Kiwi Adventures

Sydney Finalee

2010-06-29T16:38:00.000-07:00

With Dara & Nazee

Whale watching with Rene

Sydney monorail

Whale Beach

Near West Head

Palm Beach

Opera House from ferry

Preparing Blog

Hamburgers with David

Cousin Val & David Altman

Marilyn with her cousin Corinne

The last week of our adventure has been spent in Sydney where we stayed in the Northern suburbs with my (Maurice) cousin Val & David Altman & then later at an appartment in the East at Bondi. We spent the first shabbat with the largely South African community in St Ives attending the Massada & local Chabad synagogues & meeting part of our family that had originally emmigrated from Dublin (1966) & Johansburg.What is so exciting about the Northern suburbs is that they are so near to the "Bush" which enabled us to also visit the Ku-Ring Gai Chase National Park & experience again the fantastic topography ,trees & wild life over here. Last Sunday we walked across the famous Sydney Bridge with Val & David & then took the ferry to Manly passing stunning views of the Opera House & open sea.

View from West Head

Later on in the week ,we were excited by the old & new architecture of the city which although less impressive than Melbourne has an excellent museum & art gallery.

On reaching Bondi we treated ourselves to steak & chips at Katz's kosher restaurant. In the last few days, we met up with Renee Levy ,who was our neighbour in Yaarrot in the 80's , & who took us whale watching & organized for us a visit to the the Bondi Marine Centre.Then last night after 42 years ,we met up with an old friend , Dara who studied economics with me at Essex University.
Marilyn adds that the reality of Sydney is so different from her expectations as she has learn't during this 12 week odessy.For exanple, she expected Sydney Harbour Bridge to be silver but it is black. Then she saw it silver coloured when the sun shone on it reflecting the blue water below it. She expected man made Sydney to be overwhelmingly beautiful whereas it is natures undescribed lovliness which peeps around every corner & belittles anything mere man has made be it a bridge or an opera house.

For our final night in Australia (to-morrow) we are going to the Opera House & then we have to get up at 4.30a.m. for our flight to Hong Kong. Therefore ,this is our last blog before we return to Israel next week so I hope you have enjoyed this adventure together with us & hope we won't bore you too much when we return after..............driving 7378kms, sleeping in 45 different places, flying on 12 different flights & experiencing temperatures between 0 & 30 deg Cent.

We have met here many wonderful friends & family who have been incredibley warm & hospitable & given up their valuable time to show us these incredible countries.

Shabbat Shalom

Surfing down the Gold Coast

2010-06-27T03:48:00.000-07:00

Most Easterly Point

Sandunes near Port Stephens

Look Out after steep climb at Shoal Bay

Coffs Harbour

Byron Bay

Paradise Point

Our last week in rural Australia has been spent cruising 1100kms down the Gold Coast from Brisbane to Sydney. When we left beautiful Brisbane, we stayed overnight with Rosalind's friends, the Kays, at Biggera Waters near Surfers Paradise. The clusters of boats of all sizes in the specially built northern suburb of Paradise Point create a level of opulence and quality of life we had not seen before in Australia. We moved on to Byron Bay-the alternative lifestyle town- where we visited the continent's most easterly point . Next we continued to Coffs Harbour, with the wildlife conservation area at Muttonbird Island. This was followed by a stay in Port Macquarie and then Port Stephens with its nearby sandunes, the highest in the Southern Hemisphere.

Driving on the Pacific Highway has not been as difficult as we had expected, although it still needs great concentration due to the inconsistent conditions of the road and the many large triple-sized trucks which drive with no regard to the private motorist.

We are now in freezing cold Sydney for our final week in Australia.

There is enormous interest here in the World Cup with many street cafes broadcasting live matches after 11 p.m.but there is also a lot of disappointment at the Socceroos' (Australia's soccer team) performance.

