Get The World

10/8 - The End

2008-08-10T01:01:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Well, we are a bout to finish our long journey and it is a good time to try and summer it up.
It is hard to believe but this year is soon to be over, we have been through a lot this time, although it went so fast for us, time is truly a relative term as Einstein once said.
During this time we missed things you probably are taken as for granted: good and homey food, tasty coffee, and of course our family and friends.

So how did we spend our last year ?
We admired the variety landscapes of New Zealand: Snow capped mountains, Golden sandy beaches, Sand dunes, Forests and more.
We got lost in small alleys and in fascinating street markets in the old city of Kashgar in North West of China.
We have seen the real and unfamiliar Thailand when we tour ourselves out of the bitten track.
We crossed the Australian remote dusty outback with our van.
We loved to experience the Fijian village lifestyle and its exotic beaches.
We observed and learned about life and death on the banks of Ganga River in India.
We have been blessed meeting Ausie and Kiwi families who were willing to host us.
We lost ourselves in the big metropolitan of Hong Kong.
We drove along the wineries, the cheese and chocolate factories and walked along the beautiful beaches in Western Australia.
We like to see the simple village lifestyle in northern Vietnam unlike the aggressiveness of the people in the Capital - Hanoi.
We trekked with heavy backpacks, experienced with extreme sport like skydive, and improved our shape in New Zeland.
In China we met some minorities ethnic groups we have never seen anywhere else.
The differences between the simple quite village life and the urban big cities appeared to us all the time in south east Asia.

We discovered new worlds, met different cultures, heard a variety of languages, learned history, tasted local food, experienced, found out, checked, seen, heard, sensed, laughed, cried, went up and down and all on a shoe string.
The numbers speak for themselves: 16,000 photos, 160 video clips, 124 posts in the blog, hundreds of e-mails, several journals which were written with passion, and lots of lots of new interesting experiences.
Finally we realized we have a lot more to learn and discover about the unfamiliar world which we live in.

We already have plans when we arrive back to Israel, we made a long list of all the things we would like to do after we land, but we will take our time slowly without any pressure, like Karl Sagan once said: "Before baking an apple pie, you have to create the universe first".

When we come back, we will make our wishes come true, we will have a wedding to arrange, we will find a job, a place which we can call - home with a cat and a dog, we want to go to Jamaica for our honey moon, and of course keep on traveling in our little own country.

During the past year, we have been through some changes, Yoni turned to be 30 years old, and lost almost 24 kg, Efrat came one step closer for her 30's when celebrating her birthday recently.

We would like to thank from the bottom of our heart to those who logon to our blog and kept up to date in our journey, for all of those who watched our photos and movie clips, for those who worried about our safety, kept in touch and for all of those wonderful people whom we met along our journey.

Our flight will depart at 12th of August from Bangkok to Tel-Aviv.

We miss you all, and hope to see you soon in Israel or any other part of the world.

Here are some photos we picked from our journey, just to let you see a bit of what we have been through the past year:

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni Flenner.

9/8 - Last Time Bangkok

2008-08-08T03:01:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

We are about to end our long trip, and there is no place like Bangkok to end it properly, with it's so many shopping centers, street markets, food stalls in every corner and much more.
Here we met once again Gilad and Yair (from Lijiang in China) and another partner - Tomer,
Obviously we spent good fun with those guys, wondering around in the city's remote streets.

MBK - Shopping Center:

Our last days we dedicate for Shopping, Thai massages, eating local food, moving our bodies in night clubs and shop a little more.

No doubt its a great place to relax and enjoy our "freedom" atmosphere for the last few days.

Food stalls in KaoSan Street:

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

6/8 - Koh Si Chang

2008-08-06T03:00:00.001-07:00

Hi All,

If you're looking for the archetypes of Thai islands life sweeping sandy beaches, coconut groves - you won't find it in this sliver of green of the island, instead you can find here a fishing village atmosphere, gentle green hills, studded with Chinese and Thai temples and beachfront remaindered at a stately royal palace.

The way to Koh Si Chang:

In Koh Si Chang, there are many Limestone caves where people go to meditate and One Vipassana Monastery for doing it right (on their belief)

This island is so small so we could covered it in only one day, All the hot spots could have been explored by a motorcycle which we rent and no doubt it was interesting.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

4/8 - Koh Mak

2008-08-04T02:59:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Just a few kilometres south of the main land yet a million miles from its heavy urbanisation lies Ko Mak, undoubtedly a peaceful and relaxing place. A tropical haven for those who like the quiet life, it has so far escaped the grasp of the major developers and remains a small slice of an island locked in time.

Coconut and rubber tree plantations cover a vast proportion of the island, interspersed with patches of lush virgin forest. The population now numbers upwards of 600 people.

We arrived here in the low season and felt like Robinson Cruso on an isolated island, there were only us, some locals working in their places, and the sound of breaking waves.
Koh Mak is a very small and a flat island, therefore it is an easy to explore by foot, In the low tide we could have crossed to the near island and circle it for 3 hours walk, the other days we walked towards the other side of Koh Mak along coconut plantations and sandy beaches.

It was our last opportunity to lay down, do nothing without any worries ...

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

30/7 - Trat

2008-07-30T02:58:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

For too many travelers, all they see of Trat is the shiny new bus station before they are shunted to the islands. We decided to stay for a longer time and explore this city.
Definitely - a wise choice!

We have heard about the exotic night market here and the reality was better than our imagination. The variety of food stalls amazed us, everything was delicious, all was colorful, and the prices were ridiculously cheap.

The town itself is a nice place to relax and explore together, before heading to the island, we shopped for a bit, since the prices here are much cheaper than the Capital - Bangkok.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

29/7 - Nang Rong

2008-07-29T00:02:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

The reason we came to Nang Rung was to see Phanom Rung temple, this complex is the largest and best restored of all Khmer monuments in Thailand, and as our travel guide book defines it "it has a knock me dead location", which you can see Cambodia's land from there.

Phanom Rung:
Phanom Rung is a Khmer temple complex set on the rim of an extinct volcano at about 430 meters above sea level. It was built in sandstone and late rite in the 10th to 13th centuries. It was a Hindu shrine dedicated to Shiva.

There are another more temples in the area, such as Meuang Tam which has also been built by the Khmer people.

It is a funny story how we met Ning and Poom - 2 local young nurses from the area, they were helping us to lift our motorcycle on a truck after we got a flat tyre.
We were lucky to find someone who brought us with our motorcycle to a near by garage to fix the tyre.

We spent 2 nights in a row with those 2 girls while having dinner (one in a restaurant the second at their home), trying to communicate with our Thai and their lack of English ...

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

25/7 - Chinag Khan

2008-07-25T23:35:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Traditional timber houses line the streets, old ladies sit nattering in their shadow and the Mekong river drift slowly by, Chiang Khan has an image of a northern riverside town, pretty and peaceful with photogenic views of the river, rice fields and the mountains of Laos beyond.

No doubt, this was one of our best places to visit and not only because of what has already been written but because of the people we met as well.
Some of the experiences we had been through include:
- Interacting with a monk in his residency in an isolated place.

- Getting lost with our motorcycle and getting unexpected help from a Kiwi man (Clynt), he was surprised to see us as much as we were to see him. His family came to visit his Thai wife family in this remote village. They were kind to us and we got an invitation to their family dinner.

- It was the first time for Efrat to work in the rice field among the locals.

- Communicating in Hebrew with a local farmer which worked in Israel for a 4-5 month, he was so funny and spoke Hebrew pretty well.

- Meeting Unchalee (a teacher) and her family, she invited us couple of times to have dinner with her while sharing nice and interesting conversations.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

20/7 - Back to Bangkok

2008-07-20T23:27:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Before going further more and exploring North East of Thailand, we stopped for a while in the capital, Once again we met Yair (whom we first met in Lijiang, China) and his friend - Nava who came from Israel.
With them we went to the Weekend Market and spend wonderful time over there, did some shopping and shared few laughs.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

19/7 - Sangkhlaburi

2008-07-19T05:26:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Sangkhlaburi, a sleepy town of 15,000, is located 340 km northwest of Bangkok in Kanchanaburi Province.
Most of Sangkhlaburi's population includes many ethnic groups such as the Mon, Karen, Burmans, Lao and even Burmese Muslims from Arakan state in western Burma. The ethnic conflicts of earlier decades have largely been sorted out. Sangkhlaburi now guarantees a peaceful multi-ethnic environment.

Sanghkhlaburi is set towards the end of one of Thailand's western border, nestled on the low hills edging Vajiralongkorn Lake, and is surrounded to the north and east by higher forest-covered limestone ranges. The outlying area hosts Karen and Mon villages, caves, waterfalls and jungle.

To explore these sights we rented a motorcycle for 2 days, riding among the peacful villages, trying to contact with the locals (the language barrier was very hard), stopping in secluded places, admiring the temples and of course visiting Tree Pagodas Pass, which remark the official border with Burma. Unfortunately these days the border is closed for forigners and local at once, altough we found it breached and many people from either side went through each direction without any problem.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

14/7 - Back to Bangkok

2008-07-14T05:01:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

It is nice to feel back home, to soak up the atmosphere of freedom, doing anything you want whatever you want whenever you want it, just name it: Thai massages, drinking wonderful fruit shakes, excellent food from the street, huge shopping malls, 7 Eleven of course, you can find here big variety from everything.

We arrived here on Efrat's birthday after a long long night - the flight from Kunming was delayed, KhaoSan Road (backpacker's heaven) welcomed us at 3 A.M.It took us an hour to find a vacancy (all guest houses here are full), tired and exhausting we went to sleep. After getting up, it was a good time to celebrate Efrat's birthday in a cinema ("Hanckok"). The next day we treated ourselves with facial treatment and Thai massage.

Now after spoiling ourselves we were ready to go and explore the unfamiliar Thailand, starting at Sangkhlaburi and the border with Burma (Myanmar).

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

13/7 - Bye Bye China

2008-07-13T01:00:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Well, it is the end of it, today at 23:30 we have a flight from here in Kunming to Bangkok (2 hours with Eastern China Airlines).
We sure going to miss China, here we have seen things we haven't seen in any other country we stayed at. We think China is growing up too fast for foreigners and the local people.

It is a combination between old and new, still you can find a traditional country while the modern style already got into the most remote villages.

It has great long history, the culture is very different from what we know, which make it interesting and unique place to explore and experience.

The food is spicy delicious, the women are beautiful and the people are friendly and helpful even though most of them spit and smoke like chimneys.

You can easily find here everything you look for in a place to visit: traditional ethnic minorities, vast desert, tropical forests, high snow mountains, enormous rivers, small simple villages, big urban cities, wonderful food and friendly people.

We didn't have enough from China, it has a lot to offer, like we already mentioned, we are going to miss this place.

See you in Thailand for our final month before coming back home.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

12/7 - Jinghong

2008-07-11T22:35:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Jinghong is the capital of Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in China and the historic capital of the former Tai kingdom of Sipsongpanna.
Traveling around this beautiful city (palm trees all around) brought us to some nice experiances, there are 13 minorities (mostly Dai minority) living around here, it was specially unique to see the burmese minority which looks like Indians wearing dresses like the traditional Fijian people.

Mostly you can find them in their jewllery shops, we guess they are good in buisness like the Indians.
It is worth to mention Jinghong is located near the borders with Laos, Thailand and Burma (Myanmar).

Madian waterfalls:
We were undecided what to do at that day, we thought about renting bicycles and tour around the villages, but we got an interesting offer from 2 German brothers - Mattias and Florian, to go with them to Madian falls.

These falls located 27 kilometers southwest of the Jinghong, it has been said it has more than 10 cascades, with a fall of nearly 20 meters and a width of 10 meters, but while we arrived it was probably not in the best time, the water level was very low, the waterfall itself was not impressive as we hoped. Nevertheless, the Mandian Waterfall lies in a virgin forest full of various species of plants.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

9/7 - Yaka Trek

2008-07-10T02:04:00.001-07:00

Hi All,

In the middle of xishuangbanna area, on the of China-Laos border, we trekked for 2 days in the mountains of the Dai ethnic minority (origin from Thailand).
Xishuangbanna is an area of China that few travellers afford themselves the time to see. Yet it is a mysterious place. As the only tropical rainforest nature reserve in China, Xishuangbanna is ideal for nurturing wonderful plants and flora and is home to unusual wildlife.

Dai Minority people have lived on this land for generations. The distinctive natural environment here has created unusual customs and traditions.
You can easily spot the Dai villages style along the trek. These bamboo structures raised on stilts deter floods and dangerous animals, allowing many people to inhabit one house safely, often along with all their animals too.
Temples and pagodas with a Southeast Asian flavour are dotted about the countryside and towns, and monks, especially young male trainee boys, are a common sight, clothed in traditional orange costume, often riding motorbikes to the temple.
Hunting is still the main source of income, in conjunction with farming (rice and tea) this can be seen while trekking.

In terms of culture, the Dai people dress in spectacular colours and furs, and dance and song are popular ways to pass the time.

We started our day really early in the morning, had to change 2 buses on our way to one of the remote villages in the area - Guangming Village. From there we started to hike at around 14:00,
entering the wild jungle in unmarked paths, Efrat got worried that we are lost.

We were sleeping in a village called: Yaka, a local family invited us to sleep in their house, that was quite experience. Dinner and breakfast were actually the same - rice with vegtables and spices, we liked to observe and soak up their traditional lifestyle.

At the second day, we left the jungle and hiked along the tea and rice fields from one village to the other.
At the second village, we got lucky enough to meet a salesman who arrived there to buy some tea leafs, he was on his way back to Jinghong (the main city of this area) and offered us a ride. That was actually a 5 hours 4 WD jeep trek back to the civilization and at the end of it, he was nice enough to invite us to dinner at a fancy thai restaurant.

It was interesting to feel the changes in one day, in the morning we were at a minority remote traditional village in the far mountains and at evening time we arrived to a big city with all of its modernization.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

6/7 - Kunming

2008-07-10T01:22:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

We arrived from Dali back to Kunming, back to our same Hotel.
We decided to break the journey to Xishuangbanna area (our next place to visit) and stop here for a 1 resting day.

Again, we arrived in the weekend, lucky us there was no rain during our wondering around in the streets of the capital province, as always we were amazed by the lovely city with its people which crowded up the streets and shopped themselves in every corner.

Efrat with top models:

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

4/7 - Dali

2008-07-04T02:58:00.001-07:00

Hi all,

Dali Located 300 kilo-meters northwest of Kunming, Dali City is the economic and cultural center of the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture. The area is surrounded by mountains on the east, west, and south, and has the Erhai Lake in its center.

The old city of Dali is resemble to the one in Lijiang and Zhongdian. it's more touristic than Zhongdian and less beautiful and attractive than in Lijiang, but it still nice place to stroll around.
Present day Dali is a city that combines history with modern convenience.
Here hotels, public squares, and shopping centers add modernity to the otherwise historical city.

beside traveling the old town, we went to the famous national park here called: Mt. Cangshan. a cable car took us up to the Cloudy road which is located a few hundreds meters above Dali and the surrounding. as usual, we visited waterfalls, admired panoramic views, temples and more.
The clouds here changes often - sometimes the clouds are thin as silk, sometimes they are as dark as ink.
The springs here are also famous. Besides the eighteen streams, there are still many lakes over the altitude of over 3,800 meters. The lakefronts are densely covered with forests, which include rare species of trees and many kinds of flowers.

Erhai Lake looks similar as our Kinneret lake, it had no big impression on us, but still the 1 hour walk to the villages nearby was something worth doing.

There is also a kong Fu temple in the area (called: Wo Wei Shi) which we hiked for a long time to get there, only to discover that this is the resting day (the only one during the week) for the Tai Chi masters. Some tourists stay there for a week, trying to learn the Chinese art and "get to the gold".

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

1/7 - Lijiang again

2008-07-01T18:05:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

We had a long drive from Deqin back to here, it all started at 7:30 in the morning while the Jeep driver refused to show up as we set the previous night, we went to the bus station and bought tickets to Zhongdian, on the way we had a little car accident (broken mirror and bended bump) which delayed us in an hour or so, we arrived to Zhingdian at 15:03, only 3 minutes after the bus to Lijiang had left. we had to take the next one.

The driver of that bus was super slow, it seems to us he did everything he could to arrive late, and that includes so many stops on the way for actually nothing.
We arrived to Lijiang at 20:00 after a real long and exhausting day.

But the fun starts here in the old city, at Mama Naxi Guest House which we love. We didn't excpect to stay here that long, for us it was suppose to be just a stop on the way to Dali, but needless to say, we fell in love in this place.

We took it easy after the hard trek in Deqin, wondering around the small allyes of the old town, soaking up the layed back atmosphere all over again. it's so fun.

Here we met 2 Israeli guys, Gilad and Yair which we spent a really nice day while walking to Elephant hill for overlooking the town scenery from a bird's eye.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

27/6 - Meili Trek

2008-06-28T19:10:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Meili Snow Mountain, also known as Prince Snow Mountain, is located 10 kilometers northeast of Deqin Town. The mountain sits on the border of Yunnan Province and Tibet, where the three famous rivers merge.

We treated to spectacular view from all vantage points. The continuous mountain ridges feature snowy peaks and the sun throws golden lights on the low-floating clouds which form various extraordinary shapes, affording yet another splendid view! But mostly, the mountain presents itself as mystery when dense fog and clouds made it a gleaming sight to see.

It was a 4 days trek for us, the first day we arrived to the remote secluded village of Yubeng, there you can not see any motorised transportation since it is not connected to any sealed road in China, instead we could notice pigs, horses, yaks and chickens wondering around the Tibetan village.
It was a total 7 hours walk, while climbing to the altitude of 3800 meters (starting at 2200 meters), the climb was under a pine Forest, only at top we could have seen the stunning snow capped mountains.

The second day we spent hiking in the Sanpu waterfall, great falls which drop down from the glaciers all around, you can easily see it is a Tibetan holy place with all it's prayer flags.
From afar these glaciers look like a huge white snake wriggling its way among the verdant mountains. it was an easy day walk for 6 hours return.

The third day was our highlight in the trek, although it was rainy all day long, we arrived to the Ice lake which from there we could see the peculiar low-altitude glaciers formed in modern times. Strong updrafts collide with cloud airflow from the inner continents in this area producing frequent dense fog and heavy snow. The resulting topographic extremes include hanging glaciers, icefalls and snow slides. That was in the altitude of 3900 meters.

We started at 9:00 and came back to Yubeng village at 20:00, during the hike we had to watch ourselves not to slip while walking on the wet mud.

The fourth day was the day we returned to the starting point of the trek, the sun was shining suddenly unlike the day before the the sky were "perfect blue sky" as we call it, there was no shred of sign of the wet weather that took place the previous day.
We decided to turn back the same way we came, since the other one considered to be very dangerous, a few days earlier there was an Israeli guy who slipped down to the river and is still missing we believe.

We were a group of 7 people, Baptist from France which we met in Tiger Leaping Gorge Trek, Tim and Lottie from England, Tim from Holland and another Yoni from Israel.
As usual we all shared some nice talks and experiences.

No doubt we will miss traveling here, sleeping in such a remote village nestled in a beautiful valley surrounded by 6700 meters high mountains, waking up every morning seeing this scenery is something you learn how to treasure.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

22/6 - Zhongdian

2008-06-22T03:33:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Zhongdian is known today as the mystic name of - Shangri La, it has been associated with the mystique of a place which could not possibly exist here on Earth (yehh... right, they will do anything to attract the tourists). Located at point where Tibet, Sichuan and Yunnan province all meet.

Zhongdian (Shangri-La), at an average altitude of more than 3,000 meters, is inhabited by many different ethnic groups, with the Tibetans comprising the majority of the population. Here we had the experience Tibetan life and we learned about their lifestyle, religion and cuisine. The unique scenery, highlighted by plateaus, together with the fascinating ethnic culture makes Zhongdian very attractive and charming to visit.

At this region, we rented a mini-van to tour around the area, we shared wonderful time (and costs) with our trekking partners - The Conklin family and Baptist which are really fun partners and kind people.
As usual we got the chance to explore the village lifestyle, and visit a 300 years old monastery.

At our last day here, after saying goodbye to the American familly, we took a nice stroll around the old town of Zhongdian with other tourists we met.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

20/6 - Tiger Leaping Gorge

2008-06-20T03:07:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

About 100 kilometers northwest of Lijiang Old Town lying between Snow Mountains is Tiger Leaping Gorge, which is believed to be the deepest gorge in the world. From the top of the gorge you can look down the steeply angled (70-90 degrees) mountain sides to the rushing Yangtze River with its 18 frothing rapids more than 200 meters below.
An ancient legend says that a tiger used this rock as its stepping stone so it could leap across from one side of the gorge to the other, which is how the gorge got its name.

You can trek the gorge in 2-3 days, during these days you get to walk along the slopes looking at the great steep mountains and the flushing river.

We started our first day in a mini-van going for 2.5 hours from Lijiang to the beginning of the trek in a small village, after leaving our big bags for storage in one of the guest houses and paying 7 USD for the trek permit, we were able to start walking.

In the first day we walked for 6 hours, during that time we climbed from 1900 meters to 2670 meters high to a lookout and descended back to 2200 meter where we slept in a guest house along the way.

At the second day we walked flat most of the time while descending once in a while, we past a very impressive waterfall and go on to the end of the trail.

we met some wonderful people during our long walks and at the breaks, it is worth to mention Yuha and Milla from Finland, Baptist from France and of course - the Conklin family from USA.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

18/6 - Lijiang

2008-06-18T00:54:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

It is said there is a fairyland beneath the colorful clouds of southern China. A place blessed with fresh air, clear streams, breathtaking snow-capped mountains, and an undisturbed landscape inhabited by a friendly group of people. Life in this fairyland is so peaceful, a fairyland called Lijiang, located at the hub of Tibet, Yunnan and Sichuan provinces.
Lijiang has the best preserved ancient town in China - the Old Town which has been listed in the World Cultural Heritages by UNESCO in 1997.
The Old Town of Lijiang, a well-preserved old city of ethnic minorities with brilliant culture, is a central town of the Lijiang Autonomous County of the Naxi Ethnic Minority in Yunnan Province.

when walking on the streets of the Old Town, one can feel the new and old mixture.
We felt like traveling in China old days, with the Classic Chinese traditional architecture, even the Naxi people are still wearing their traditional dress, its so different and special, we couldn't stop of enjoying this kind of authentic.

The modernization come to life with the prosperity and flourish of the town from the shops with fancy collections of handicrafts, western restaurants, guest houses in every corner, and new technological devices.

One of the reasons we will remember Lijiang for a long time is because this place can deal with the tourism by continuing it's traditional lifestyle, although it is a touristic place it is (still) not commercial one, the people here are friendly, smiling and kind.

We liked the views and the village - Baisha (also a Naxi village) which is 10 km north to Lijiang, Bicycle were our transportation, that was our first time to cycle in this trip, our ass surely did not like it.

Over there we found a nice family who welcomed us by having lunch and smiles.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

16/6 - Back to Kunming

2008-06-16T01:53:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

After getting our strength back from the bus long rides of Vietnam, Efrat finally got the chance to experience what she had missed the last time we were here since she got sick.
We visited the dog market and the park, Efrat danced with the locals and made many locals looked at her, Reminder: every weekend Kunming people going out from their homes to dance and sing in this park. This weekend was rainy but even though it didn't prevent them from going out to the park, young teenagers and old people as one.

We spent a wonderful time with Ofri, nice Israeli girl whom we met in our hotel.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

14/6 - Hanoi to China

2008-06-14T02:11:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Many things went wrong from Hanoi city to Lao Cai - the border city and the gateway to China, actually it was one long nightmare. It's only 300 km journey but it took us 3 days to do it.
It all began while going to the wrong Bus station (there are more than 4 different bus stations) in Hanoi, due to a misleading information by our hotel manager, that took us lots of time and money. After getting rid of the many of the touts at the bus station, we arrived to the right one at 9:30 (2 hours late), here we had to deal with other 1 millions touts and other kind of leeches. Eventually we found the bus to Lao Cai or at least as it has been told to us, after making sure (asking the driver several of times) this is the right bus.
Of course they over charged us by asking 6 times more the price for a bus ticket. The price dropped when we insist, but not as the local price, we paid as they demand since we had no choice, they were about to throw us with the bags from the bus in the middle of god only knows if not paying them, we were hopeless.

In the middle of the way we have been transferred to a different bus, saying this new bus goes to Lao Cai, but the truth is this bus went to a different town called:"Yen Bai".
We realized all was one big show to trick us and get our money.

We found ourselves all of a sudden in a town which was not even shown in our "Lonely Planet" travel guide book, we were hopeless in a middle of nowhere, while nobody speak English.
In Yen Bai we found accommodation and the day after, we arrived again to the bus station at 12:45 to catch the bus to Lao Cai as we have been told, well, we got the tickets and thought all of this behind us but a few minutes later we realized the bus has been cancelled.
We had no choice to head to the train station and buy tickets for 3 AM at night.

The train was much worse than expected, it turned out that our tickets were for hard seats, and it was really hard, we couldn't sleep all night long.

Eventually we decided to cancel our last destination in Vietnam and go back to China sooner than we planned. We had enough of Vietnam.

In Lao Cai we went straight to the border, after changing our last Vietnamese dongs to Chinese Yuans, we found ourselves at the Chinese border town - Hekou in no time.

Immediately we caught a bus back to Kunming, 11.5 hours.
After 24 hours of nothing but sitting, our ass killed us.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

11/6 - Ninh Binh

2008-06-10T05:00:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Ninh Binhe has a pace of a large country town, it was a welcome respite for us to escape the bustle of Hanoi. Apart from the scrum of guest house owners greeting the bus, and the charming chorus of "Hello" from the local children, we had our peace and quiet in the streets and the area.

The surrounding countryside is Georges confirming all the postcards fantasies of what Vietnam has to offer, water Buffalos, golden green rice paddies, majestic limestone formations and more.

