm while its been built up, with no farmers. and more over when they don't really know how it is gonna look like. so me and three other Swedish wwoofers helping them. the place works only on solar energy, rain water and human effort!
after making them some eggplant with tehini (=thina)and making good coffee with their espresso machine, i got my spot here, and I'm having good time, thou, we are working pretty hard, but getting some benefits...

so here i am, until Thursday, enjoying my coffee...
can't wait to see Ofer and NZ..
miss you all.
really,
only here i can actually understand how lucky i am.
hope to hear from you soon

next mail will be from the southern island of NZ, so hold on!
shachaf (or shakof, or jakof, or jakob - the way my name been pronounce here..)

way does it always rain on me...?

i don't want to sound like a little girl, or like a poor boy that consider everything going around him self (like i usually do...), but i feel like this storm is chasing us;
we had rain everywhere, including the sunshine coast...! and its summer now. (and i don't want to hear all these talking about tropical weather..monsoons... - summer need to be sunny and clear!).
so, what i had so far(probably not all and not in the right timeline): ...
after the sailing we went north to cairns. saw the Australia movie, dived two times in the great barrier reef. woke up in the flood to our knees, and wanted to go north, but we just couldn't, so we tried south, but it was flooded too. so, after another night in cairns, and another on the highway, we managed some how to escape out from the storm. or at least we thought that we did..
so many strange animals lives here, beside those that we all know, so i wouldn't tell here about each one.
so we continued our way to the big city Brisbane, stopping here and there.
about all the adventures that going on here i will tell later, when i will have more time and upload the relevant photos...
for now, you can see some here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/shachafby/EastCoast2?feat=directlink

soon i will be volunteering in a farm that i need to find, for the next three weeks until my flight to NZ.

so keep on touch, because most of you aren't showing much action in this blog, and don't tell me its boring... - you can make it not!!!
new ideas will be happily accepted

that all for now
i wish i could give you some of the rain that falling here... that not fair...

no worries
shachaf

The left side is the right side, and the right side is the wrong side

hello my dear friends...
the title of this letter is my main thing here, while you are driving, and believe me, it isn't as simple as it seems...
I got this moto thanks to uncle Phill (just an Aussie old man that we met in one of the hostel)
a lot of beer was drank since the last time I wrote here, so I'll try to do my best.
we are now three Israelis on our wicked van, since we met Udi in the koala's hospital in 'Port sheker kolshehu', and he joined us for the rest of our trip in the van.
I'll try not to use names of places that would say nothing for you,that you'll wonder if I'm still in Australia(that usually happens with letters from hutzla'aretz)
we are just heading north, hitting the gas paddle, while stopping in the best points, for a day or two, or even just for a '4/5$ domino's large pizza'(which is about 13 shekels!!! it's hard not to..)
We had three days in Byron bay, which brings many tourist to its wonderful beaches (and we got a ticket for camping on the street..).
then we went to Nimbin which is a very small Hippies town, and there I realized that hippie means someone that smokes drugs all his life!..and not just a happy and peaceful person..oh, one the way there we had rain that wouldn't be smaller than the Mabul Noah had with the Teiva!
Tweed Heads is a nice city that divided between the two 'states' New South Wales and Queensland, and the important thing is that on is using summer-clock, and the other not, so there is one street with two times zones!!
another two days in Noosa, that we built up Hakot for ourselves, and were fishing us a great dinner.
Fraser island is the biggest sand island in the world.
only with 4X4. we went for three days with four south koreanim, one Irish couple and us - three Israelis. (and that for its self was interesting...) it was great adventure for its difficult driving paths, hot plain sand, 80km/h high-way on the beach sand(only when its low-tide(?)(=shefel), sharks, rays, turtles, dingos, freeze bee, 'burgers in the storm' dinner - big times!
on our way north, we stopped in a city that famous by its Rum distillery - a smell that I just can't forget (maybe only when I eat my Domino's...)
I'm writing to you from Airlie Beach, after two days of sailing in the Whitsundays Islands! group of 74 amazing islands, with white sand, nice corals and colorful fishes!just relaxing on the yacht catching some tan (or rain...) snorkeling and beering(=a new word that i just made up (i think) for drinking beer).

that pretty much all for now..
we are continuing heading north till Cairns and some more.
hope the monsoons wouldn't make too much troubles..

i stil didn't decided what to do with my hairy stuff around my hear, so if you got any opinion - tell me
-shave it all /
-let it grow /
-only beard /
-only hair /
-only safam /
-all of the above...

last album that I've put:
http://picasaweb.google.com/shachafby/EastCoast1?feat=directlink
I'll put some more soon(bli neder..)

sorry for not replying for most of you

love you all
cheers mates
no worries

sha