31/1 - Otago Peninsula

In this nice area, we walked in some magnificent short trails, we stopped for a quick view in some of the wonderful lookouts around.
In Otago you can see the Albatross - a rare bird similar to the pelican, some sea lions, and penguins along the powerful beaches.

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln

29/1 - Moeraki

Hi All,

Moeraki Boulders:
The Moeraki Boulders are huge spherical stones that are scattered over the sandy beaches.
Scattered along the beach at Moeraki, the boulders are a popular visitor attraction.
The soft mudstone containing the boulders was raised from the sea bed around 15 million years ago and sea erosion of the cliff is exposing the erosion-resistant boulders.
We walked about 10 minutes from the car park on the beach to the boulders, it was a very cloudy day but the round shapes of rocks were impressive.





Penguins:
That was a real fun, we think we got really lucky to find this place since over here you don't pay for this tourist attraction and you get to see the penguins really really close by.
we are talking about Yellow eyed penguins, which suppose to be the rarest types of penguins in the world.

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln

28/1 - Mount Cook

Hi All,

Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand, 3746 meters high and it's summit is permanently covered with snow.
Our first track was to Hooker valley, where we crossed 2 suspension bridges towards the lake, this valley views on New Zealan's Alps - mountain ridges which include mount cook. We walked about 3.5 hours return trip, in the middle of the way we met a group of 5 young Israelis and traveled together for the rest of this track.





The second trip was to Tasman Glacier, the biggest glacier in New Zealand, in a predict way, it shrinks every year because of the global warming. We got to see it while it is still magnificent.



From that lookout we found similarity between that place and the one you see in the trilogy - The Lord of the rings.

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln

27/1 - Canterbery

Hi All,

Mount Hut:
Spontaneously, we shortly stopped at mount hut area just beside the main road, since the scenery attract our mind.



Mount Somers:
We've heard there are some nice walking tracks in mount somers, the one that we did wasn't so impressive, it is a nice walk but we probably expected for more.



Lake Tekapo:
The compensation arrived in Lake Tekapo, this unique natural lake shows some really nice colors of blue, light blue and turquoise which are being created by the snow melting water from the mountains and the minerals laying down at the bottom of the lake.



church of the good shepperd


Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln

26/1 - Banks Peninsula

Hi All,

Banks Peninsula is located 70 km east of Christchurch, we arrived there in a day trip from the city.

At last we started to explore New Zealand's scenery, and what a great start it was.
The peninsula is extremely beautiful, with green-yellow mountains, turquoise-blue lakes, and perfect blue sky.
We got really lucky with the weather, in the morning it was very cloudy but later that day all started to clear up and the sun light added a lot and made the view even greater than it was.

let the photos speak for themselves:







Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln

25/1 - Christchurch

Hi All,

For the first 4 days in Christchurch we haven't had a bit of a rest, not because we were traveling and exploring the city but because we had to organize so many things, from morning till evening we moved from one place to the other.

Eventually we completed all of our tasks successfully:
- We rented a car (Toyota Corola '98) in a reasonable price.
- We bought full camping gear (Mattresses, Sleeping bags, Tent, Esky, Kitchenware, etc.), it took us some time since we decided to buy it second hand and we looked for the best in a low price.
- We bought warm cloths (Fleece Jackets, Waterproof coats, Under liner cloths, Thermo shirts, etc.)
- We booked for flying tickets to Fiji islands on the 25 of March till 21 of April.
- We did a membership in Hit organization, to be hosted in Kiwi's homes (Christians who love Israel).
- We booked for tracks in DOC (=like RESHUT SHMUROT HATEVA in Israel) offices.
- We converted our membership in MEMSI to the equivalent here - AA, and took NZ's road maps.
- Among all those things, we visited Chabad House, collecting tips and hooking up with other Israelis.

cathedral Square in the heart of Chritchurch


So, you can understand why we were so exhausted after this first week in NZ.
Tomorrow we will start our journey here at last,

Efrat and Yoni.

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln

20/1 - Sydney

Hi All,
A few words about Sydney...