As usual, whenever there is a chance we rent a motorbike and start to explore the countryside like we did here. The scenery was very impressive, the communication with the local was satisfying, and it was an experience we will not forget for a long long time.

In Ninh Binh area it was our first time to see the process of rice making, from the fields to the product itself how we know it.

We have some problems to upload photos since it turn out that Vietnam Internet Cafes have no DVD Roms, so meanwhile we are uploading movies to our library since in China we couldn't do so ("youtube" site is being consistently blocked over there).

We ran at the same problem here like in China, No DVD burners all over, and rarely CD burners we could find. It is worth to mention the guy who did have a DVD burner, we found him by coincident after a several hours of searching, we were so happy since we ran out of space in our memory cards, it really surprised us this guy didn't charge us for the use of burning at all (it is very rare here in this part of the world).

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

9/6 - Hanoi

2008-06-09T04:33:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

After a long bus ride from Cao Bang (9 hours), we arrived to the hustle and bustle city of Hanoi.
A mass of motorbikes swarms through the tangled web of streets in the old quarter, where the cheap guest houses nestled between narrow alleys with many people.

We spent about 1.5 days in the capital of Vietnam, that was more than enough for us to run away without turning back, in other words - we did not like this place at all !
The people were the main reason for our decision not to come back here if it is possible, Some of them were very aggressive, some of them were noisy. At our first hour in Hanoi we were cursed by a teenager boy who didn't accept the fact we are not interested sleeping in his hotel, we were humiliated by an old woman who refused to take our money when we paid the correct amount for a bottle of water and more ...
The Vietnamese people are people with swelled ego. If you insult their ego (and it doesn't take much to do so), they will turn to be very unpleasant.
It won't help you bargaining in street markets because they will not back down from their price and ego, even though we know the price they are asking from us is double the local price.

We had a bad experience in Hanoi, experience we didn't feel even in rough India.
But not everything there is so bad, we did meet some of the locals which were nice.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

7/6 - Cao Bang

2008-06-07T00:08:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

People say that Cao Bang Province is one of the most beautiful places in all of Vietnam, nestled around 300 km north of Hanoi city (the capital) that was our first place to visit. There are nine ethnic minorities living in this province. The town itself has not something special to be proud of, it is an interesting spot to follow the Vietnamese primitive country lifestyle, but more than that it is a useful base to explore the surrounding countryside.

Ban Gioc Waterfall:
One of Vietnam's best known waterfalls, its image adorns the lobby of many a cheap guest houses throughout Vietnam. it's a very scenic spot, marking the border with China, it surprised us we were the only foreign visitors here, unlike the Chinese side.

The waterfall is the largest in the country, the vertical drop is 53 meters and it has an impressive 300 meters span, one end of the falls is in China, the other is in Vietnam.
The falls has 3 levels, creating a sort of giant staircase.

Ngoum Ngao Cave:
Nguom Ngao is one of the largest cave located inside a mountain among the range of limestone mountain in the area. The cave was formed due to weathered process of limestone mountains over a long time. Stepping in the cavern, we seem to see a miraculous world.
From high stone cliffs, hanging wonderful sparkling seven-colored stalactites.
Electricity has been installed in the main cave and the lightening is quite beautiful.

Thang Hen Lake:
It was suppose to be one of the most beautiful attractions in the area, but it turned out to be a disappointing place, the lake itself looks like a big green pond and nothing more.

The real attraction for us was to see an extinct vanishing world:

The Villages:
At the same day we rented a motorbike and cruise around Cao Bang area, by that we experienced what we have seen behind the glass of the bus at the previous day (the bus to Ban Gioc waterfalls).
We stopped at minority villages, the communication with the locals was challenging with a great joy since the people are very friendly and we became an attraction for them as they for us. While observing the countryside traditional lifestyle we felt very fortunate as we know it is a vanishing world which will extinct in the future.

Generally - Cao Bang is not touristic yet and the integration with the locals was very authentic, real, mutual and interesting (and not commercialized).
That kind of atmosphere we didn't experience for a long time.
No doubt, in the western world you can't see this kind of lifestyle.

working in the rice fields:

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

3/6 - Border Crossing

2008-06-03T02:50:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

After a 4 hours ride by bus from Nanning we arrived to Pingxian - The border town, from there we took a Motorbike taxi to the border - Friendship Gate it called.
There is 500 meters walk between the Chinese and the Vietnam's frontiers.
Before having our passports stamped at the Chinese side, we were asked to follow the officers to a side room and have our bags checked, they were interested in anti Communist sensitive materials such as Books, CD's, notebooks etc.

the border gate:

At the Vietnamese side we had to fill up some costum forms and get a health check, well, you can be as sick as you want when you get to Vietnam as long as you pay the voucher that says you are alright (1 Sheqel), we guess this is how the system works here ...

We had to bargain a lot at the border to get a ride to the closest town from the Vietnamese side - Lang son, it was very strange to get used to a new currency all of a sadden. From Lang son, we took a local bus (4.5 hours) to Cao Bang and spent there the night, the road was a breath taking, we crossed many rice fields and authentic villages.
We left our hotel at 7:00 A.M in China and checked in in our new Vietnamese hotel at 19:00 P.M, except the border crossing which was on foot, we spend all our day in public transportation.

We didn't feel like we moved into a new country except the differences with the language, currency and signs on the roads ...

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

1/6 - Yangshou

2008-06-01T23:50:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

In the 1980's, many foreign backpackers were drawn here by the introduction of the county in the 'Lonely Planet' (travel guide) which described this place as a haven were you can run to from the hustle and bustle of city life.
These days Yangshou became too touristic, it's very busy and is well-known for its westernization with a plethora of restaurants serving western food and showing night clubs at night and a great number of Internet cafes. There is a huge concentration of foreigners within the few streets which lit by neon signs and Gran canaria style bars, but once outside of these few streets, you can also notice the impressive natural landscapes.

The famous Li River traverses the county and brings it the most beautiful scenery. Along the extremely pure river, thousands of hills stand in different poses and with different expressions.

In couple of times we rented a motorcycle and cruise around the area along the river, we visited many small villages but got disappointed to notice these places got commercialized already, we guess 1 million tourists have visited here before we did, and 1 million will continue to do so after we leave ...

Unlike the modern busy life here, Streets in Yangshuo are well kept in the original style, presenting the simple and primitive atmosphere of the ancient town.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

27/5 - Kunming

2008-05-30T00:02:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

After a 6 hours flight including 1 quick stop at Xian's airport, we arrived to Kunming - The Capital of Yunnn province. It was almost 24:00 at night while getting there, so you can imagine, it was a one full long day for us.

as usual, things got really slow when we issued the visa to Vietnam, it took us 5 days to do so. The funny thing, during these 5 days, we didn't do much, we spent 1 day in the bamboo temple with its wonderful clay figures which were sculptured a few hundred years ago.

It was nice visit but after seeing so many temples already, it was not something special for us, you can say we pretty much "templed out". The live open market nearby the bus station was more thrilling experience though.

Most of our time in Kunming we spent in the room since Efrat got sick, she "refused" to feel better until taking some Antibiotic pills (Yoni had to spend several of hours in the hospital to get it for here). We were lucky enough to meet in our hotel a retired nurse (Lea) with her husband who helped us.

On Sunday, Yoni left the "room of sickness" and spend a wonderful time alone, walking and wondering the city's Sunday markets and live shows in the local park.

The train to Guilin city is taking 18 hours and from there - another 1 hour bus to Yangshou (our next destination).

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

20/5 - Turupan

2008-05-21T04:02:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Turpan is an old city with a long history. Traces have been found of humans living there, dating as far back as 6,000 years ago.
Turpan means 'the lowest place' in the Uygur language and 'the fertile land' in Turki. Lying in the Turpan Basin, the elevation of most of the places in the area is below 500 meters.
This is the city with the lowest elevation in China and the second lowest in the world, after our dead sea.
The city, which is also known as Huo Zhou (a place as hot as fire), is the hottest place in China.
The main attractions here are actually outside the city, therefore we rented a taxi for a full day to cover most of it.

The Ancient City of Jiaohe:
One of the world's architectural wonders hides in Yarnaz Valley, 10 kilometers west of Turpan. Like a willow leaf, the ancient city of Jiaohe with a history of 2300 years lies between two rivers on a loess plateau atop a cliff of over 30 meters. One of the largest, oldest and best-preserved earthen city in the world, Jiaohe is 1,650 meters by 300 meters at its widest; with an area of 220,000 square meters.
Along its great history, this city was destroyed and re-built several of times.

Astana Ancient Tombs:
The tombs which are located 42 km southeast of Turpan city were the public cemetery of the ancient Gaochang residents, both aristocrats and commoners. Among the excavated 456 tombs, the Gaochang king's has not been found.
A slope of over 10 meters long leads down to the chamber. The chamber is 2 meters high with a flat ceiling or a dome. The dead are placed on an earthen or wooden bed in the back of the chamber.
In one of the tombs we saw 2 mummies, owing to the arid climate, the relics are very well preserved; dumplings are the same as today's, and the mummies stuffing is as intact as it was when fresh. Murals with vivid pictures of humans, animals, flowers, mountains, and rivers decorate some chambers.

Tuyuk Village:
In this Oasis we walked around, once again we interact with the friendly locals, learning a lot about their simple and interesting lifestyle. The houses in the village are built from red bricks and brown mud, their entrance doors are colorfully painted.
Here you can find many Vineyards and small streams.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

16/5 - Karakul Lake

2008-05-16T03:29:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Karakul Lake (in Kirgiz: "black lake") is located approximately 200km from Kashgar. At an altitude of 3600m, it is the highest lake of the Area, Surrounded by mountains which remain snow-covered throughout the year.

The lake is popular for its unreal scenery and the clarity of its reflection in the water, whose color ranges from a dark green to azure and light blue, all of these can of course be seen in a sunny day, which we were not lucky enough to get it, but it was still impressive.

For us, the highlights for this trip were the road that lead to the lake and a visit in the village.
The way passes through yellow brown desert, high altitude mountain pass and impressive rivers. The village old lifestyle can be seen once in a while, some of the mountains were look like the red mountains in Eilat region, it was unbelievable to drive along the vast sand dunes 2 minutes after leaving the snow landscapes.

On the way to the lake:

We visited Kirgiz (ethnic minority) settlement along the shore of Karakul lake, it is build with stone muddy houses.

The local Yurt (a big tent) was quite experience to sleep in, the temperatures over there was extremely cold during the night but we were OK.

Karakul Village:

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

14/5 - Kashgar

2008-05-14T02:21:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

On the way ...
Before we start writing about Kashi, let us tell you a little bit about the "lovely" 25 hours ride to here.
We booked for a "luxury" bus which includes sleeping bunks, it was a nice surprise to notice that the size of the beds are no more than the average adult Chinese height which means 150 cm, the width was about 45 cm. To make us more "comfortable", the beds were built in a diagonal way, the upper part of our body had to lay on a 30 degrees up, after a few hours on a bumpy vehicle, your ass kills you. At least we heard a loud Arabic music through almost the whole journey.
The scent was very "pleasant", it seems that nobody really care about a non smoking bus, and the fact that everybody has to take off their shoes made us feel even "better".
There was no Toilet inside, we almost didn't drink through this journey, they will not stop you for a break no matter what., except for lunch and very late dinner (01:30 AM).

We told ourselves, this is our last long distance bus we take here in China.
At least we can say we had the experience for taking this adventure.

Kashgar is a important hub on the Old Silk Road,a vibrant Islamic centre within Chinese territory. It is the largest oasis city in Chinese Central Asia and 90% of its population of over 3,000,000 are Uygur (an ethnic minority). Kashgar's importance derives from its stratehic position at the foot of the Pamir Mountains, commanding access to the high glacial passes of the Silk Road routes into Central Asia, India and Persia.
It has a history of more than 2'000 years, along this time it has been remarkably mentioned with its trading atmosphere.

Id Kah Mosque:
The Id Kah Mosque in uyghur language means Square of festival, Typical Uyghur structure, regarded biggest in China, located in the center of Kashar, it was built here first in 1442. For us it was a disappointing place, like the rest of chinese popular attractions this one was renovated as well. We couldn't enter inside because of the prayers.

The Old City:
Kashgar's old city is famed for its warren of stone streets, teetering, multi-storied mud houses, and lively commerce, parts of the city have been torn down, but the core of it remains and will likely continue to do so.
The town is located at a precipitous position with mud-thatched buildings densely built one atop another. Numerous small lanes crisscross the town and reach every corner of it. Inside the town, are those hundreds-year-old, most of which are two or three-storyed simple architecture. Usually, each house is equipped with a staircase leads to the building top. Some architecture is dilapidated which seems to collapse at any time.

Generaly:
This is the China that isn't China. In fact, there's little about Xinjiang's sprawling and inhospitable western region that resembles the Middle Kingdom (central Asia). Residents are predominantly Uighur Muslim, peppered with Kyrgyz, Kazak and other minority groups living in an area of mostly desert and mountain ranges.

Kashgar stimulated our senses, with its combinations between old and new (tall building next to the old city), unique faces all around, delicious different food, and of course the open spaces markets.

Unlike much of China's natural beauty, the region hasn't been devastated by the nation's growing tourism machine – though there are signs that is changing.

Sunday Market:
Every Sunday, people come from the surrounding villages near Kashgar to buy and sell their wares. The town multiples in size and the crowds are clogging the streets. Recently the town council has constructed a covered market, but there is still chaos to be found.
In the past this place had an important roll along the silk road traders, now it is a huge market but not very unique and different than any other small street market you can find in Kashgar city.

The livestock market was much more impressive for us. Traders from all around gather 10 km away from Kashgar, buying and selling Horses, Sheep, Camels, Cows, Donkeys and more.

Once again, we shared some nice experienced moments with Tal and Amit.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

12/5 - Urumqi

2008-05-12T21:40:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Urumqi is the capital of the Xinjiang Uygur (a Turkic people of Central Asia) Autonomous Region and the most 'inland' city in the world. With a population of two million gaily-dressed ethnic inhabitants, the city is likened to a piece of emerald embedded at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains.

We came to visit this region because here you can see a different China, since the borders with - Tadzhikistan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kirghistan, Mongolia and more, are not very far from here and therefore there are minorities ethnic groups make their living here.
We never seen so many variety of unique faces, which makes the walk along the streets here very interesting.

Tourist resources of Urumqi have its own advantages and distinctions, which are strategically important in the ancient Silk Road that assembles the cultures of both eastern and western countries.

The flight from Beijing to Urumqi took about 4 hours, it went by very fast, at the plain we got to know a Chinese young woman named Gaolina, we spoke though the whole flight and had a nice time together, later on we met again in the food market .

The local food here is somthing that worth to mention, it's combination between Chinese and Arabic food is very interesting. so you can see noodeles, steamed Dim-Sams come together with the familiar Pita, Humus, Shishliks and more.

Making Pita Bread in the streets:

Tian Chi (Heavenly Lake):
The most famous tourist spot among the numerous cultural relics and natural landscapes include the Heavenly Lake (Tian Chi) which is located 110 km east of Urumqi.

This crescent-shaped lake deserves its name, Pearl of Heavenly Mountain (Tianshan Mountain). With melted snow as its source, Heavenly Lake enjoys crystal water.
Heavenly Lake, a relic of the Quaternary Period Glacier and its surrounding geological relics, offers science lovers exploring opportunities.

It is very unique to see this beautiful lake in the middle of the desert, with it's snow high mountains.

In this one day tour we met another Israeli couple - Tal and Amit. We spent a wonderful time together.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

9/5 - Beijing

2008-05-10T01:42:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Beijing or as we call it - The Renovated city (every thing need to be perfectly fixed for the Olympic games), is the capital of People's republic of China, with it's 17.5 Million people you feel like a small dust in the wind, and here you can be assure to inhale some dust alright.
After a long journey by train from Hong Kong (25 hours) we arrived from one crowded city to another but nevertheless you feel here more calm. Generally we found people here are more friendly and smiling than HK, from the first glance it seems very vulgarian while many people spit everywhere, from childhood 'till elderly, smoke all the time and push their way into the busy subway.

traveling here is not easy like what we have been use to, the language barrier become more relevant than ever, most of the people can not understand English, those who does, speak very poorly. No doubt we proofed our pantomime increasingly recent days, and the bad news, it is going to be worse in other parts of China once we get out of Beijing ...

Temple of Heaven:
The Temple of Heaven is a worthwhile visiting place in Beijing. It is much bigger than the Forbidden City and smaller than the Summer Palace with an area of about 2,700,000 square meters. The Temple was built in 1420 A.D. during the Ming Dynasty to offer sacrifice to Heaven. As Chinese emperors called themselves 'The Son of Heaven' ,they dared not to build their own dwelling,'Forbidden City' bigger than a dwelling for Heaven.
The Temple of Heaven is enclosed with a long wall. The northern part within the wall is semicircular symbolizing the heavens and the southern part is square symbolizing the earth.
At last we had the opportunity to explore a little bit the Chinese history and culture in that place, and we found out that the more you explore the more you realize how complicated and interesting this culture is.

Tiananmen Square:
Located at the center of Beijing City is Tiananmen Square (440,000 square meters), where we visited Tiananmen Tower, Monument to the People's Heroes, Great Hall of the People, Mao Zedong Memorial Hall and see the national flag raising ceremony. Thousands of people come to the Square every day.
At the north end of the Square is Tiananmen Tower, built in 1417, the Square was the front door of the Forbidden City.
The granite Monument to the People's Heroes is just at the center of the Tiananmen Square. Built in 1952, it is the largest monument in China's history.
Mao Zedong Memorial Hall is at the south side of the Square. This Hall is divided into three halls and Mao Zedong (head of the communist party) body lies in a crystal coffin in one of them.

Forbidden City:
The Forbidden City was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Rectangular in shape, it is the world's largest palace complex. Surrounded by a six meter deep moat and a ten meter high wall are 9,999 buildings. Construction of the palace complex began in 1407, It was completed fourteen years later in 1420. It was said that a million workers including one hundred thousand artisans were driven into the long-term hard labor.
It was called The Forbidden City because during 500 years the entrance was not allowed for the non royal people, well, you can say that in the past an entrance fee had been terrible death, but now it's "only" 60 Yuan (30 Shekels).

The Great Wall:
The Great Wall of China, one of the greatest wonders of the world, was enlisted in the World Heritage by UNESCO in 1987. Just like a gigantic dragon, the Great Wall winds up and down across deserts, grasslands, mountains and plateaus, stretching approximately 6,700 kilometers from east to west of China. With a history of more than 2000 years, some of the sections of the great wall are now in ruins or even entirely disappeared.
To the great wall and Qind Dynasty tombs we took an organized Chinese tour. a big mistake !!!
before seeing the wall, we had to visit other "tourist places" - commission factories. these places manufacture all kinds of tourist gifts with very high prices, the tour company get the commissions for bringing us to shop, we didn't give a damn about shopping anything that day, we just wanted to climb the great wall already. Only at 14:00 we started the real deal, that didn't give us much time to spend in the tombs and the wall, the operator rushed us all the time, we felt like going back several of years to our military training time. It is worth to mansion the Chinese tourists were acted like robots during all the trip and played along this blackmail. The lesson learned - No more Organised Chinese tours.

Today we have a flight to Urumuqi in west of China, it's almost 4 hours flight and we are suppose to arrive to the farrest city from any ocean in the world.

Since we already filled up all our storage in picasa web album, we had to open a new account, for extra storage, so from now on, all the new photos will be at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/yoni.efrat

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

3/5 - Hong Kong

2008-05-02T05:24:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

The concrete monster tall buildings welcomed us in the gateway back to Asia, wow, it was 6 month ago since we left this part of the world, and now we are back on our way to explore China.

Worse than Sydney, worse than Auckland, this busy metropolitan showed us how stress life can be, we feel so tiny here among the endless crowed and huge buildings, Hong Kong seems to be a one giant Shopping center with thousands of thousands of people rushing restless from a place to another like there is no tomorrow ...

We start our journey here on the wrong side of the road, after 12 hours flight we got serious jet-leg, but we couldn't catch up with the sleeping after we found out we have to change our plans for the trip. The Olympic Games which are suppose to start this summer in China messed up almost every aspect of the journey here, apparently the Chinese don't want so many tourists to come inland so they started to strict the rules for visa for foreign passport holders.
Now we have to present our flying ticket out (which we didn't have and needed to go to EL-AL offices) and we can apply for only 30 days visa, that means we have to spend our month in China, cross the border to Myanmar (Burma) and come back for another 1 month to China.

We are staying at a place called Chungking Mansion in Kawloon district, the cheapest rooms in Hong Kong and you can understand why when you get here, everything here is so narrow and small, our room looks like a tiny cube - bed with 4 walls, the toilet and shower are approx 1 square meter long and the feeling here is sleazy.

We got a little help with "KEHILAT ZION" - Jewish community which is funded by Jewish businessmen, we felt a little bit like home, when we arrived they celebrate Pessach second holiday, a nice refreshment to suddenly eat Matzot and Hummus.

Victoria Peak:
Known as Hong Kong's most conspicuous landmark, The Peak is also the residential yearning of most of the population. It is located on Hong Kong Island, and tourists usually go there by tram (small cable train) during sunset time.
Victoria Peak is a good location to view its night scene. Being 554 meters above sea level, Victoria Peak is the highest point within Hong Kong and occupies the western part of the island.
When it gets dark you can view Hong Kong's big buildings lightened with variety of colors, that's something to wait for.

Big Buddha:
Also known as the Tian Tan Buddha, it is the world's tallest outdoor seated bronze Buddha (34 metres tall and weighs 250 tonnes). The statue is located near Po Lin Monastery and symbolizes the harmonious relationship between man and nature, people and religion. It is a major center of Buddhism in Hong Kong, and is also a popular tourist attraction.

Science Museum:
We spent a whole day in this interesting place, it is wonderful place for kids who would like to expand their knowledge about electricity, magnet, the human body, energy producing and much more, also adults can learn some few things with examples and interactive games of the issues.

We are on our way to Beijing now, our train suppose to leave at 15:15 PM today and we will arrive to the capital 25 hours later, it has been a while since we hop on a train in Asia ...

See you in China...

Have Fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

25/4 - Auckland

2008-04-22T21:45:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Missing Fiji ...
We can't really believe we are back in New Zealand.
In 3 hours flight we moved back to Auckland. Fiji and New Zealand are 2 different worlds. Even though it has been only a few days we feel like Fiji was a long time ago.
The flight back was delayed in 2 hours, we guess Air New Zealand caught also in that Fiji Time ...

We already miss Fiji so much,
we miss the kind and friendly people who greeting you wherever you are accompanied by hand shaking, big smile and "Bula" (hello) greetings.
we miss the tropical-paradise landscapes.
we miss eating coconut trees, bread-fruit, pineapples, etc.
we miss soaking up with the laid back lifestyle in Fiji's villages.
we miss Fiji's perfect blue sky.
and much more...

Auckland:
In our last few days in New Zealand we spent doing lots of bureaucratic procedures, same as in Sydney, that including - uploads our photos and movies, trying to sell our camping gear, closing our bank account, send a very heavy (and expansive) parcel back home, etc.
All second hand shops in Auckland didn't want to by our camping gear, since it's the end of the summer, and they are full of this stuff. We were so sure we won't be able to get rid of our equipment without getting paid for it, but we got so lucky to meet Paul - a nice guy who tried to help us to sell our stuff, and after we didn't make it going, he decided to buy it from us, even though he had no need in this kind of equipment.

It was really nice to come back to our NZ home - Henry, Dianne, Amber and Betty as usual welcomed us with a warm atmosphere, we really feel blessed we got to meet them.

Have Fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

20/4 - Getting Married !

2008-04-19T20:19:00.000-07:00

We Are engaged !!!

In Taveuni island, at the Tavoro falls, Yoni proposed Efrat to get married, fortunately she agreed (she didn't have a choice, she had no place to run at the jungle we were)

So ... congratulations for us !

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

19/4 - Sigatoka

2008-04-19T20:01:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Sigatoka Sand Dunes:
The Sigatoka Sand Dunes are located directly west of the mouth of the Sigatoka River the second largest river in Fiji. According to research, the dunes are the product of fluvial erosion in the coastal hinterland and coastal dune forming processes. The extensive dune system covers an area of 650 hectares and comprises a series of parabolic sand dunes of various ages and activities.
Passing years have seen various groups of scientists and researchers alike, combing the dunes for evidence of ancient living. Many successful in the process, and have contributed to the credibility of the dunes as a major historical attraction. The Dunes are the location of one of Fiji`s earliest recorded prehistoric sites. Evidence of the past is clearly visible throughout the dune system as pottery scatters, stone tools & mechanisms, human remains and other archaeological relics continue to be unearthed by natural processes.

It is definitely recommended to reach the sand dune before 11:00 AM or after 15:00 PM since this dark yellow sand get extremely hot at noon time, we arrived at 11:00 approx and got our feet burned like hell, but the scenery was well worth it.

Natadola Beach:
Natadola Beach has been consistently ranked within the world's Top Beaches, by well traveled visitors and travel destination critics.
While we arrived there we had no clue what the hell is everyone talking about ... the beach was an OK beach and nothing more, it wasn't as spectacular as people say, the sand was not so white-yellow sand, it was very dirty by sea-weeds, the water are not crystal clear as we thought it would, there were no palm trees nor coconut trees, at the bottom line it was nothing special and we left this place with a big disappointment.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

18/4 - Beach House

2008-04-19T19:17:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

What a lovely place to celebrate Yoni's Birthday in this friendly, relaxed atmosphere ...

Located on Fiji's Coral coast, the Beachouse is a great place for those who want to feel a tropic holiday, with coconut grove fringed by a white sandy beach with a living coral reef only few metres away.
There are variety activities you can do here such as village visits and hiking, or simply relax and enjoy the home library. The place also offer use of sea-kayaks, bikes, snorkeling gear, boat trips and other guided and organised activities.

After exploring some places off the beaten track with getting to know the real Fijian lifestyle (in a non touristic way), it was nice to come and relax here, meeting lots of tourists in one place.
We booked for guided track in one of the villages near by, followed to a picturesque waterfall.
We have seen better and more beautiful than this waterfall, and the track was not something special for us but we liked the company and the atmosphere.

Happy Birthday!

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

17/4 - Fiji Museum

2008-04-19T19:04:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Fiji Museum located in the heart of Suva's botanical gardens, the place holds a nice collection which includes archaeological material dating back 3,700 years and cultural objects representing both Fiji's indigenous inhabitants and other communities that have settled in the island group over the past 100 years.

We have seen better museums during our travels, so we got little bit disappointment while exploring what considered to be the best source of historic knowledge that Fiji has to offer, but than again, this is Fiji, and things you get there you can't get here and visa versa ...

The Cannibal exhibition was one of the most interesting for us, cannibalism ceremony had been performed throughout many years along the human kind history, but here in Fiji, unlike other places you could find it recently (200 year ago).
Some Christiane missionaries were killed and cooked while coming and preaching about Jesus and stuff... we guess they weren't think god had these kind of plans for them ... ha ?

We left Suva the same day we reached it's Museum and moved on.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

16/4 - SavuSavu

2008-04-19T18:51:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

SavuSavu town (in Lenua Levu island) was suppose to be just a place where we pass along our way to Suva in the main land from Taveuni island, but because the only ferry they had was scheduled for the next day, we had to spend a night there.

In this town we didn't do much, just eating pineapples at the local market and visiting the hot boiling water spring ...

At the next day, we were suppose to depart this island to the main island by a ship at 11:00 AM, after waiting for 4 hours at the wharf under the hot burning sun, we have been told that the ship will not go sooner than 23:00 this night. this is what its called - Fiji Time.

We used this time to surf the net and send some e-mails.

Fijian Lady, While waiting for the ferry ...

Sunset at SavuSavu:

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

15/4 - Taveuni

2008-04-15T13:46:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Taveuni is know as the 'Garden Island of Fiji' located in the 'Friendly North". It is well known for it flora and fauna is a popular destination for many travellers and tourists. The island is approximately 10 kilometers wide and 25 kilometers long and has some of the most fertile land in Fiji. It is a place where travellers go to spend that special vacation or holiday in Taveuni's lush green rainforests. Here you can find one of the best places for diving and snorkeling in the world ! for us it was absolutely a must place for hiking, since there are so many walking tracks around.

Sunrise on the way:

Des Voeux Peak:
Des Voeux Peak is Taveuni's 2nd highest peak approximately 1,200 meters above sea level,
Generally the walk up the mountain takes 3-4 hours of very long, not very steep climb, but this time we cheated while taking a ride with some of the locals which offered us to join them with their truck, that was after a 1.5 hour walk.
The trip up to the top provides splendid views of the rich tropical plants, palms and rainforest trees on Taveuni. This region is also popular with bird watching trips, enabling them to view many of Taveuni's rare species. From the peak we got to see splendid views of the other islands.
When reaching to the top, the weather suddenly started to change from sunny day to heavily rain, so we decided to stay at Vodafone Communication tower which located here.
We had a nice talk with the workers over there, one of them was really interested about Israel nation.
Unfortunately we forget to bring the camera with us at that day, so sorry - no photos of the peak with its beautiful views ...

Wairaki Catholic Mission and the White Cross:
This impressive church was built in 1907, thanks to the french missionary who helped the local warriors with their fighting strategy against the Tonga warriors in the 17th century, the ancient cross still sits in the church - the original cross which was given to the leader of the warriors 400 years ago.

Behind the mission, a dirt track leads up to a huge white cross, a nice local young guy called: "Bravo" walked with us and showed us the way, it was not the first time for us seeing the locals leave their work at the farm and come and help us with the way - this is something we never seen in other places, he explained about the plantation near by and many other things about the Fijian agriculture. On the way we passed a very unique waterfall, the view from the hill of the white cross are superb.

Waitavala Water Slide:
This natural water slide is not for the faint of heart. A bruise or 2 is unavoidable as you fly down this rock chutes. We didn't want to take the risk and slide, taking pictures was enough for us, regardless of the slides, it is a magnificent place to visit.

Lavena Coastal walk:
Lavena Coastal walk is situated on the coastal boundary of Bouma National Heritage Park, this walk gives you the chance to see a mixture of remote beaches, rainforests and traditional gardens. The walk takes about four hours there and back.
Although it was heavily rain, while Efrat had a cold, we walked the trail getting wet from head to toe, it was really worth making a day of it.

The cherry of the track come at the end of it - Wainibau Falls.

Tavoro Waterfalls:
After doing the coastal walk, at the same day we went to Tavoro Waterfalls (also Tavoro Falls).
These falls are a spectacular series of three waterfalls of 24m, 15m, and 10m. These falls are also called the Bouma Falls as they are in the Bouma National Heritage Park. The tallest waterfall is the Lower Tavoro Falls. Then, the Middle Tavoro Falls has the next tallest drop. Finally, the double-barreled waterfall of the Upper Tavoro Falls has the shortest drop of the three, but has an interesting character to it.
We have seen only the first 2 waterfalls since we didn't want to miss the last bus back to our accommodation. This day we will definitely not forget.

Vuna:
Vuna at the south end of Taveuni island was a bit disappointment for us, it took us 2.5 hours to get there with the local bus, although it was just 40 km away (dirt road which wouldn't allow the crappy bus to go over 40 km per hour).
Vuna is well known of its reef, it is very recommended to snorkel around, that was the reason we got there. Unfortunately we couldn't find any snorkeling equipment since the only place in the village who rent this stuff couldn't find the key for the room of the equipment (we are not surprise because this is also part of Fiji's way ...).
Eventually we found ourselves sitting infornt of the reef having a nice conversation.
While we were waiting for the bus to pick us up back near by a primary school, Efrat started to have fun with the kids, Their teacher didn't like it since they were suppose to get back to the class.

Efrat with school kids at Vuna:

Naqara:
pronounce as - Nangara, here we found our accommodation for most of the days in Taveuni, here is the main village where you can find shops and other services. We stayed at a nice family which have accommodation, they have 5 daughters. They really got attached to us, when we left they were quite sad.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

6/4 - Suva

2008-04-05T23:51:00.000-07:00

Hi All,
Suva is the capital city of Fiji, the city has a population of 77,000, Including independent suburbs, the population of the Greater Suva urban area was 168,000 - this makes it the biggest city in Fiji, and therefore - a very busy, crowded, dusty and air polluted place - exactly the things we don't like, specially not in Fiji.
Unfortunately, we arrived here on Saturday noon, thinking it would be just an intersection for us to get to our next destination - Taveuni island, but all the shops, travel agencies and airlines were closed until Monday morning, so we had no choice other than staying here in "the big filth".

Today we went outside to "Cola I Suva" Forest park, a nice gate away from the concrete. Over there we found some natural swimming pools and waterfalls.

The only main attraction in Suva which make the effort to arrive here is Fiji Museum, was closed, so eventually we entered the cinema and watched a Hollywood movie ("Shutter").

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

5/4 - Caqelai

2008-04-05T23:38:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Caqelai (pronounced Thungalai) is most definitely off the tourist trail. It is just a dot in the Pacific ocean, an island without roads or shops or (most of the time) electricity. One of the more than 300 islands that comprise Fiji, it takes 15 minutes to walk around and has just enough beautiful beach and palm trees to support one very magic places to stay. There are maybe a dozen bures: traditional thatched huts of wooden posts and dried palm fronds; a rudimentary "shower room" open to the sky, with a barrel of water and a battered tin pan to slosh yourself; and a long, open-sided hall where everyone eats.
Three times a day the conch-shell bellows to call everyone to table.
In Caqelai, you can swim, sunbake or snorkel. If you go for a walk, you're back where you started in no time. The main activities are social, getting to know the other backpackers and locals, singing and playing music after dinner, and in Efrat's case - making the locals to dance with her ...
That was our little piece of heaven that we were looking for, imagine yourself the nice postcard you see, the cool calendar you get and amazing presentations you find in the e-mail of beautiful white sand beaches with coconut trees scattered around ... well, Caqelai is the place

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

3/4 - Ovalau

2008-04-05T22:43:00.000-07:00

Hi All,
Ovalau is the third largest island in Fiji's Lomaiviti archipelago, the island is about 13 kilometers long and 10 kilometers wide and it has a population of around 9,000 people.

We found here what we were looking for coming to Fiji: Beautiful tropic place, welcoming and kind people, simple way of living in small villages, not many tourists, this was really good opportunity for us to explore the Fijian routine life, culture and history.

Levuka:
Levuka is famous for many of Fiji's "firsts." It was the site of Fiji's first capital city, bank, post office, school, private members club, hospital, town hall, and municipal government.
At our first day here we walked around this small town and visited the many heritage sites scattered around.
When we came to see Fiji's first Parliament building it was strange to see it abundant, anyone could come inside with out any problems, he just needed to pick up the key under the mat at the front door.

Musi - the owner of our hotel, turned out to be a funny and interesting guy, we had some few nice chats and after 5 days spending there, we felt like home (his daughter's Fijian cooking was delicious), we got to know his whole family which were also living there. That was definitely the best accommodation in Fiji so far for us.

Rukuruku:
Rukuruku is a wonderful place to visit. Located near the beautiful Reefs, this village offers some stunning views of the ocean as you drive by. Located near a lovely black sand beach, you can even see the neighbor Islands from here. There is also a small waterfall found nearby as well, some 20 minutes away, for these reasons we didn't want to miss this place.

We were lucky that Musi helped us with the transportation to get there with school pupils on their truck instead of paying loads for a travel agency.
We liked the Black sand beach and the waterfall, but liked better the local people which shared with us nice conversations and introduced to us the breadfruit - A fruit which grows up on a tree but taste the same as potatoes.

We arrived to the village at their "village week" - one week in a month which everybody leaves his day by day farming job and serve the village and other people needs, like cleaning the place's perimeter, wave mats to those who needs it and can't do it by their owns, etc. We really like the idea of sharing and helping in the community of the village. At that day we definitely learned a lot about the villagers lifestyle in Fiji.

Drinking Coconut Milk

The Peak:
After getting lost at the first day, we returned to the track with gained power to conquer the peak uprising Levuka and the area. At the beginning of the unmarked track we met Jim - a nice 16 years old local kid which was working on the plantations near by, he was kind enough to offer us his help and to guide us all the way to the peak and back.

After 1.5 hours of very steep climbing while Jim clearing shrubs on the way for us with his big knife, we succeeded to reach to the top. The views of Levuka, the outer reefs and the other islands near by were absolutely overwhelming. During this walk, we felt like in a jungle, Jim like Tarzan climbed like it is a nice stroll in the park for him, while explaining us the fauna and flora of this area. We found out this nice-shy-kind kid is going to be the next Chief of this island, his grandfather is the current Chief at the moment and this "job" goes in heritage.
At the end, after we got invited to Jim's home, he climbed to a coconut tree and cut us a fresh piece of this tasty fruit.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

31/3 - Korovou

2008-03-30T15:29:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Spontaneously we decided to stop along the way in this small town (300 people) and to get to know the real Fijian people (those who don't work with tourists).
Here we found ourselves as the only tourist people in the area, even the hotel staff were surprised to see us.
Yesterday we went by a bus to one of the villages near by, the place called - Wailatua, we entered the local church and heard the pastor preaching in Fijian language, no doubt we were an attraction for the locals who don't get to see tourists in their Sunday prayers at the church.
Later on, one of the young guys invited us to his home, it was a very basic place, build from wood and metal scratch, before we know it, we had lunch with his family - noodle soup with vegetables and chicken - Outch ! it was very hot-spicy but delicious, Efrat ate the TARO (a root that is being cooked and taste like a potato).
We were talking with these guys about the most important thing here in Fiji these days: The Rugby world cup tournament which take place in Hong Kong and Fiji team is consider to be one of the best in the world (as they proudly say).

Efrat and the Taro

At Korovou we found ourselves talking, singing, playing the guitar and having a nice time in a local family we met while walking around.

Generally we can say that Fijian people are very welcoming and friendly, they are well educated and love music. Although they live in a very basic conditions, some will say - poor, they seems to be very happy people, and this is something you can not buy with money.

Fresh Pineapples

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

29/3 - Nananu I Ra

2008-03-30T15:09:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

After a few hours of riding a Fijian bus which was quite experience (the bus almost falling apart but had a real nice music and TV with movies), we arrived to a town called Rakiraki - an intersection for us to hop on a boat and go to the island - "Nananu I Ra". Many Indo-Fijian (Indian people which brought to Fiji to work in the sugar cane industry in the 19 century by the British) taxi drivers surrounded and followed us trying to convinced us to take their service in a tourist price of course.
Eventually we arrived to the ferry stand, there we took a ride on a boat that takes school kids back to their home at the island.

