Diddilliban (near Noosa Head), 22.8.08

Diddillibah, Friday 22nd August, 2008

Friday night we arrived to Karen and Robin’s house in the Diddillibah village. Karen and Robin’s are host of Servas. Bet you never heard of Servas! It is a non profit non political organization of volunteers from all over the world. We heard of it from a brother of a friend of mine It is meant to promote peace and understanding around the world. Practically, when travelling, instead of paying lots of money staying in different accommodations, you can call Servas members and stay a couple of night with them. Sounds strange however members actually do it a lot while traveling and host others as well. A great idea. Feel free to check it :-) http://joomla.servas.org/
We joined the organization just before leaving S’pore. We plan to join it in Israel as well and we’ll be happy to host travelers.
After 2 and a half weeks in OZ we decided to give it a try. Naturally it was embarrassing to call strangers and ask if we can stay at their home. Anyways, we called Karen and Robin. I didn’t choose them particularly but I had to choose hosts who can take a family – quite unusual. Most of them indicate that they are interested in hosting 1 or 2 persons. Karen and Robin were not the first choice but the fifth. All the others on the list before them just didn’t pick up the phone. Probably because it was already too late – 8:30, and the Aussie people are on the way to bed at that time. Not Karen and Robin. Karen hesitated for a couple of minutes before inviting us to stay with them. We arrived on Friday evening, and it turned out to be a great stay. They leave in an awesome village. A perfect place to live in. On one hand it is located in a beautiful place – the scenery is so beautiful and pretty isolated. On the other hand – 20 minutes drive and you are in Noosa head and other urbane places. If you drive an hour and a half you are in Brisbane. Their hospitality was amazing. They are pretty laid back (well, not uncommon to Aussie people, but they are even more). When we arrived they were already drinking their tenth beer. We had a dinner together, all took showers, had a nice chat and went to sleep. Oh, the kids want me to mention the dessert – ice cream with hot custard. First time they encountered custard and were really excited about it. Kids slept in one room and us in another!!! Real rooms, real beds, and the highlight – when we had to pee we didn’t have to go out of the house ;-)
The next morning we went to the market where they work on Saturday and Wednesday. A very famous market in Eumundi. Ido will soon describe what they make living of. Later on we dropped the kids back in their house and Amit and I climbed on Culum mountain. The view was amazing (you can see the photo). I was upset to realize how unfit I am but indeed the mountain was really stip. We left this morning. Of course we invited them to stay with us in Israel (though we couldn’t tell them where we live – we wish we knew…).
That’s my part. Now Ido will add his perspective about these 2 days.

Talia



Ido:

As mom said, we had a very nice 2-3 days at Karen and Robin’s house but they had the cutest dogs ever. There was one male shiatsu called Buddy and a Female called Trudy.
I liked when buddy sat on me, (even though it’s kind of hard to get him off). I’m just gonna add details to what mom said. For starters they had a huge T.V, they had darts, they had one of those blowfish and they made home-made beer. Their job was amazing.
They worked in a puzzle company. They made all these different types of Rubik’s cube, timber puzzles, board games and really fun riddle stuff. They gave us two presents. One was called T blocks. There were four different shapes that you had to make into a T shape and other shapes. The second one I have no idea what it’s called. The last day we stayed was pretty long. Mum lost the keys and we were looking for it like mad! We all had different opinions. Ophir was sure we would find them. Mum thought we wouldn’t find them. Dad thought we’ll find it somewhere idiotic in about ten days. I thought we would find them somewhere idiotic. Shira, well Shira was having a tea party with herself. Now I shall conclude the paragraph with this very short sentence.

…………………… GOODBYE! ;-) ………………

Hervey Bey again... (Whales) 21.8.08

Hervey Bay, 21 August
G’day mates. This is your captain ((Ophir)) speaking. As you can .. well.. not really see .. but read I am on a....boat!! Yes its true, I ran away with my mom’s computer, a bit of cash ((& some guy named “Skip”)) we don’t really know were we are heading but we have food, ((I hope)) and I have a comp. YAY!! Ha!! I got you good, didn’t I?? didn’t I?? I’m just joking. I’m here with felemy and about 50 other people ((I don’t think there is any one here called “Skip”.)) We are on …wait be right back there is a whale in sight!!!!

Wow! That was amazing! I just saw about 10 different whales, (humpback whales to be exact.) I was actually gone for a long while. Really. I did. Anyway, we went on this boat to see whales, and then FUNNY stuff happened.

1) We were watching a whale. Everyone was quiet and excited and then one guy’s just like “damn I’m out of battery.” And maybe it doesn’t really sound funny when I write it down but believe me it was hilarious! Because it was very random.
2) The boat stopped to see if there are any whales in this area. When we saw one we stopped to see if there are any other. Next to us, not that close, was another boat with ((like us)) many people who were all at one side to see the whales. And then we saw the whales, there were right behind the neighboring boat. So ((because we are so kind and loving)) we started to try to tell them that the whales are behind them. Some of them saw, but they didn’t really get what we wanted them to do. So we started shouting “behind you! look behind you!” so then one guy went to the other side and we were like “yes, go, go!” and slowly they all went. But by the time they got there guess what! The whales were at the side they started with!! And yea, you get the point.

Ahh….good times good times, yes. So this is where I finish. Good-bye to one and all.

LOVE YOU!!!! ((g2g see more whales, haha!!)

Ophir..

Your captain.

Talia adds:

האמת היא שמאד התלבטנו אם לקחת הפלגה לראות ליוויתנים או לא. גם כי חזרנו אתמול בערב מפרייזר איילנד, שהיה פיצוץ אבל גם מתיש, ובעיקר כי עד כה היה לנו ניסיון קצת רע עם חבילות תיור כאלו. זה תמיד נורא נורא יקר, ולא מצדיק את הכסף. מדי תיירותי. ככה היה כשהפלגנו לראות תנינים בקייפ טריבוליישן ואפילו כשהפלגנו לגרייט ברייאר ריף. כמובן שבשני המקרים היו קטעים מאד יפים, אבל כשחוזרים ומסכמים את האירוע כולנו הרגשנו שזה קצת מבאס. שזה לא הצדיק את הציפיות. שהברושורים יותר מרשימים.
אבל ההפלגה היום לראות לוויתנים שווה בטירוף!!! דווקא בבוקר אני ניסיתי להוריד את שאר המשפחה מהרעיון ובאמת חשבנו להמשיך ישר לנוסה-הד (Noosa Head), אבל פתאום הייתה לי תחושה שבכל זאת כדאי ללכת על זה... ואיזה כיף שעשינו את זה. הנאה צרופה. קצת קשה לתאר במלים כי זו בעיקר החוויה של לראות אותם ממש מקרוב. ראינו המון. והם ענקיים (ראינו לווייתנים עד גודל עשרה מטרים). יש בהם משהו שעושה נורא שמח בלב. הם התקרבו לספינה, קפצו, התיזו מים, הוציאו את הזנב, התהפכו – באיזה שהוא שלב הם הרגישו נוח וזה הרגיש שהם עושים לנו הצגות. הנוסעים על הספינה קיבלו הוראות לעודד אותם, והיה הרבה הו-לו-לו באויר ומחיאות כפיים והתרגשויות.
אני תהיתי, כרגיל, אם גם הלוויתים מסתכלים עלינו וחושבים שאנחנו עושים להם פוזות וכמה זה מרתק להסתכל עלינו...
עכשיו מפליגים בחזרה. נגיע בערב בחזרה להרווי-ביי ואחרי כמה שעות נהיגה נגיע לנוסה-הד.
כבר אמרנו שעבר חצי מזמן השהות שלנו באוסטרליה? ושהזמן טס מהר מדי...
טליה

From Shira’s experiences:
Right now we are on a boat that each time we stop and look for whales. And I feel happy about it because I never saw whales before and they are really cool. The boat is also cool. The whales are really cute. They have like scratches from other whales and they are all so cool.
Yesterday I slept with mom and dad. I always like hugging them. I like sleeping in the car because it is really cool. Our car can change into a bedroom, kitchen, and a place where you eat. There is no bathroom in the car.
I like sitting at the front and also at the back. I like sitting at the back because I can lie down whenever I want and I can like a small fat mattress on me. I have a little doll that is a dolphin which is pink and white. It has marble eyes. I like to lie down and sleep. I like sitting at the front - it is fun sitting with dad and mom because then I can kiss and hug them and I can also help daddy to do the gear and lie down on mommy. I do it a lot of times.
I like playing a lot on the computer because it is really fun but my mom doesn’t really let me play a lot.