The Northern Pacific coast

2010-06-20T14:48:00.000-07:00

Brisbane Synagogue

Dan & Nir Toren

Curtain Fig Tree (Atherton Tableland)

Daintree Rain Forest

On the way to the Barrier Reef

Returning to "civiilization" and relative comfort, the week began with an unsuccessful -for us-trip to the outer Great Barrier Reef, off Cairns. The sea was particularly high and the wind fairly strong, a combination which caused the opposite of the pleasurable day on the reef to which we had looked forward. So for our remaining time in the area, we explored the southern part of the Daintree Rainforest, where dripping tree climbers, exotic ferns and giant trees abound, as well as the Atherton Tableland, a fertile plain where sugar, coffee and tea grow. Then back to big city life, in the form of Brisbane, another pleasant surprise which follows the coiling river. We had a wonderful time being shown around by Hillel Toren (z.l.)'s sons, Dan and Nir. Like Melbourne and Adelaide, 19th century buildings nestle between shining skyscrapers. In amongst them is the 1868 synagogue with its very hospitable community where we spent an enjoyable shabbat.

Stalking with Crocodiles

2010-06-13T21:10:00.000-07:00

Kakadu

Shabbat at Lichfield Safari Park

Rock Pools in Lichfield

Crocodile on Yellow Water

East Alligator River

Time for Lunch

We have spent the last week without any internet or mobile telephone contact,in the "Top End" of the Northern Territories travelling in a campavan to the 2 National Parks of Kakadu and Lichfield.

Twice our van has been hit by galloping Wallaroos (a bit smaller than Kangaroos) but fortunately there was no damage. Kakadu is a World Heritage Area is really very special.We were able to cruise on the South Alligator River and the Yellow Water Billabong where we saw maneating crocodiles ,fantastic colourful birds, water lilies and tropical forests as well as learning about Aboriginal life in this area. we visited several cave art centres and saw ancient & modern art. It is really upsetting to see how the Aboriginal culture and language has been almost destroyed unlike what has happened in New Zealand.Although now the indigenous are becoming politically stronger many cultural centres have recently been set up by them to record their history , while attempting to educate their youth in the old traditions.

In Lichfield National Park, where we later camped over shabbat,we saw Magnetic Termite Moulds, swam in rock pools amongst the fishes and climbed majestic water falls.

It has been an unbelievable experience. We have stayed at some incredible camp sites and seen how the local Australian Grey Nomads (over 60's) travel around this vast continent.One couple told us that they plan to travel around Australia for 7 years!

After rising at 3.20am this morning, we flew from Darwin to Cairns & are now in a small resort just North of Cairns & plan to visit the Barrier Reef to-morrow before moving onto Brisbane for Shabbat.

Finally in answer to a comment from last week -we saw plenty of signs of snakes but didn't meet any in the wild except dead ones or at the Alice Springs Desert Park

We wish you all well.

The Red Centre

2010-06-05T06:03:00.000-07:00

Collecting wood for the camp fire

Ayers Rock

Piti Aboriginal Bowl for collecting foods

Sleeping in swag bags under the open sky

Climbing Kings Canyon

Garden of Eden Water Hole at top of Kings Canyon

At top of K C Ridge

With Cousin Francine Aztec Hill, Alice Springs

The Adelaide Jewish Community were very warm & welcoming.The new young Israeli Rabbi invited us, when we visited the community shop, to eat with his family Friday night; this was later followed by a member of the community insisting we joined his family for shabbat lunch.We found they have a small Jewish primary school & are struggling hard to keep together their community. On the Sat. night , we were fortunate to obtain tickets for a brilliant jazz concert with James Morrison and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra featuring music from Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald.

Flying over Central Australia and its desert, we saw so many shades of red and of green and even salt lakes. As the days continued and we explored the area, we saw numerous geological wonders, from the grainy red sand to imprints of ancient seashells high on mountaineous ridges. We witnessed glorious sunsets which lit up "mesa" (table) rock formations, such as Ularu (Ayers Rock). We heard an indigenous woman tell an original ancestor myth of the battle between Serpent-Woman and Wicked Lizard-Man, pointing out their forms on the rock-face. We learnt why Aboriginal sacred areas must not be entered. We climbed the immense red rocks at Kata-Tjuta which have been smoothed by ancient inland seas. We scrambled up and down the sheer gorge that forms Kings Canyon, glimpsing colourful birds and rare plants as we carefully watched each footstep lest the sandstone crumble. After our 3 trekking days (7-8 km on foot per day) with a small group and a 4 wheel drive mini-bus, we returned to Alice Springs for an alternative Shabbat with Maurice's cusin, Francine, her family and friends.