Nananu I Ra is a small exotic island , here you can find a remote island atmosphere in minimum efforts and costs, since it is very close to the main island and the accommodation is not too expansive.
The sandy beaches, coconut trees and tranquil feeling did a good job making us feel relaxed and peaceful, specially when there were very few people around, although the humidity and mosquitoes were killing us.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

27/3 - Nadi

2008-03-30T14:56:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

We landed at Nadi at morning time after a sleepless night, the flight was OK with Air new Zealand and took us 3 hours to get there. Since we arrived we ran into so many travel agents at the airport, every one of them wanted to sell a package tour to the touristic islands, we suddenly felt like we came back to India (India lite actually), we just wanted to get some sleep in our pre-booked hotel and that took us ages to get there. the heat and the humidity were so exhausting. The travel agent that was suppose to help us get to our hotel tried to rip us off as well. Eventually we crashed into our beds at 13:30 - 3.5 hours after we landed, good example to experience the meaning of "Fiji Time".

At the second day, we decided to allocate our time to arrangements and adjustment here at Nadi, We changed our money to Fijian Dollars, did some shopping and also were invited to drink their traditional Kava drink (mixed grounded Kava roots with water) with all the ceremony that comes with it, it tasted terrible but the cermony (clapping hands and saying BULA-Hello) was nice.

The local market was the only authentic sight we got to see in this busy town, the pineapple was great, we really missed that wonderful fruit from our happy days in Thailand.
When we left Nadi we were involved with a car accident. We took a ride with another 2 English guys we met and in a near by city some local guy bump their rental car from behind while we were in it, everybody went out of it OK and the only damage was to the car. It was the "nicest" car accident we ever had, the local Fijian guy smiled and apologised all the time, probably this is how thing goes here in Fiji.

The car after got hit: with Roger and Grahm

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

24/4 - Auckland

2008-03-23T21:05:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Tomorrow is the big day, we are going to FIJI islands.

We thought everything would run smoothly, on Monday (today) we will arrange our procedures prior the flight and leave New Zealand, thinking to sell our camping gear to a second hand store, send a parcel to Israel, burn all of our photos and movies from the north island to DVDs, draw all of our money from our bank account, etc.
BUT - today is Easter holiday here (lucky us) and everything is closed so we are not able to do anything but to update the blog and complaining about it.
Fortunately we are staying at an amazing family here, except being nice and kindly host us they agreed to store our parcel and camping gear until we return from Fiji.
Betty, Diane, Henry and Amber give us the true feeling of home, it is well worth to mention Dian's cooking which is delicious.

We will remember New Zealand as fields of green grass covered with white sheep, turquoise blue lakes, strong waterfall, amazing fjords, wonderful tracks, cold slippery glaciers, extreme sport, whales, penguins and seals, sandy beaches, thermal pools, crazy weather, perfect blue sky (when it's not raining) and nice people. We definitely will not forget the Promite spread.

See you in FIJI !!!

Have Fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

21/3 - Cape Reinga

2008-03-23T20:33:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Cape Reinga is the northwest most tip of the Aupouri Peninsula, at the northern end of the North Island of New Zealand. Cape Reinga is located over 100 km north of the nearest small town of Kaitaia. It is generally considered the separation marker between the Tasman Sea to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east. From the lighthouse it is possible to watch the tidal race, as the two seas clash to create unsettled waters just off the coast.
Here we met a nice Israeli couple - Amiad and Hilla, they are also at the end of their journey in New Zealand and about to fly away to Thailand, Nepal and India, Yoni helped them with some tips and sorts of information, it was nice to remember about some places over there, they really brought Yoni good 8 years old memories.

The good fun started when we arrived to the sand dunes, The biggest sand dunes in New Zealand, the climb to the top of the dunes was a challenge with sun, heat, loose sand and a long steep slope. We finally experienced the different views. Combination of Blue sky with green forest, deep blue see and yellow sand dunes all together made the efforts of driving here along the 90 mile beach.

Sunset a Cape Reinga:

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

19/3 - Bay of Islands

2008-03-23T19:43:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Whangarei
One of the biggest cities in northland (the part of New Zealnd which is northern than Auckland), here you can find the picturesque Whangarei Falls is 26.3 metres high and falls over steep basalt cliffs, The two viewing platforms above the waterfall give spectacular views of the falls.

The Bay of Islands is an area in the Northland region of the North Island of New Zealand.
It is one of the most popular fishing, sailing and tourist destinations.

In Paihia town as usual we covered 2 view points and 1 waterfall, we are so full of it since looking at the same views over and over again, no doubt it's was very beautiful, but we couldn't see anything that was special in those places, kind of like: "been there, done that..."

for those who traveled in New Zealand and heard about Omri, it is worth to mention we met him at his so called "backpacker" and had a "nice conversation" (better to say a debate) about HIT etc...

A little bit of history: at Treaty of waitangi we finally found that unique place we were looking for, it has a great deal of history for the locals here, it was very interesting to explore it and learn a piece of history for a change.
This is a treaty first signed on February 6, 1840, by representatives of the British Crown, and various Māori (native land people) chiefs from the northern North Island.
the English and Māori language versions of the Treaty differ significantly, and so there is no consensus as to exactly what was agreed to, it caused some problems between the 2 sides, but generally it seems that two of those ethnic groups were able to solve their problems along the years.

House of Treaty:

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

17/3 - Coromandel

2008-03-17T21:38:00.002-07:00

Hi All,

Framed by native Pohutukawa trees on the western side, beautiful white sandy beaches on the east and divided by ranges cloaked in native rain forest, the Coromandel’s 400kms of coastline offers the visitor a truly distinctive blend of experiences.
The peninsula is steep and hilly, and is largely covered in subtropical rain forest.

Hot Water Beach
Some volcanoes develop huge underground reservoirs of superheated water. Over time, this water will escape to the surface — cooling on the way. There are two fissures at Hot Water Beach issuing water as hot as 64ºC at a rate as high as 15 litres/minute. This water contains large amounts of salt (NOT salt water), calcium, magnesium, potassium, fluorine, bromine and silica.

Well, we went to this wonder with lots of expectations thinking how lovely it would be to lay down in the pool we will create to our self relaxing in the hot water, but unfortunately the waves were too strong at that time since the strong wind and it destroyed our plans. the only thing we could have done is to shove our feet in the sand underneath the water and to feel a little bit the hot stream coming out.

Cahedral Cove
This section of the Coast is a popular area, accessible from the Stone Steps Wharf at Ferry Landing and from the highway.
It took us about 30 minutes walking on the coast line to the cove to see and admire the hole in the limestone cliff. the sandy beach looked peaceful.

Kauaeranga Kauri Trail
At the bottom line we didn't like this trek since we couldn't see much other than bush and trees, which is great but not for us anymore, we are so bushed out, and this walk was a good example for it.

Generally, the peninsula offers a lot, there are several waterfalls and lookouts from the top of some mountains or hills, which view of beaches and other parts of the peninsula, but we felt after the first lookout the rest looks a bit the same.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni

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

15/3 - Waihi

2008-03-17T21:38:00.001-07:00

Hi All,

Waihi
Waihi is one of the most famous gold mining towns in New Zealand, the history of this period is apparent everywhere her, with production hidden behind the leafy slopes close to the main street.
here we met super-mom, Toya is a mom to 8 children, she raise them by herself and home-schooling them as well.

Karangahake Gorge:
The Karangahake Gorge region near Waihi town combines gold mining history and natural beauty, much of it accessible through a variety of walks.
we choose to do the windows walk trail, this spectacular walk passes through tunnels high up on a cliff face, with window-like openings which look down on a river gorge far below. to go inside the tunnels we had to use a torch.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

14/3 - Tauranga

2008-03-17T21:35:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

In Tauranga city we didn't do much except climbing on the Mount Maunganui which observe the city and the area along the beaches.

It is well recommended to stop at the strand and to try the great Hokey Pokey Ice-cream, Yoni found it delicious, he ate it like there is no tomorrow.

Have fun,

Efrat and Yoni.

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

13/3 - Rotorua

2008-03-17T21:02:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Rotorua’s premier geothermal attraction is in New Zealand’s most colourful volcanic area, Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. Colours of every tint and hue are displayed in pools, lakes, craters and steam vents.
This place surrounded with sulphur hot springs. Ohhhhhh, they stink !!!!!

We arrived breathless 1 minutes before the biggest show here began: Lady Knox Geyser, the geyser persuaded to erupt every day with the aid of soap, which triggers an eruption, everyday at 10:15 A.M

it was nice walking around the thermal area, we slowed down at some colorful pools and sulphur steams which come out of the ground, but beside that it wasn't something special.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

12/3 - Taupo

2008-03-12T00:03:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Taupo is a town on the shore of Lake Taupo in the centre of the North Island.
We will remember this town because of the extreme sport activities we did, of course we didn't skip the nice short walks, to Huka falls (2 hours) along the waikato river which was very impressive.

In Taupo we were lucky to find Ray and Robyn who hosted us, we got to meet them and Yoni (another Israeli guy who live with them and work in town). we had a lovely time with them and shared some nice conversations.

Bungy:
In a spontaneous way, after noticing this Bungy place and after realizing here is much cheaper than in Queenstown (the famous bungy place), Yoni decided to take the chance and do it, as you can see in this video:

Skydiving:
At the same day, after waiting for the wind to die we finnaly skydived later afternoon from 12,000 feet (=3600 meters). Efrat was the first one who jumped from the airplane, she thought she would be more scared than what turned out in reality, we really liked the free-fall which took us 45 seconds, while gliding with the parachute open was nice but not that thrilled.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

10/3 - Tongariro

2008-03-10T22:30:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

The Tongariro Alpine Crossing track passes over varied and spectacular volcanic terrain. In the presence of active volcanoes you can experience some of Tongariro National Park’s special gifts. A cold mountain spring, lava flows, an active crater, steam vents, emerald-coloured lakes and magnificent views of lake Taupo combine to make this an enjoyable and memorable trip.

It is consider to be the best one day walking track in New Zealand, now we can understand why. This track is so popular that at some point we felt like walking in a class trip because of all the people around us.
people say it is a very tough track, we found it not that bad, probably we are in a good shape, after doing lots of tracks in the country, it was total of 8 hours brilliant walk.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

8/3 - Mt. Egmont

2008-03-10T22:28:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Mount Taranaki or Mount Egmont is a dormant stratovolcano in the Taranaki region on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island. The 2518-metre-high mountain is one of the most symmetrical volcanic cones in the world, the volcano Mt Egmont rules supreme standing tall above the surrounding landscape.
In good weather it is a challenging climb for the fit and well prepared.

At first we planned to walk for a short walking trail in this national park, but after meeting a local guy (in the middle of the short trail) who recommended us to climb over the top, we decided to change our plans for a bit and to go with full power all the way to the summit of the mountain, and it was definitely worth the efforts.

It was not an easy climbing, 5.5 hours ascend from 940 meters above sea level until the top (2518 m), at some parts we were sliding down a bit since the surface was sliding gravel, at the end of the climb we had to use our hands to grab the rocks because it was so very steep.
At the top we were able to see above the cloud line some parts of New Zealand which were so far away like the south island.

the way down look us 3.5 hours and looked like an eternity and we can say that some time we skied without snow (on the gravel) and fell down a lot.
That was one of the hardest tracks we did in this country, but also one of the rewarded ones.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

5/3 - Kaikoura

2008-03-05T01:09:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

we decided to diverse from our route and go 130 km out of our way towards Kaikoura town, just because we've heard some good things about the cruise for whale watching over there.
On the way we picked up a hitch hiker from Christchurch which turned out to be a really sweet girl.

Kaikoura is a lovely town on the coast line and in a distance to the snow capped mountains, while driving towards it, we really enjoyed the scenery.

The whale watching cruise turned out to be an awful one, we have seen one sleepy whale and the second one just dive when we came, the winds got stronger and the waves got bigger and bigger, we felt terrible, both of us got the motion sickness and couldn't move without had the feeling to throw up. Yoni got it pretty seriously, he vomit most of the way and felt really really bad.
Eventually, we didn't see much whales and we ended up sick from this trip, you can't really say it was worth the 260 dollars we spent, now can you ?

anyway, now we are feeling much better, we drank a lot of water and had a good rest. tomorrow we hope that it will not get as windy as today since we are about to go on a ferry which will take us to the north island of New Zealand. Yes, tomorrow we are leaving the south island, we spent here a wonderful time and hope to do so in the north part as well.

So, wish us luck, and have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

4/3 - Queen Charlotte

2008-03-04T00:50:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

The Queen Charlotte Track offers a spectacular trip through the Marlborough Sounds, it passes through lush coastal forest, historic bays, and along skyline ridges with unsurpassed views of Queen Charlotte and Kenepuru Sounds.
Most of the track is wide and benched, and all major streams have been bridged.
For walkers, boots and a good level of fitness are required, and the 71 kilometre trip can be done in 3-5 days.

We did a one day trip in this walk and climbed to a lookout which was breath taking, it was a shame that the weather was cloudy and sometime a bit of rainy but nevertheless, this walk was a brilliant one.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

2/3 - Farewell Spit

2008-03-02T16:56:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

This is the most spectacular coastline in the region, with its caverns, islands, sand dunes and long stretch of beach. The walk passes over farm paddocks and through a section of coastal forest.