Car Market:
After few hours in this big Metropolitan, while have so many problems to find the right way, the right street and the right direction, we arrived to the car market, filled up some forms and have our car inspected in a mechanic shop.
We think this car market is a nice business to get money out of backpackers - every car have to be checked prior it sell - 31 dollar (only safety inspection), and another 85 dollars to park the car in the market for a week.
But the bottom line it works ! If you want to sell your car, the car market is the most recommended way to do it.
While staying there you feel like in prison, you have to stay in an underground dark garage all day long doing nothing but waiting for other backpackers to arrive and look for you car.



When we where there, we couldn't see much costumers who come, but on the other hand more and more new cars joined us... this situation and unknowing what will happen can be very stressful.

Fortunately we were really lucky. At the second day we have stayed late after every other seller had gone home, a group of 5 young Irish people came to look for a van, we were the only one in the market therefore it wasn't a hard job to get their attention. the sale went smooth and fast, they didn't want to take it to an external inspection, after 5 minutes one of them took the car for a test drive and after another 10 minutes we got the money, the amount was much more than we estimated when we bought the car.


Life outside - Sydney:
After leaving the car-jail, we got the chance to start traveling and explore Sydney.
The Opera House was impressive as people describe it to be. The city center is big, it was first time for us seeing such tall buildings in Australia.



We spent a wonderful time in Australia Museum, the photo gallery was brilliant and the Apes exhibition was very interesting.



One of the most popular attractions among the locals is Bondi Beach, although it's very crowd, we liked it especially Yoni ... we walked from Bondi beach along the coast line to the northern beaches Sydney has to offer, the walk is about 5 km, we did it slowly and peacefully.



One evening we went to celebrate the sale of our car in a night bar with other 2 Israelis guys who also succeeded to get rid of their car. It was such an experience to get to know Sydney's night life, which has a lot to offer on that matter.



On our last day here, after a few rainy days, we were lucky to get a really nice weather unlike the forecast predicted. that was a good reason for us to escape the crowded places and go to Sydney harbor national park which is on the other side of the river. That was a nice change suddenly walk again in the bush inside the metropolitan.

Backpacker:
Well, it is nice to sleep in a real comfortable bed after a long time, but we didn't quite fit in the atmosphere over there, since most of the guests are young European backpackers who look for alcohol and parties all the time, lots of them act like teenagers, showing off and trying to be cool.

Denny:
Once again we met Denny here in Sydney, it was good seeing him after a long time (since Alice Springs), we got each other updated and had, as usual, nice conversation.

General:
The city has a lot to offer for those who like to party and go to the beach, you can find here many restaurants with different cuisines, and other attractions like museums, art galleries, parks etc.
Nevertheless we didn't like it so much, maybe it was our high expectations, but it was too crowd, too busy and too noisy for us, we missed the peace and quite we found in most of Australia.



Tomorrow we are going to begin a new adventure, our flight to New Zealand departs at 8:50 in the morning.

Wish us luck,
Efrat and Yoni.

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln

9/1 - Blue Mountains

Hi All,

Blue Mountains national park is one of the most famous and touristic parks in Australia, probably because it is very impressive and it's only 100 km west of Sydney, during the summer many people from the big city find their peace and quite time in here.

It is a big national park and there are many walking tracks and places of interest around. During our limited time, we choose to do one of them, that was in a place called: Blackheat, it took us 3.5 hours of easy walk on the edge of the cliff which view over the top of the valley of Blue Mountains.



You can probably guess we enjoyed the walk very much, the scenery here was a bit changed from what we used to see in the last several national parks, instead of walking in the Aussie bush we walked in a scenery way.

On the way to Sydney we stopped at a place called Katoomba at a lookout called "3 sisters".



In Sydney we are going to sell the car, and sleep again in backpackers.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln

8/1 - Warrumbungle

Hi All,

In this National Park which contains a great variety of flora and fauna, we had one of the hardest track in this trip, the walk itself was just over 4 hours but during that time we walked 12.5 km and climbed 400 meters high, the views from the peak were breath-taking. No doubt - it was a good sport, and useful training for New Zealand's walking tracks.





Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln

7/1 - Mt Kaputar

Hi All,

Sawn Rocks :
A monolith located nearby the Mt. Kaputar national park, the rocks shaped like crystals were created 20 million years ago out of Lava, you can see in the photo how beautiful it is, and trust us, in reality it is much more impressive:



Mount Kaputar National park :
you can easily spend a day in this national park which is located on a mountain, therefore you can guess there are plenty of lookouts in this park, but also some interesting walking trails.
During our limited time, we walked for several of hours in the bush from one lookout to the other and finished the track a few moments before the heavy rain started.



The nice hot showers in the national park were pleasure, over there Yoni decided to cut his hair, he did it almost by himself and the result was quite nice.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln

7/1 - Washpool

Hi All,

We left Queensland and arrived to New South Wales, on the way to Mt. Kaputar national park which was in our plans, suddenly we have noticed we are crossing a rain forest, after a quick visit in the tourist information it turned out we are in Washpool National Park.

Spontaneously we did a short walking track along nice river and enjoyed it very much.



Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln

6/1 - Byron Bay

Well,

Byron bay was not exactly in our plans, but we really glad eventually we found ourselves in this nice beach-town. Although this place is busy and touristic, it still doesn't ruin it's special atmosphere.

We walked along the beaches, the lighthouse over there represent the eastern point in Australia, there is a nice short track we did in this area.



Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln

5/1 - Beaudesert

Hi All,

Beaudesert is a small town on the way from Brisbane to the recommended National Parks (Lemington, Springbrook, Border Ranges ...), we planned to stop there for a night and then move on to the parks
B-U-T
All parks where closed because of the rain and all the routes to those parks were flooded.
during the night at Beudesert, we experienced one of the most scary moments in our trip. we parked our car in a rest area nearby the town and went to sleep while the rain never stop for a second and getting only stronger and stronger. at 1:30 A.M a guy on a jeep came close to our car and woke us up while honking his horn, "you have to get out of here fast, since your car is being flooded", we had a look outside and found out all the rest area turned into a lake while we are parking in the middle of it. We where very afraid that it was too late for us moving the car since the water lever reached to 35-40 cm above the ground, eventually we made it ... sort of ... some water got inside the engine and the car was a bit trembling, but fortunately no damage was done to the car and for us. at 2:00 A.M we drove back to the town trying to cross the flooded ways, eventually we found a dry spot behind a patrol station at a garage.
in the morning the mechanic who works there was surprise to see us, but he was very understanding.





The plans were changed and we cancelled all national parks in this area.

Efart and Yoni.

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln

4/1 - Brisbane

Well, we don't have much to write about the capital of Queensland and the third biggest city of Australia, guess why ?
Of course - the stormy weather.
We just had enough time to walk around the city center and to feel how busy it can get.
At least we had some luck to find that sensor for our car which got broken a few days ago, we bought it second hand (20 dollars instead of 200 dollars for a new one) from a really nice guy who helped us a lot.



After 6 hours since we arrived to Brisbane, we moved forwards

Miss you all,
Efrat and Yoni.

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln

1/1 - Maroochydore

Hi All,

The bad weather forced us to cancel Fraser Island and to go directly to Sunshine coast.
Over there we arrived to the nice city - Maroochydore, Anette from Chiburim hosted us with a great joy. We thought we will stay there for 2 days top, enjoy one each other's company, but the destiny had different plans for us and eventually we stayed there for a week.

First, the weather not only wasn't getting better but only got worse, at least we got to see Australia Zoo (of the Crocodile Hunter)


and visit Glass House Mountains National Park


Second, our car started to cause us some problems, we couldn't start it running.
Third, because of the new year, many car mechanic shops were closed (like other shops during that time).

At least we were really lucky that our car broke down at Anette's place, thanks to her help, our problems were taking care of quickly.
Eventually, we found the problems with our car were not that serious, it was caused mainly due to the moist weather... No doubt, this bloody weather didn't make us feel good, but on the other hand we spend a great time with Anette (she is really nice and cool person) and got to meet her friends at "Neighbours Aid". They are wonderful people who join together and help Israel in many ways.
For example, this group of Christians who love Israel, opened a second hand shop, which they receive as donations from the locals cloths, furniture etc. and sell them in very cheap prices, all of the money goes to those who needs it and most of it goes to Israeli charity funds.
The Store:


With Anette:


After a very interesting week in rainy Maroochydore, when we got our car back, we continue our journey towards Brisbane.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln