"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