Frazer Island 19.8.08

This time it’s me Ido,
And wow do I have a lot to say. We’re now staying in Hervey Bay. It is surprisingly big.
They have a McDonalds here and the playground is huge. There’s no Burger king,
But there is these two other fast-food places called Hungry Jacks, (which is a bit like Burger king but has sandwiches as well) and another place called Red Rooster. Dad is a bit in a health craze, especially for breakfast. But he’s not that bad, he even said we could have a ‘Junk Food Night’. Two days ago we went to Fraser island to stay the night in a CABIN!!!! But here are the sad bits, just when we’re in a cabin; I have to sleep on the floor on some bed sheets. Just when we sleep in the cabin, we had to wake up at 5 am! But we didn’t, it was too hard, so we woke up at 6:30. Ophir and I were telling dad:
“Isn’t the point of being in a cabin is to sleep in! That night we had pasta. And guess who made most of it…MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE…………………!
Dad took pictures. He’ll put it in the blog. Shira would keep complaining about how she helped grind the cheese and pour the olive oil. Mom said the tomato sauce I made was perfecto. Since we decided our campervans name was Carl, we also decided to give a name to our car on Fraser Island. I came up with L.C. It sounds cool and it stands for Land Cruiser. You can’t just use any regular car on Fraser Island. You have to use a land cruiser. Fraser Island was well known for having lots of dingoes. Ophir and I were sure we would see billions. But we only saw, well, none. It was a very stressful morning. But it wasn’t cold at all. We stayed in a cabin in the north part of the island, and we had to drive south. Did I mention there are barely any roads on the island. The only way to get around is on sand and the funest place to drive is on the beach. I have to go fix the beds in Carl now. Bye till now, Mate.


Talia adds:

Indeed Frazer Island was a huge adventure. Ido didn’t elaborate on the adventures we had. It is the first time we were driving under these conditions – sand sand and sand. And it is so wild and unpredictable. U can get stuck if you don’t behave…
We have decided to stay the night in a cabin because it would cost us the same to hire camping gear and we were afraid it would be too cold on the island. Kids were so excited when I told them. “a real bed, mom?”…
We had to leave very early in the morning because the high tides are at their peak around 9:30. However I was a bit in an adventure mood and convinced Amit to keep driving to the southern point even though it started looking bad. The beach became very narrow comparing to the day before (we drove in the afternoon). We managed to do it but I have to admit that I was really scared at some point. There are many creeks on the way and you never know how deep they are. It is not rare that cars are stuck and swept away. Amit could already imagine us all sitting on top of the car, where only the edge is seen and the rest is sank in the sand. We certainly don’t have money to pay for a new Land Cruiser…. Luckily we made it. No more stupid things. In the rest of the day was not spend as we planned because in some spots we were not able to cross and had to drive all the way back. It didn’t leave us time to do all we wanted to. Still, we managed to see some very beautiful lakes and take a short trail.
We returned to Hervey Bay very excited from these 2 days.

Mind you, few of the photos on the "front" of the blog were taken in Frazer Island.

Some Australian Images...

Hervey Bay, 18.8.08

Hervey Bay, Monday 18th, 2008
I guess it was obvious that eventually it is me who always write and edit the blog.
Kids are really excited about it and of course correct my English, but never get to sit down and write.
Yesterday and today we were driving many hours. Kids were really behaving. Indeed we parked the car in nowhere and just went to sleep. It was the first day that the sun was not out and it rained a bit. I’m afraid that the more south we go the colder it will get L.
In the last few days we had few nice walks in the forests and near the rivers. Shira was able to walk about 5 km. She can be fun and cooperative but in other times she can be really horrible. Amit and I are not giving up and hoping that she’ll get used to it.

Anyways, today we’re at Harvey Bay. Tomorrow we’re leaving early to Frazer early. Should be really cool and wild!!! Ophir keeps frightening Shira about the dingoes that will eat her in Frazer Island. If we survive we’ll try to get some photos.
It is actually the first time that I have a stable and relaxed access to the web via my computer and not paying too much… We were mostly writing offline and now I am updating it and adding the photos to the previous posts. Family are sound a sleep for more than an hour. I will join them now.

Rockhampton, 17.8.08

Rockhampton, Sunday 17th of August
We’re just stopping here for dinner because we’re rushing to Harvey Bay. We plan to get there no later than tomorrow early afternoon. It is such a long drive. Did I mention that OZ is huge?!
We spent last night in a beautiful place – the camping was simple but the view of the valley was amazing. It was even colder than usual. We went for a quick view on the broken river searching for platypuses. We think we saw one which was very disappointing because we thought that we’re going to see hundreds of them.
At night we decided that adults sleep in the van with the kids. It is the second time we do that. The first time was in Airlie beach. The reason then was that when we’ve just arrived to the camping Amit went out of the car to check in. Kids asked me where did he go to and I said to collect the keys (for a cabin). The kids didn’t think it is funny at all. Actually for one naïve minute they believed me and their eyes sparkled. Obviously they miss a real bed and thought we’re taking a cabin. To ease the horrible disappointment we agreed to their request to sleep with them in the van. We didn’t know it at first but there is kind of a second bed in the car because we can actually modify the shelf on top that is used for storage of our bags to a bed (u can see in the picture). Ophir and Ido slept there and Shira, Amit and I on the “regular” bed. I was a little worried that they will fall on us, but nothing happened.
Last night we did it again but this time it was our initiation… It was way too cold to sleep in the tent. The happiest is of course Shira. She gets to sleep between mommy and daddy. It is pretty narrow but not too bad.
Dinner is over. The kids are watching the Olympic Games on TV while Amit is fixing the car. We plan to keep driving for 1 or 2 more hours and then just stop and find a spot to sleep in a free rest area.

Amit summarizes... 15.8.08

Exactly 10 days passed by. Good timing for “inventory count”:

10 camping nights: kids are always in the van, Talia spent 7 and a half in a tent and the 1 and a half in the van, Amit – 8 tent and 1 van.
One night in a none-facilities camping of the QPWS (Alligator Creek). Too many Wallabies (small Kangaroos), too much dust.
The full list for the record:
Cairns– 2 nights
Daintree – Cape Tribulation
Lake Tinaroo (Atherton)
Kurrimine Beach
Mission Beach (2 nights)
Alligator Creak (Townsville)
Airllie Beach (1 + 2 nights)
2,100km so far and counting.
Aus is big! Toyota make good cars!
We “arrange things” most of our days – for moving out to the next place, to get settled in the place we just arrived, to plan ahead, to prepare a meal, to clean a meal, and so on… this is all about arranging and organizing so far…
Nights are cold. It seems that for us, coming from warm hazy Singapore, it is “more colder” as Shira would put it in her native Singlish…
Except from Lonely Planet and maps – no time to read books (we brought about one thousand or so..)
Home Schooling? – The kids can’t even pronounce “school”…
Internet? It is not existing in Aus, at least when you are on the roads. And if found - it runs on damn slow connection and cost a fortune (or you have to buy a coffee for 10 $Aus for 30 mint surfing...) Where is the wired city?
We tend to say that every thing that is not quite working for us now, will be ok/better/improved when we get to NZ… kind of optimistic self convincing …
We enjoy, we learn many lessons, and we look forward for more.

Airlie Beach, 14.8.08

Airlie Beach, Thursday 14 August, 2008.

Second night at Airlie Beach. After we left Mission beach we headed to Townsville. We visited the HQ Reef. Kids will tell about it but it was a very very nice place. We stayed there for hours and learnt a lot. In the afternoon we headed to the new camping ground. We heard very good things about the Alligator Creek Camping but were very disappointed. The only nice thing was that it was nearly the first time that we saw live animals. Before that we saw only dead ones by the edge of the roads. This is quite sad actually; sometimes you can’t even recognize the animal.
I am also driving our caravan but not during sunset times because that’s when the animals come out and like crossing the roads. Assi told us that the instruction in OZ is that if an animal crosses the road when you’re driving you should increase the speed. Sounds crazy but otherwise it is indeed very dangerous. Anyways, it was on the way to the camp in the Bowling… National park that many wallabies appeared. We were very excited and hoping not to run over them. It was the first time that we had a site with no power (no electricity). That was not the problem, just that it was as usual very very cold and the place was not that impressing. We left the next morning back to Townsville – the kids really wanted to go to the Museum of Tropical Queensland. Although it changed the whole plan we agreed and drove back south.
I enjoyed tremendously in the museum. The main exhibition described the dramatic story of the Pandora boat (and the Pandora box…). Indeed amazing. Now we must watch again the movie: “The mutineers on the bounty” (Is this the name of the film???) The exhibition presented a lot of information about the story of “Pandora” until it sank. The daily life on the ship were described based on many sources including diaries that were kept, but one of the most intriguing thing was the ship itself that was found about 20 years ago. Archeologists were able to extract many of the artifacts and belongings of the crew. Amazing!

After the museum we drove straight to Airlie Beach. Unfortunatley we arrived after dark again. It is quite upsetting because then we need to build the tent in the dark and by the time we prepare dinner we’re all starving. The thing is that OZ is huge. We knew it before we came here but only when you’re on the roads you actually feel it. You drive hours on straight roads, very boring ones, mostly one route so you can’t drive very fast. The sceneries are beautiful but after sometime you just get tired of it.
One of the kids always sits with us because there are only 2 seatbelts at the back. The thing is that at the beginning somehow everyone assumed that it is Ophir’s right to sit with us. But after 2 days Ido started questioning and a Pandora box was opened... Since then getting to the car always involves many emotions and deals. Of course Shira has joined the battle. Now they time themselves and try to divide it equally. Which is of course impossible.
The funny thing is that whenever Ophir sits with us Ido complains that it seems that we party with her - he can hear us laughing and having fun… why don’t we do the same with him?... Ophir is not much better – when Ido sits with us she stare at us from the back with a sad face and as soon as we have a break she comes to ask me with who is it funner to sit with.
Kids.

Tomorrow we’re going to a day cruise to the Great Barrier Reaf. I’m not sure if I’ll get in the water. I looooovvvvvvveeeeeeeeeee snorkeling but the water is freezing. Already said that I am too old for that. We’ll see how it goes.

On the way to Townsville, 12.8.2008

We’re leaving Mission beach after 2 nights. This morning we broke a record - we woke up at 7am and were able to leave the place at 9:07am!!! Only 7 minutes more than the targeted goal. Nothing to underestimate because it includes waking up, freezing, fixing the car, freezing, fixing the tent, still freezing, eating breakfast, drinking strong coffee, washing the dishes, drying (with a towel of course) and putting them back in the car, of course still freezing (It is only around 9 that the sun is higher in the skies and it becomes somewhat hotter), letting the kids play 15 minutes in the playground, making sure we didn’t forget anything in the public fridge like we did last time (my fault), making sure gas and electricity are off, cleaning the car from the dirt – and off we go!!!
At the first days Ido and Ophir insisted on taking a shower in the morning and not evening – mainly because they have curly hair; curly hair tends to be very messy in the morning and of course my kids wanna look cool and not funny… however, they dropped the idea after few days because parents are not supporting the delay and anyway, who cares now if they look cool J
We’re on the way to Townsville. We’ve just crossed the town of Tully. We really wanted to go to a Sugar Cane tour. Seems like a nice one. Unfortunately it is limited to kids older than 7 years old. Though Shira’s age is flexible and she was already four years old few days ago, I think she can not possibly be 7. Never mind, we’ll find other activities. That’s all for now.


Shira says (and mom writes):

“I had really nice friends and there was a fun playground it has a really cool thing like a digger that we can make sun castle with it and we can dig and make a lot of stuff like putting a ball somewhere and then covering it with sand and it was not real sand it was faked (??????). and under it had real sand.
It was really fun and now we’re going to townswille. I’m happy to go there because my favorite type of people from a show is there and the movie is called the power puff girls. There is also a monkey called mojojojo. The power puff girls are very good in fighting bad peoples in the movie. And now we are going to see just the customs and we’re going to be there. They are always together. And there are also 3 other power puff girls but they are not good cause they are bad ones. Sometimes the good power puff girls just put them in jail, and the good power puff girls they always win with everyone that is bad”.

South Mission Beach 11/8/08

Morning. Kids are going to eat eggs and bacon for breakfast. They were begging for it since we arrived to OZ. No wonder because we always eat in the shared kitchen and that what you smell around. Always. Burned bacon in the mornings and burned sausages at nights. My poor kids, so far they were only allowed to eat yogurt or cereals, and not the yummy and sweet ones but the healthy ones because daddy is in a health crazy mood. However last night we agreed that they can have egg and bacon once in a while. Thanks to me of course. Now we have to decide what is the “a while” – a month? or two weeks? a day as they wish???…
Seems like we’re getting used to the idea of the park caravans, sleeping in a car (some of us) and in a tent (the others…), and using only public toilets and showers.

Yesterday we decided to take a break because we realized that we’re chasing something but not sure what. As I indicated in the previous post, we’ve spent most of the time getting organized and driving. We had a rough plan in head but too rough so we decided to stay in this park for 2 nights, take things slowly and basically understand what we’re doing and what and where we really wanna go. We know that we have to get to Sydney by September 5th if we intend to catch the flight to New Zealand. We have to make sure that we don’t find ourselves in Brisbane one night prior to the flight …
So that is what Amit and I did last night after we put kids in bed. I mean in car. Mind you – it was 9pm. No more kids going to sleep after midnight (and after we go to sleep).
We then set at the open kitchen to look at the map and make decisions. First we made decisions in light but soon the light went off (because travelers in camps go to sleep at 9pm and lights should not disturb them…) thus we had to use a torch. And it was so cold to sit at the dark in the open kitchen and discuss these issues. Have I already mentioned the weather here? 2 nights ago I was freezing to death in the tent and at 4am couldn’t bear it anymore, ditched Amit and went to sleep with the kids in the car. The car was parking on a curve therefore when we woke up in the morning we were all sleeping in one third of the bed, and the other 2/3 were empty and high.
The other nights were also cold but not that cold. We gradually get used to the weather. During daytime it is usually sunny and pretty nice. Hardly ever too hot. As soon as the sun disappears it becomes hot. I had a notion in mind that my fleece will protect me from the chill, but it is not. I find myself feeling cold often. Probably because I am just not used to it after 4 years in S’pore where it is considered to be winter whenever it goes below 24 Celsius degree. And it is a rare event…
We all keep in mind that in NZ it is going to be much colder than here. Kids are trying to remain with t-shirts all day even when it is cold, to get used to it. I’m sure they will. I keep wearing my fleece. I am too old to get used to things…
Oh, and yesterday Ophir and I were doing our first laundry. And when I say our first laundry I mean – for Ophir it was definitely the first one, and for me… the first one in OZ, and the first one after 4 years… vehamevin yavin.
I am very excited that by the time we return to Israel I will have a capable daughter who can do all the domestic work required from a female. Blaaaaaaa.
But seriously, kids do learn how to wash dishes here, do laundry, make their beds, etc. I keep thinking that there is an added value to this trip that I haven’t considered before.
Am I trying to compensate myself that if it doesn’t work and we all suffer at least my kids know how to make laundry? Am I using cliché psychological mechanism now? Probably…
I am very happy so far. The only frustrating thing (OK, I mean the main one) is that I haven’t had one minute for myself. And I don’t like that. I have so many books to read and can hardly find time for that. For some reasons I had a notion in mind that we’re going to have lots of free time and that reading will be the thing I will be doing most of the time. And I don’t L. And I will not mention anything anything in regard to home the “home schooling” that we planned. Kid’s school in S’pore is starting today. Ophir & Ido are happy about it as this is the best advantage of this trip - The fact that their friends are in school and they aren’t. I am sure in a short while they will deadly envy their friends.



From Shira’s experiences:
(While Talia was a sleep in the car Amit and kids took a 1½ km trail that gets to beautiful waterfall. On the way back they encountered a scary black snake)“2 days ago I saw the snake an then I jumped backwards and my shoe went really close to the snake and it was a black one. And I was really scared so me and daddy we tried to figure out a way to pass and Ido and Ophir passed it. Daddy carried me and we timed ourselves and how long we can get to the car. And we didn’t count that part because it wasn’t fair that the snake stayed still. So we waited and waited and waited and waited until the snake went but the snake didn’t go! So we just went next to it. And then we harried up and Ophir was really fast”.

Cairns 7/8/08

Cairns (Thursday 7th of August)

It is me again. Can’t believe that I will stick to the blog idea, but I was thinking that the first days are crucial. And who knows, maybe I will get addicted. So many changes and so many new thingies are happening. Probably after sometime there is some routine and even if we see new things everyday it won’t be that astonishing as it is right now.
And not that now we’re seeing astonishing things. It is mainly getting adjusted and realizing that we are actually here. We’re already 2 nights with Carl, our minivan. Kids are sleeping in the car (first night 3 of them at the back, second night Shira chose to sleep in the front near the wheel… she’s tiny enough to fit there but I don’t think she can keep it for too long). Amit and I are sleeping in a tent and so far I love it!!!
It is pretty cold at night and in the mornings and besides, we are all excited from the weather. It is basically dry. For me it is the most amazing change – no sweating so far, even though it is getting pretty hot during midday.
The park we’re in (Big4 Cairns Crystal Cascades) is pretty busy because this is the “hottest” season in Cairns (not in terms of temperature but in terms of popularity). Especially this year because it is pretty cold down south at Sydney vicinity.
Showers and towels are clean and I get used to it.
I have many more things to write but Amit is complaining that we can’t spend here the whole day. Anyways, it takes us about 2 hours to get organize in the morning and it is already 10:30. We have to move on!!! I will finish this specific post another time.

Talia

Ps. Just few words about what you see in the pictures:
· The pickles spilled in the fridge. It was very smelly. You can see that Ophir is cleaning. First time in her life maybe?
· Amit is giving instructions to kids about fixing the bed in the morning and showing each of us his/her job.
· Kids are going to sleep in the car
· Shira is sleeping in the front
· Ophir & Ido making up after first fight

Ophir says:

Hello. Okay, first thing’s first.. WOW! After a long, sleepless flight here we are:
Australia.
None of us slept more then 2 hours, unless we count Shira, she slept enough for us all. And as soon as we landed, we were all sleep-walking. (Shira too?!) Anyway, when we got off the plane, we had to wait in a lonnnng line, and then wait for all our 9 bags we had to wait for 4 hours to the next flight. L But the good news are that we all fell asleep on the seats, we looked dead, when I woke up a woman was talking to the grad asking if we were okay. He said “yea, they were here for the last 3 hours sleeping, they must be from somewhere in Europe. We just went a long with it. After the second flight we went in a taxi to the placey were you get the car. When I first saw it I was sure it was way to small. And when we got to the cap will stay in for the next 2 nights I was sure it was too small (especially next to all the huge R.V’s) But as soon as we opened the “car house” we saw that there is just enough space for every thing. We even have jobs. But I’ll tell you about then maybe some other day. So far Australia’s great although the sun’s out and very very strong there is lovely cold <= (cold)
wind. At night and early morning its really cold, but I guess for who ever lives here its not (I mean were like in coats all freezing meanwhile they are like with tops and shorts.) But we’ll get used to it, I hope.
So watch out Australia cuz here we come!!

Ophir. XX



Facts about “home car”

Gender : Boy

Name : Carl

Age : 7

Height : 2.8 m

Weight : (he’d rather not talk about.)

וקצת בשפה שלי בשביל האנשים שלי...
יום חמישי, והיום בעצם התחלנו ממש. יצאנו לדרך ממש מאוחר, אחרי שעות של התארגנות. אנחנו נוסעים צפונה לדיינטרי. בינתיים עצרנו לפיקניק לארוחת צהריים ליד פורט דוגלס.
אנחנו ב"מוד" תפרני כדי שנוכל לסיים את הטיול הזה בכבוד, לכן אנחנו כמעט בכלל לא נאכל במסעדות וכו'. ארוחת בוקר – סיריאל (טוב, אנחנו עוד רבים על זה. עמית הוא בעניין של בריאות, והוא לקח את זה קצת קשה מדי והוא מציק לילדים. אנחנו צריכים למצוא פשרה שגם הילדים יאכלו ויהיו מרוצים וגם אבא שלהם יהיה מרוצה וירגיש שהם לא אוכלים רק סוכר. אני העפתי את עמית מהטיפול בעניין ומנסה למצוא פתרונות). צהריים – סנדוויצ'ים, וארוחת ערב – עמית. מבשל לנו. סוף כל סוף חוזרים לזה אחרי ארבע שנים של לדעת שיש לצידי מבשל תיאורטי.
אוסטרליה יקרה ואנחנו מנסים להתנהל נכון – לעשות מה שצריך, אבל בלי להשתגע ובלי להוציא על דברים מיותרים.
הילדים קצת המומים מהנהלים החדשים. לדוגמא, עכשיו גמרנו את הפיקניק ולהפתעתם המרה הם גילו שהם לא יכולים מיד לעזוב אותנו וללכת לנדנדות שיש ליד, אלא קודם כל צריך לפנות מהשולחן, להחזיר למקרר ברכב, לרחוץ כלים ולעשות סדר. לאט לאט הם יכנסו לזה ויבינו שככל שהם יעשו יותר עמית ואני נעשה פחות... ולהיפך. והם בטוח רוצים אבא ואמא מרוצים.
היתה גם תקרית המיץ מלפפונים חמוצים שנשפך במקרר. קצת רשלנות של עידו והרבה סירחון במקרר. אני דווקא שמחה שהדברים האלו קורים כי זה לא נורא מדי, ועדיין זה חינוך נהדר לילדים. ואנחנו הרי בעניין של לחנך גם הילדים שלנו על הדרך...
אז עכשיו הם מתנדנדנים בנדנדות, עמית בודק את עניין הגז ברכב, ואני – על המחשב. לפני שנגמרת הבטריה שזה בערך תוך כמה דקות.
הילדים גם כותבים יומן במחברת אמיתית, חוץ מהבלוג שלנו.
זהו. עכשיו הולכת לשתות תה לפני שממשיכים...

טליה

A Day Before

Sunday night. I'm writing from Patrick's computer so I don't have Hebrew fontsbut decided to write a post anyways because tomorrow the real thing starts...
I am also adding some photos that summarize the last few days. very crazy. Packing our stuff to OZ & NZ. It is soooooo heavy and it seems like we're taking too many things. Actually, we take very few clothing but we couldn't avoid taking some kitchen related stuff, cause Amit is going to cook for us and he needs the real stuff. Winter clothing take a lot of space as well - and we assume that it will be pretty cold in NZ. We also bought 2 (Pilates) mats because the first month in OZ we're going to sleep in a tent. And of course all the other important utilities. Oh, and books and working books for the kids - I think this is the main problem. We're having tens of KG just because of that. Each of us chose so many books, and because I am supposedly the teacher I bought so many working books for the kids. Luckily, we're going to get rid of it once they finish, and some of the books we're going to get rid as well, or at least exchange with others. Hmmmm.... I really hope that as the time goes by we will have less luggage that we're starting with, but isn't it always the wish that doesn't come true?!... For sure we will not buy ourselves stuff. We're going to be in a "matkonet tafranit" if we wanna make sure that we will finish the trip on the designated date. I hope no surprises.
We're all very excited. I am very excited. I am not sure what to expect. I was never on a trip longer than 2 weeks. I love my bed and I love when my kids don't annoy me a lot. Seems like there is a good chance that these two petty things will not be available.
I can't believe that this trip that we've been planning for more than a year will actually start tomorrow night. It is always shocking when the future actually meets the present and they become one point. and then past :-(
We're also closing beautiful and amazing and crazy and pampering and interesting and strange 4 years in S'pore. I am happy that before we go back to our previous life... We have a chance to have this experience of spending 4 1/2 months just the falimy (OK, I have to explain this - This is one of Shira's inventions. When she just started to write, she wrote on note - I love my falimy. Since then we're not a family anymore but a falimy), and in places that rumors say that they are very BEAUTIFUL.
That's what I wanted to write just before we start. I really hope that in sometime in the future when I read it I will proudly smile that indeed my hopes became reality and not that I was pathetic with my expectations :-)

Talia - Mom