At the beach we got to see 4 baby Sea dogs playing around, they were so cute, although we wet our shoes and feet because of the high tide, it was worth every moment.

At this day we travel with Noa and Yaniv, a nice couple which we met at Abel tasman track, it was real pleasure to travel along, we took the time slowly during that walk, enjoying the difference view of this area.

2 other short trips were to Pupu Springs, which are consider to be the biggest natural coldwater springs in the southern hemisphere, and to the grove - a narrow chasm which was cracked under a big rock some many years ago.

The last couples of days we are sleeping in HIT and Chiburim families which hosts Israelis, we discovered this type of accommodation is very popular and we needed to book at least few days in advance.
we were really lucky to get hosted by Rob and Kirsten who were reached after so many "dead end" phone calls (they are not in the book, we got their number through other couples which were fully booked), although we didn't speak with them a lot since both of them were so busy, we found very nice people.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

29/2 - Abel Tasman

2008-02-29T16:16:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

The Abel Tasman Coast Track, located in Abel Tasman National Park on South Island’s northern shores. The Coast Track is consider to be one of the Great Walks in New Zealand and extends for 51km.
A good thing about this track is that it can be modified, we did only the first day walk as we found out the views often repeat themselves.

During that day we walked for about 21Km in 7.5 hours along the coast line, in the morning we booked for a water taxi which would take us to Bark bay and walked all the way back to Mahuru where we parked the car.

At first we didn't enjoy it very much, since we walked mostly in the bush without seeing the beaches and coast line which the trail follows, but at the second part of the day, we got to see some of the wonderful beaches this track has to offer, especially the one in Torrent Bay.

We found ourselves accelerate our paste since it became dark and there were a lot of km to go, so, although it suppose to be an easy flat track, at the end we were pretty exhausted.

The day after, we were happy to get a cloudy rainy weather, that gave us the opportunity to ease things up a little bit and have a rest day without feeling any guilty that we are waisting some unseen walking trails.

have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

28/2 - Nelson Lakes

2008-02-28T16:03:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

Nelson Lakes national Park is on the way up to the north part of the south NZ island.
To start the day walks in this park, we drove to a little town called: "St.Arnaud", With the recommendation of DOC (Department of Conservation) employees, we did the Mt Robert circuit track.
The track starts with a nice and easy climbing for 1.5 hours combine walking in and out of the bush. the view were bird-looking on the lake Rotoiti and around St.Arnaud area.

The weather was super, as you know this is a main factor while going and hiking outside in New Zealand.

At the rest of the walk, we followed Mt Robert ridge and after 4 hours of easy stroll we descent to the car park, completing the circuit.

Sunset at nelson Lakes 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

27/2 - Punakaiki

2008-02-27T15:52:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

This is just a short and accesible trip we did on the side of the main road, short but very popular as the tourist buses unloaded the many people to have a look and see.

The Pancake Rocks are a heavily eroded limestone area where the sea bursts though a number of vertical blowholes during high tides. Together with the 'pancake'-layering of the limestone (created by immense pressure on alternating hard and soft layers of marine creatures and plant sediments), these form the main attraction of the 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

26/2 - Arthur's Pass

2008-02-26T15:26:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

Many people have enjoyed this mountain-top trip offering panoramic views of the Southern mountains. However, some have met with tragedy because they did not realise the possible dangers of this route. This is an extremely steep and rocky journey to the top of an 1833-metre peak.
After the long tracks we did, this one was reasonable hard and challange.

The track climbs steeply through Mountain beech forest. In several places the track comes very close to Avalanche Creek and some stunning waterfalls.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

25/2 - Fox Glacier

2008-02-25T21:07:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

After we passed the glacier because of the bad weather and after having interesting experienced taking 2 lifters (Omri who forgot his camera in our car and Ramona from Germany), we came back to the glacier and booked for the full day trip on the glacier itself.
Fox glacier is New Zealand's largest commercially guided glacier, situated in Glacier Country, on the West Coast of the South Island.
we left at 9:30 and came back at 17:00, we went through lots of lots of experience. just look at the photos and see what we mean:

Have Fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

22/2 - Wanaka

2008-02-22T20:53:00.000-08:00

Hi All,
Wanaka is a town in the Central Otago region, It is the gateway to Mount Aspiring National Park, Wanaka is primarily a resort town but has both summer and winter seasons and is based around the many outdoor opportunities.

The rob Roy track we did was wonderful, it is 4 hours track go and come back, which looks out to the valley and the Rob Roi glacier.

Stuart Landsborough’s Puzzling World is a world unique attraction specialising in puzzling eccentricity, we paid a visit in this fun place.

the first of the world's modern-style mazes was great and the Illusion Rooms were something to look for, each room is an illusion in its own right.
in the Tilted House the room is tilted at an angle of fifteen degrees. All the displays inside are normal yet when you enter the room the illusion is so strong that your brain is convinced the room cannot be sloping.
we spent a few hours trying to solve the fun Puzzling games.

At Cinema Paradiso, we tryed the well famous home made cookie, which was so delicious.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

20/2 - Queenstown

2008-02-20T20:44:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

Queenstown is considered as the capital city of Extreme sport of the world (Bungi jumping, skydiving, etc), as people proudly say here, since we arrived here after 2 long walking tracks, we decided to relax.
Generally, we didn't like this town since it's too commercial, and here it's all about the money. everything here cost you and cost you a lot, we decided eventually not to do the Bungi jumping and to save the 160 dollars for thriling 60 seconds or less.
we didn't spend much time here, the only nice thing we did, was a short walking trail to the Queenstown hill, and we got to re-unit with Adi which we have been traveling in Australia.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

18/2 - kepler Track

2008-02-19T19:05:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

The Kepler Track, a 60 kilometre circular track, traverses through the spectacular scenery in the area, it took us 4 days to complete it.

The First day: 15 km , 6 hours
The track follows the lakeshore (Te Anau) through mountain and deep forrest, After 1.5 hours of walk, we reached a bay which called: Brod bay, here you can swim in a sunny day.
from here, the track to the bushline starts about halfway along the beach and climbs steadily for about 4 hours, this is the part that scares the most trampers, 4 hours of climbing (850 meters in altitude), but for us it was not that bad as we thought, at the end of the day we arrived to a beautiful hut, where you can see the other ridges and sounds.

The Second day: 14.6 km , 7 hours
The track in this day follows the high ridge, it consider to be the most beautiful day of the track, since you can see along the way the unique scenery of the fjords.
however, to enjoy this spectacular view, you have to have a good weather during this day, we didn't have much luck with the weather, some of the places were so cloudy that we couldn't see almost anything, although we were lucky enough to see some few wonderful fjords, when the fog got cleared once in a while.
at the last part of the day the way descends via a series of zigzags into a Hanging Valley. The track descends through forest, and provides a view of a large natural landslide.
for a nice side trip we headed up the valley for 20 minutes to Iris Burn Waterfall.

The third day: 16.2 km , 6.5 hours
A steady day’s tramp down through beech forest, riverside clearings and a gorge. The track climbs over a low saddle and wanders through mixed forest to the large slip formed during heavy rain in January 1984.
at the second part of the day we followed the lakeshore of Lake Manapouri and the ending point for us - moturau hut, situated beside a beautiful beach with panoramic views of Lake.

The Fourth day: 6 km , 1.5 hours
most of the day we walked in the bush, he track crosses a wetland and then the meandering Forest Burn just above its outlet into Balloon Loop, an old part of the River.
the ending point for Efrat was just a few minutes ahead in a place called Rainbow reach, from there she waited for Yoni with the big packs to bring the car. a lot of people finish this track at this point on the third day.
Yoni Continued for 9.5 km on the track along the river all the way back to te anau town and the car park.

have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

14/2 - Te Anau

2008-02-13T15:59:00.000-08:00

Te-Anau
Te Anau is a town in the South Island of New Zealand. It is on the eastern shore of Lake Te Anau in Fiordland, it is the gateway to a wilderness area famed for tramping and spectacular scenery - the last town passed through when travelling to Milford Sound.
because of it's location, this small town became a very touristic place.

Key Summit
The Key Summit track is an ideal introduction to the impressive scenery and natural features of Fiordland National Park.
it provides panoramic views over the Humboldt and Darran Mountains. During the last ice age, which ended about 14,000 years ago, a huge glacier flowed down the Hollyford Valley and overtopped Key Summit by 500 metres, with ice branches splitting off into the Eglinton and Greenstone Valleys.
to get there had had to climb for a few hundreds of meters, after Milford track, without the heavy pack, suddenly we felt like we can do it running backwards :) The weather was brilliant, it was very clear and sunny, therefore we stayed up in the summit for a longer time than we expected.

Gertrude Saddle
Here We tracked in a Glacier for 3 hours return enjoying the good weather with it's beautiful scenes and waterfalls

The Chasm
This is a 20 minute return walk where the watercourse disappears between a narrow chasm (as the name suggests). However, it's really more of a nature walk than it is a waterfall attraction because there's no safe way of seeing the waterfall satisfactorily. Instead, you get to look down at mostly strangely shaped rocks and potholes resulting from the Cleddau River's forceful flow as it gets channeled into the dark and narrow abyss.

Circle Track - Manapouri Lake
Another track we did between Milford and Kepler tracks, it's 8 km total, starting with a very steep climbing about 300 meters and looking on a great views on Manapouri Lake and area, the walk itself stretches along the bush Forrest. 4.5 hours of nice walk.

Tomorrow we're going to start the 4 days track called: Kepler, so wish us luck and -
Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

11/2 - Milford Track

2008-02-13T15:22:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

The Milford Track (53.5 kilometres) is in the heart of spectacular Fiordland National Park, Once described as the finest walk in the world, the Milford Track is one of New Zealand’s most popular walks (therefore you need to book it 6 month in advance like we did), with approximately 14000 people completing the Milford track each year.

The huge valleys that we've see throughout the trek along the Milford Track are the result of glaciation over the last two million years, these glaciers carved there way through the landscape leaving behind these U-shaped valleys , ice-gouged ledges and the hanging valleys of tributary streams.

This track takes 4 days, at the first day we were sailing in a ferry which took us to the starting point of the track, from there we walked for 2 hours (5 KM) to our first hut - Clinton hut, there we spent our first night.

The second day: 16.5 KM , 7 hours
We gradual climbed from Clinton Hut as the track follows the Clinton River to its source, Lake Mintaro, at the base of Mackinnon Pass. It passes through sections of forest and crosses many streams, The track passes through many avalanche paths.
for Efrat this day was the hardest day, since it was her first time walking with the big heavy backpack (12Kg) on her for so many hours.

The Third day: 14 KM, 10 hours
For This day starts with a well-graded, steady, zigzag climb of about 550 meters in altitude to the Mackinnon Pass, On the way there are excellent views of the lakes and Canyon, from there, the route drops 970 metres steadily over rocky, uneven terrain and provides spectacular views. The track follows the river, on which there are several waterfalls, every one of them is more beautiful than the other.
The side trip to the Sutherland Falls is well worth the effort, it is about 1½ hours return (6 km) to the highest waterfalls in New Zealand - 580 meters high. we did it without our packs which were left in a shelter.
For most of the people, this is the most difficult day in the track, but for Efrat it was easier than the day before, probably she got used for the heavy pack.

The Fourth day: 18 km, 6 hours
We don't know why, but for some reason, somebody decide that the transportation ferry from the end of the track to the main road will leave at 14:00 - so early in the day, that make all of us wake up early and walk very fast with out many stops, it was still beautiful to notice MacKay Falls and Bell Rock (intriguing rock, which has been worn by water and grinding stones and then tipped over in a rock fall), and to walk alongside the Arthur River and around Lake Ada.
Sandfly Point was our last and final stop for this walking track.
The ferry took us along Milford Sound - The so very impressive Fiord, probably the most touristic place in New Zealand.

The weather in this track was vary, in the first 2 days, it was sunny and nice, the following day (which considerably to be the most impressive day) unfortunately it changed to cold and rainy which caused a low visability. The last day it continued to have occasionally showers.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

5/2 - Invercargill

2008-02-13T14:28:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

Invercargill is the biggest city in the south of New Zealand, although you still feel like in a small town, it is not so busy and the atmosphere there is pretty calm.
Over there we visited the Southland museum, a really nice Taotara is living there - a rare lizard which is one of a kind, this breed was living in the Dinosaur's era and it will continue to thrive as long as the humans won't hunt them for their precious leather.

"The world's Fastest Indian" of Burt Munro was the fastest vehicle in the world in 1930's, Hollywood made a nice movie out of this New Zealander story, we were able to see the real deal in a hardware store belong to Burt friend's children.

Efrat felt a little bit sick over there, so we decided to reduce our speed limit in our tour, we stayed at a really nice family - Ron and Rosalie which invited us to a nice dinner as well.

The Bluff is a the southern-most town in New Zealand and a seaport, it's about 30 km out of Invercargill and represent the first European setlment in New Zealand. at the hill over looking of the region we walked for about 1.5 hours in a bush walk and skyline.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

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

2/2 - The Catlins

2008-02-13T14:18:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

The catlins situated off the beaten track on the southern-most coast of South Island in New Zealand, The Catlins is a major highlight of the Southern Scenic Route, There are so many choices of walking tracks and byways, we discovered the sometimes peaceful, sometimes savage treasures of The Catlins scenery.
It is a good area to spend a few days walking in the bush, along the beaches, and on the mountains, there are plenty of nice waterfalls here and other attractions.
Among all we've been up to, it worth to mension "Jack's blowhole" - a nice walk up on the grassy hills which look at the southern beaches, the hole is a 55 meters deep, 200 meters from the ocean, sea water get via underground tunnels to the hole and makes it more special.
Along the Catlins river we walked for 4 hours in the nice bush

In Canibal bay we have seen a sea lion

Among our wonderful trips in the area, we slept at Dick and Maryann's home which were so kind to host us, we felt like in a 5 stars hotel during our time there, the breakfast was super with home made cheese, bread, veg, etc.
we are very greatful for that.

Have fun,
Yoni and Efrat

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

31/1 - Otago Peninsula

2008-01-31T14:22:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-29T23:48:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-29T19:09:00.003-08:00

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

2008-01-29T19:09:00.002-08:00

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

2008-01-29T19:09:00.001-08:00

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

2008-01-29T19:09:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-18T23:02:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-18T22:11:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-17T21:54:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-17T21:30:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-17T21:18:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-17T21:02:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-17T20:40:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-17T20:32:00.001-08:00

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

2008-01-17T19:57:00.000-08:00

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

28/12 - Weather

2007-12-28T23:40:00.000-08:00

Ho... the weather is getting worse and worse.
It is unbelievable, the end of December is the middle of the summer here in the Southern Hemisphere, but the weather has some different plans.
A great cyclone storm cancelled our plans to go to Fraser Island - One of our "musts" in Queensland, we have to go on and travel in the rain, it is raining here all day every day since we arrived to Gladstone. That wasn't in our plan, but we could not do anything about it.

At the nice town - Bandenberg we found shelter from the drops in a cooper's place (the one who makes the barrels for wines or rum), had a nice dinner at KFC (for the first time here in Aussie) and spend hours on an Internet service, all the ways just not to be under the rain.

In Childers we met a nice lady at the visitor information center who showed a lot of care and respect to Israel, later on we tasted one of the best Ice creams in the world (Ginger Ice-Cream) !

We arrived to Mariborogh while the sky were so dark you could think it was night time by mistake, we visited a really nice museum, it functioned as a grocery store for 100 years, all the products are still in the shelves, everything so antique. very interesting, very recommended, we probably asked the Lady who worked there a million questions about the time back than.

Eventually we arrived to the Sunshine Coast while there was no sun shining of course, but that is for another post.

We added some photos, check it out...

have fun,

Efrat & Yoni.

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

20/12 - WhitSunday

2007-12-27T00:33:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

people say that WhiteHaven beach in Whitsunday island is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world! it is part of the Great Barrier Reef (for those who never heard of it, look it up in Google or something), well, it's true! it is an amazing beach, but the only frustrating thing about it is that you can not go there by yourself, there are no self transportation to the island, the only way you can reach there is with an organized tour, which makes it:
A-very very touristic,
B-very very expansive.

At Airlie Beach, which is the place you book for a tour and from there the ferries go to the islands, we had a lot of second thoughts whether to take this tour or not, eventually we decided to go for it.
Beside the beach we did some snorkeling, here we found out that Great Beerier Reef is a wonderful place to snorkel, everything here was so colorful, so rich with fishes and corals, Yoni got really lucky during that time, he spotted a big sea turtle and followed him. the experience was hard to describe in words, swim beside a sea turtle, that is something you don't get to do everyday, does it ?

Have fun,
Efrat & Yoni.

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

19/12 - Hideaway Beach

2007-12-27T00:27:00.000-08:00

We arrived to Hideaway beach after a warm recommendation by Denny, at this un-touristic place we found out that we are the only people in the beach, it is only 50 km south of one of the most touristic places in the east Australian coast and the differences were unbelievable.

The beach was beautiful, we enjoyed it very much, and we take this opportunity to say thanks to Denny.

Have fun,
Efrat & Yoni.

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

18/12 - Magnetic Island

2007-12-26T23:51:00.000-08:00

Hi All,
The first island we visit in Australia, in this continent the prices for ferries are unreasonable, a one way and return would cost the normal guy 23 (Australian) dollars, while the same journey with a car on the ferry, would cost 150 dollars !!! that's a rip off. Anyway, now you know why we traveled in this island for the first time since we bought it, without our portable home.

We got a little bit disappointed from the tracks and from the snorkeling, the 2 main reasons why we came to this island.
We have picked the longest track in the island, it was called - "West Point" and it is 16 km return, during that time we couldn't see the ocean, the route was not exactly a typical bush route, the walk was mainly on the vehicle gravel road, and to do it return ? what's the point at that if you don't see interesting things on the way ? BUT, the beaches at the end of this track where one of the best we have seen in Queensland.

At Florance bay we went to snorkel, "this is the most beautiful place to snorkel" we have been told, so after we rented the snorkeling equipment we found out this is a nice place but nothing more, the reefs and corals at Thailand are much better than here, in Yoni's opinion.

The atmosphere in the island itself reminded us a bit of Thailand islands, everything was lay back and everybody seemed to have all the time in the world.

that's it for now,
Have fun,
Efrat & Yoni.

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

26/12 - Agnes Water & 1770

2007-12-26T23:22:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

The main reasons we arrived to these twin beach towns were:
1. Learn how to surf
2. Go for a sailing cruise to one of the Great Barrier reef islands called - lady Musgrave.

Due to the stormy weather, we couldn't do any one of them.
There are some short tracks here, nothing special, we did some of them, but these are beach towns, and people come here to lay in the beaches and not to hike.

we spent probably 24 hours here and got out while the weather was getting worse.

Have fun,
Efrat & Yoni.

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

25/12 - Gladstone

2007-12-25T22:57:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

We thought the best way to celebrate Christmas is to do it with a local family.
Chiburim organization is a group of good Christiane people who love Israel and willing to host the Israelis around the world. We found Kerry,Esmond and their daughter - Sarrah through this organization's web-site, they agreed to host us and it has been a pleasure for us and a wonderful experience.
The timing was excellent since we arrived to Gladstone after a long wet night in the car, we found some leaks from our sun-roof and we got covered with water all night long, at the morning our bed was soaking wet. Over Kerry and Essmond's place we could dry our stuff and re-organize for the next rain to come (including fixing the roof).
We had many long conversations about Christmas, Christianity, Judaism and the similarity between them.
We definitely spent good time in Gladstone, we got to see the town and it's Christmas lights in the Christmas eve. and the day later we visited their church.

have fun,
Efrat & Yoni.

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

23/12 - Eungella

2007-12-23T22:40:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

People mainly come to Eungella National Park to see the very interesting animal - The Platypus.
It seems this is one of the most unique animals in the world, it is a mammal which lay eggs, it has feet of a croc, body of a mole, it swims in the water as a duck, it has hair of a horse and god only knows what's his purpose in life ...
well, we couldn't see this animal, it is very hard to spot it, you need to be very quite for a long time during night time and than maybe you get lucky and see it for a few seconds ... we didn't get this luck (ran out probably in Whitsunday island)

BUT - the walking tracks were impressive, most of them go in a humid tropic forest. We enjoyed this place although got bitten by leeches (needed to carry salt or matches in this place), the walks reminded us the trek in the Indian Himalayans 2.5 month ago.

Have fun,
Efrat & Yoni.

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

16/12 - Townsville

2007-12-20T00:31:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

This city declared the ending of the outback (the dry desert) and welcomed us to the very touristic west Australian coast, which represented by a tropic climate.
Nevertheless, we liked this place, we liked it a lot. we think this is the second most enjoyable city we have visited so far in Aussie (after Perth of course).
The city is very beautiful, it's strand ("Tayelet") is very clean, peaceful and impressive, we have seen many families spending a wonderful Sunday afternoon (it's the beginning of Christmas here) walking, eating on the Barbecue free facilities, playing at the water park and much more.

After a long day of exhosting procedures (trying to hook up with some "lifters"- partners), we visited "Castle hill" which showed us some breathtaking panoramic views of the city: Ross river which cross it as a snake form, the sea and of course Magnetic Island at the background (our next destination).

At ReefHQ - a big Aquarium which contains artificial coral reef, we have seen so many sea animals like sharks, colorful corals, snakes, poison blow-fishes, and many other kind of fishes which we can't exactly remember their names. we focused on the "deep water" section where we discovered for the first time glowing fishes (the glow is created by a special bacteria which they are born with) and a very rare crab (lives at the bottom of the ocean).

Have fun,
Efrat & Yoni.

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

15/12 - Charters Towers

2007-12-20T00:20:00.000-08:00

The rush gold founded this wonderful town, during the 19th century an Aboriginal kid found little pieces of gold in the river while he was drinking, obviously the European somehow got the glory for it, and since then, many people came to try their luck in finding some gold, some of them got really really reach.

The city itself as for today looks like a country town, like at the old times while the wild west was in the news. We didn't do much there beside soaking in the relaxing atmosphere.
This is the last city prior Townsville where we headed, and we arrived there after such a long mileage.

Have fun,
Efrat & Yoni.

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

12/12 - Devil's Marvels

2007-12-20T00:09:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

Devil's Marvels is just a nice location beside the highway on the outback, from Alice Springs to Tennent Creek, we visited this place while doing this endless road towards Townsville, and were deeply impressed from the monument, so what is this devil is all about ?
It is Geological rocks which were formed some millions of years ago, the shapes are round as balls, it reminded us - giants eggs, the Aboriginals think these are snake eggs and of course are holly, since snakes were one of the creatures which created the world in their
"dream time".

here are some photos:

Have fun,
Efrat & Yoni.

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

10/12 - Alice Springs

2007-12-17T21:26:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

This was the place were we serviced our car (in Israel we call it - "Tipul 10,000"), it has been about 5 weeks since we bought the car and already traveled with it 7500 km !

Alice Springs is the main big city in the desert, that means you can find here every service you need for, expected from a big city, after a long period of time in the outback desert, we were glad to see suddenly big supermarkets (for those who have been to Ausie - "Woolworth" and "Coles"), restaurants and people !

The RFDS (Royal Flying Doctor Service) visit was very informative, this service was established at the beginning of the last century, it basically provide help and care for those who live at remote and isolated places. the base in Alice Springs covers a radios of 600 km, which supply an airborne to a big city in urgent cases.

the base at RFDS:

Reptile center - over there you can see the toughest animals in the continent. king brown is meant to be the deadliest snake in the world, it's poison can kill a human being for a matter of minutes. behind the thick glass, it didn't seemed to be scary at all.

But, the crocodile was scary enough, although it didn't move much.

Although, the most interesting-unique animal over there, in our opinion, was of course the "Thorny Devil" - a spiky little lizard which eats ants and can drink via every part of it's body, it can even absorbs moist from its tail up to its mouth.

Thorny Devil

In Alice Springs we got separated from Denny in a nice quick dinner at Subway.

Denny on his Jeep

Have fun,
Efrat & Yoni.

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

9/12 - Macdenell Range

2007-12-17T20:57:00.000-08:00

After a long day of different arrangements in Alice Springs, we drove to Macdenell Range National Park, it's even divided to East and West.

West Range:
We think that the jewel in the crown of this National park is a walking trek which called: "Omritson Gorge - Pound walk", 7.5 km track, the thing we liked the most in it was the different verity of views which made it very unique and worth seeing. The first 1.5 km we climbed on a mountain, we decent into the pound, it was all green, the flowers were flourishing and the sky were light blue as they can only be in Australia, at the entrance to the deep gorge we walked on several types of land, purple, black and yellow rocks, sometimes sea sand appeared during the walk.
This route was not an easy walking one, but have no mistake, we had a wonderful time doing it.

East Range:
Well, the east range is much less tourist attractive, most of the sites there are "easy going" (short tracks of 20 min. walk), the Aboriginal's painting were nice but not more than that.

Only one of them was different - "Traphina gorge" it was called. We did several hikes wherever we could on our 2WD van (there are much more options for 4WD groupies).

Have fun,
Efrat & Yoni.

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

5/12 - Kings Canyon

2007-12-17T20:41:00.000-08:00

In this National park which has one of the most spectacular scenery in Central Australia, you can find several walking track. we and Denny picked the longest one, and several shorts walks as well.

"Kings Canyon rim" is a 6.4 km walk, which climbs over the top and surround the cliffs of the Canyon. Over there we found the time to diverse away from the main route and went to what is called "Garden of Eden" - a rocky pool located in one of the canyon's creeks, surrounded by trees, bushes, flora and fauna.

At Kathleen Springs we took a break for several of hours to sit and relax in this pastoral place, we picked to do it near the waterhole.

Have fun,
Efrat & Yoni.

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