Surprises and challenges

2010-05-27T19:21:00.000-07:00

Ann & Harry Grynberg greeting us in Melbourne

View of Melbourne

SuperVegan Restaurant in Italian Qtr

Koala Bear by the roadside

Otway Tree Top Walk

Twelve Apostles

The surprises began way back on the first day of our trip but have we found ourselves in the midst of of reality T.V."s "Survival" or "Race"? More below.

Between Shavuot and Sunday, we tasted the great surprise which is Melbourne, with a population which has tripled in the last 30 years to 3.4 million and amazing architecture, ultra-modern juxtaposed to grand Victorian in a glorious mix. Lunch at a superb vegan restaurant in the Italian quarter; wandering through a wetlands forest in a museum; being introduced to the meaning of Aboriginal art, amazed by the variety of Australian trees and shrubs in the beautiful Botanical Gardens, and saddened by the contents of the impressive Shrine to Australia's lost soldiers over the generations. We found ourselves at a bat mitzvah ceremony (Friday night) in one shul and a barmitzvah next morning in another (Ann and Harry Grynberg's nephew, for those of you who remeber them) and joined some of the Grynberg clan for the National Theatre's simply superb "Richard III"-modern dress, sms- texting messengers and video flash-backs to "HenryVI"!

Then came the challenges as we drove down the Great Ocean Road, reached via the Mornington Peninsula and a ferry. The scenario: Darkness falls before 5.30pm. The information office in Apollo had assured us there was a vacant room with micro-wave in an isolated motel in a forest area we needed to pass through, but this wasn't the case. The owner off-handedly directed us to the only other accomodation in the area-16 kilometres distance. (By now it was pitch black on a winding, hilly road .) This turned out to be derelict pub-"we close at8.30p.m. and re-open only at noon"-with one gruesome room to let, smelling strongly of mould. Thank goodness for Supersol's instant soup-there was a kettle.

A day or so later, we were presented with our next challenge-to consume 6 mandarins, 3 apples, a cucumber and a raw potato in 10 minutes!Why? Because suddenly road signs loomed stating that all fruit and vegetables would be quarantined before the border between Victoria and South Australia.Quickly we stopped the car, ate everything except the potato and mandarin peel, which we deposited in the quarantine bin!

Fortunately the pleasant surprises are outnumbering the unpleasant challenges. As we sit in an Adelaide internet cafe, we remember the abundance of natural surprises all the way down The Road. We were forever "oohing' and "aahing" as wonderful views flashed by, but we had to keep to our schedule. We thrilled at the Otway Tree Top walk, learning about the layers of this ancient wetland forest. The Twelve Apostles and othe rock outcrops are far more impressive than we had expected. Walking on pristine sand in the early morning is always a joy.

Thanks to all of you who have been sending emails.Replies will have to wait till we get to Maurice's cousin's in Alice Springs.

Reaching the Mainland

2010-05-19T07:44:00.000-07:00

With cousin Pat(Melbourne)

Melbourne City

Melbourne City -river Yara

With Uncle David

Final View of Hobart Synagogue on way to airport

We are now in this fabulous city of Melbourne following a great last shabbat in Hobart. Hobart's fine synagogue was built with the help of ex Jewish convicts sent out to Australia in the 1800's.It is now maintained by a small group of less than 40 Jews & is shared by both Progressive & Orthodox groups. We were hosted by a wonderful Chabad family who, single- handed, look after all visitors. Meanwhile, we now see that Melbourne is a far more interesting city than we had imagined and we are very glad that we arranged to spend an extra few days here. Firstly, both Marilyn & I have met family that until now were just names on the family tree. From my Uncle David I have heard stories about my Dad during WW2 & also about the establishment of the Israeli Air Force, as well as experiences of surviving in France during the War from his wife. We have been staying with our friends, Ann & Harry Grynberg,( who were 7 years in Haifa in the 70's & 80's) & spent shavuot with them and their family, hearing shiurim & visiting different shules in Cauldsfield. We can now understand why Melbourne is considered the Jerusalem of Australia as we have seen there is a very strong community of all ages here led by young dynamic rabbis (several from England) . In addition, I had the privilege of attending a masonic installation, which was fascinating & also gave me an opportunity to speak publicly about the Mount Carmel Lodge in Haifa and the positive work of freemasons across different communities in Israel.

Tasmania

2010-05-13T02:34:00.000-07:00

Yet more wood to be chipped up for transporting to China!

Swansea Bay

Port Arthur Penitentiary

Marilyn with cousin Derek on Mt Wellington,Hobart

Tasmamian Devil- very vicious & found in the open country.

Feeding mother & baby Kangaroo

What a welcome to Oz! My(Maurice) hands & hand luggage had to be checked for explosives! We eventually reached Hobart to be met by Marilyn's cousin, Derek, where we spent our first night.

Tasmania is an eye opener to a very different lifestyle. The weather is very variable-on Monday we left Hobart in 21 degrees sunshine and within a couple of hours were on the windswept Central Plateau Reservation in 6 degrees and fog. Today Hobart was a crisp 9 degrees with blue skies but on top of Mt Wellington which overlooks the city it was only 1 degree with icy snow drifts. Over three days we have driven up through the centre of the island and then down the warmer east coast till we reached notorious Port Arthur, the former convict colony and now an historic site. En route, of course we had to visit Swansea, which proved to be a seaside village dependant on local tourism and not the city the name implies but no resemblance to its counterpart in Wales.

The country is heavily wooded and the main local controversy concerns the future of the lumber trade. Scenically, there are similarities with both Ireland and North Island of New Zealand, though the vegetation and animals are different from both, see the pictures above.In fact, we suddenly found ourselves driving on unsealed roads.All car rental agreements exclude cover on this type of road but we had no choice unless we wanted to drive back another 50 kms. We have been advised not to travel at night as it is very dangerous with so many animals. Also because it becomes dark so early at around 5pm we have to finish each day before this time. People are laid-back , friendly and pleased to welcome visitors from Israel.After Shabbat with Chabad in Hobart ,we shall continue to Melbourne where we shall spend Shavuot & next Shabbat.

Chag Sameach

Motel adventures and rare creatures

2010-05-08T01:13:00.000-07:00

Christchurch in the rain

View from the boat in Milton Sound

By the side of the road nearDunedin!

Rainbow from car window

Sea Lions on the Beach Otago Peninsular

We have found staying in motels the easiest way to self cater and find accomodation at reasonable cost. However it hasn't always worked out as we expected. One morning this week in Portobello village on the Otega Peninsula, we were awoken at 6 by what sounded like an air-raid siren. On automatic Israeli reflex, we rushed outside in our pyjamas (at 2 degrees C), only to discover that it was the alarm from the local fire station, which was a few metres away. Later we were told that a car had skidded on the icy bay road and "fallen into the drink", a regular occurence for the early morning going to work traffic.

We usually find ourselves the only inhabitants of these motels as it is the tourist off-season at present, but on Thursday morning an elderly gentleman next door began chatting. When he realised we were "Jews from Israel", his joy knew no bounds. He recited the 23 psalm-being a retired sheep farmer, this was appropriate- and pressed religious pamphlets on us. We have promised to send a postcard from the Holy Land.

The natural phenomena still manage to overwhelm us. We can't believe that we had the privelege to sail on a fiord, watching seals bask on the rocks and dolphins play, or wander on an isloated beach among exhausted sea-lions, who sleep deeply as they build up their oxygen levels ready for their next spate of deep sea diving for food. On a couple of occasions, we witnessed-from nature hides- shy yellow penguins and little blue penguins return to shore at the end of a day or more of fishing out at sea. We were amazed suddenly to see an immense glowing rainbow, its colours so intense, and next day to watch a mythical albatross glide in on its 3 metre wingspan to feed its young.

Tomorrow we fly to Tasmania, after a fascinating shabbat in Christchurch, which is a sepatate story altogether.

Is anyone reading this blog apart from our close family?

Marilyn and Maurice

Wellington to Queenstown

2010-05-01T00:46:00.000-07:00

Flooding in Queenstown

Landing on Fox Glacier

Tranz-Alpine Railway

Sailing on the lake from Queenstown

This is the end of our second full week in New Zealand, during which we have journeyed from Wellington, at the south-east tip of the North Island, to near the south-west tip of the South Island and have had many experiences. We'll tell you about four of them now and add a few photos.(We are finding it rather difficult to download photos, so you will have to forgive us for not adding more.)

Last Sunday was Anzac memorial day for New Zealand's ( and Australia's) soldiers throughout the generations.This particular Anzac day began with tragedy, when an army helicopter en route to the fly-past at the main Wellington ceremony crashed at dawn due to poor visibility, killing 3 young airmen. The national media involvement with the tragedy over the following days mirrored similar situations in Israel and reminded us that this, too, is a country with a small, but nationalistic, population. That afternoon we visited the Parliament buildings and were fascinated to hear that, although the Westminster system strongly influences day to day workings, there is a mix of proportional representation and constituency-elected members.

Two days later, on the scenic alpine railway between Christchurch in the east and Greymouth in the west, we met a Kiwi couple (the name New Zealanders tend to call themselves- probably to avoid any racial bias of the international name as opposed to the Maori one, Aotearoa) who explained the political system to us in more detail. They added that Maoris can choose to vote directly for Maori candidates instead of for a local member of Parliament as today they are scattered throughout the population centres. Our conversation was punctated by frequent trips to the open part of the carriage to try to capture the beauty of the mountain range, despite the heavy cloud and gusts of rain which obscured many of the famous peaks.

Though this weather has dogged us all week, we have woken twice to find towering peaks glittering outside different motel windows, where there had been cloudy sky the night before. So when there was a break in the rain over the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers, we quickly decided to take a thrilling helicopter trip, zooming up and down each glacier and actually landing on crunchy,pristine snow at the Fox Glacier.

Driving south is like crossing an enormous botanical garden, with overhanging plants, waterfalls and high snow-capped mountains. Many of the roads are very winding and the numerous river bridges are often open for one direction of traffic at a time. Consequently one has to be very careful and patient and not drive for longer than 2-3 hours without a good break. This is particularly difficult in blinding rain when some of the roads are barely passable. Because petrol stations are to be found mainly in towns, it is important to fill up when you see one. Towns may be as much as 100kms apart!

Queenstown has proved much quieter than we expected, an excellent place to spend a few days now that the torrential rain has passed and especially as we found a comfortable apartment at low-season rates. The rivers are too full for jet-boating (Maurice's plan) so we had to make do with the more sedate pleasure of a steamboat trip (to Marilyn's relief) down the long lake, which is causing flooding in the town itself.The surrounding mountains change from minute to minute . Watching them is a pastime of its own. At sunset tonight they looked like a cardboard backcloth for a stage-set, lit from behind.Nearer hills are clothed in glorious autumnal colours, which are beyond verbal description.

We have met people from all over the world, including a Samoan taxi-driver, but no Israelis.

Enjoy Lag B'Omer

Maurice and Marilyn

Video near Franz Josef Glacier

Rotorua to Wellington

2010-04-24T02:52:00.000-07:00

Finally arrived at Taranaki Waterfall

View of Volcano on the way to Taranaki Waterfall

Hukki Falls before Lake Taupo

Cathedral Cove (Coramandel Penninsular)-3 hour walk

Maurice on rope bridge in Coromandel Forest

Auckland Synagogue

Our time in Rotorua was spent learning about Maori culture,
relaxing in the Polynesian spa, viewing the whole thermal area from high up and walking by the lake. On Thursay we continued our southward drive, stopping at the magnificent Huape waterfall, circling large Lake Tapau, a volcanic crater, and trekking for 6 kilometres in the Tongariro National Park. This park consists of 3 volcanic mountains and is a ski area. Now, in the autumn,the vegetation is so varied and colourful, that every few metres we saw new delights.
After overnight in Taihape, we rushed to reach the kosher shop in Wellington.
Shabbat in Wellington has proved full of surprises. The shuls (both the orthodox 160+ year old congregation and the progressive 50 years old) are far from where most Jews live today-what's new?- so no home invites, though a friendly community. Instead, we found ourselves entertaining a young Israeli, who stuck to us, limpet-like, on Friday night, telling us his tale of woe- return ticket had run out, no work here, has to move to agricultural area where there's no Jewish community in order to pay for his flight.Congregation members at this morning's kiddush told us there are always Israelis here with problems, usually lost in the bush or arrested.Our young friend helps out cleaning the shul and tonight fried fallafel for a belated communal Yom Ha'atzmaut event. The ambassador designate turned up, as well as the local "rikudei am" class, Jewish and non-Jewish, who performed with better co-ordination than classes I've been in. The klezmer band members appeared to mostly have Chinese and Polish parentage, though there may have been a Jew. This is such a multi-cultural society and the same goes for the Jewish population.The community was set up by the British chief rabbinate to support British Jewish colonialists/emigrants at the time. Those families have disappeared and the current ones include many descendants of Holocaust survivors. There are also many cases of immigrants,who tell their children that they are Jeish on their death bed. The orthodox community is on the wane, with most youngsters moving to Melbourne, Australia, or making aliyah.

Shavua Tov!

Fortunately we are staying within walking distance of the superb Tio Pape museum, which answers evey possible question about this country's geology and and its ethnic mix.

Auckland-Retouro

2010-04-20T01:48:00.000-07:00

The Chinese taxi driver, who took us to collect our rented car, explained that after 9 years in NZ, he has just brought his Chinese wife over so they can now have more than 1 child. Anyway we decided to go to the Coramandel Peninsular &, after passing a breathalizer outside Auckland , made our way West to this fantastic area.We visited & walked through autumnal forests, where the trees and shrubs are like in a botanical gardens, & then had a fabulous tyul to Cathedral Cove (close to where Cooke landed). The South Pacific really is a royal blue colour! We are now in the thermal resort of Rotorua -geysers,boiling mud pools & Maori culture.
Hag Sameah!

2010-04-17T03:54:00.000-07:00

After 30 hours travel, with an 8 hour stop off in Hong Kong including a 4 hour express visit to the centre and a wonderful vegetarian meal (thanks to Lynne T), we landed in Auckland mid-day Thursday local time. Clearing the airport, despite "forbidden-food" sniffing dogs, was simpler than we had expected & we immediately sped off to a pre- booked appartment with a South African female taxi driver. Many thousands of South Africans have emmigrated here & you find them everywhere. On Friday morning, on visiting the only kosher shop to buy provisions carrying a large back pack, we were greeted by locals as"here are the backpackers"! We visited the shule complex, which is next to the shop and which has recently been completed rebuilt, is shaped like Noa's Ark & houses a small primary school for 140 children. However, having prayed there over shabbat, we see that it is typical of diaspora communities- the Rabbi has just left but they are struggling on with the help of the Israeli Bnai Akiva shaliach, together with American & South African helpers. The locals do not want Chabad but, without their help , it is difficult to see how this community can progress. We have also found time since arriving to zoom 60 floors up the Sky Tower with its impressive views of the city & harbours ( where we walked this afternoon) as well as shopping for protective clothes to face the elements once we leave for the wilds tomorrow.

2010-04-13T05:41:00.000-07:00

Marilyn & I would like to thank all our friends, family & brothers for their warm wishes prior to our departure & we wish you all Yom Atzmaut Sameach .

2010-04-11T08:30:00.000-07:00

Just 2 days to go before we fly-can't believe it!