Comin' back - Bent

I, I walked along and I wound my way round
I, I saw a light, shining bright
I, I'm not sure
Is it too late to call
so I keep my eyes to the floor
Oh I, I can't carry this load anymore
Oh I'm so afraid to call on your door

Feeling so alone
Along a lonely road
Feeling so alone
Well I'm comin' back

I walked along the water's edge
I saw my reflection stare back
I don't know where I'm going
But I know where I've been
Some days I don't fit in my own skin
Oh I, I can't carry this load anymore
Oh I'm so afraid to call on your door
Oh I can't carry this load anymore
Oh I, I'm comin' back
Comin' back

Last update (for this trip) and whereabouts

In the last month and a half I've been writing exams, telling about myself to people I've never met and even wearing a suit for the first time! Yes, I was searching for a job in Sydney. During that process I have realized that heading back to Israel will benefit me best professionally at the moment. Therefore I'm packing my stuff and this Saturday, with 21 world leaders (or not, see www.apec.org) I'm flying out of Sydney after six months. I'll spend two nights in Bangkok and on the 10th of September, 23:10, I'll hit the ground of the holy land, 11 months (and two days) after I've left it.

I thank all the people in Sydney, my family, new friends and their friends who hosted me as if we knew each other before (well, some actually did), who have made my visit here so special. I was glad to find that most of you are not riding kangaroos to work, nor fighting crocodiles, eating Vegemite or dodging deadly spiders, and that Max Brener has more branches here than in Israel. I'm glad I came here to find that out myself. If you ever happen to visit Israel don't hesitate to get in touch and I'll take you on a camel ride (kidding, unless you really insist).

For everyone back home, see you very soon!

Closing time - Semisonic

Closing time
Open all the doors and let you out into the world
Closing time
Turn all of the lights on over every boy and every girl
Closing time
One last call for alcohol so finish your whiskey or beer
Closing time
You don't have to go home but you can't stay here

I know who I want to take me home
I know who I want to take me home
I know who I want to take me home

Closing time
Time for you to go out to the places you will be from
Closing time
This room won't be open till your brothers or your sisters come
So gather up your jackets, move it to the exits
I hope you have found a friend
Closing time
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end

I know who I want to take me home
I know who I want to take me home
I know who I want to take me home
Take me home

Game Over

I arrived two days ago back to Sydney, ending 2 months of travel in Australia, which are part of a total travel of 9 months (and 1 week) in a corner of the world. In that time I went through 7 countries (actually visiting 6), 5 out of 8 Australian states, more than 5 islands, with the help of 4 Lonely Planet guides (and another I didn't even open, just got it nicely soaked with water), 3.5 reading books, 1 camera which produced about 15GB of data, which are 8248 photos, 961 of them ended up on Flickr, 12 flights (out of them 7 domestic), 2 overnight train rides, almost endless bus rides, day and night, ferries and 1 rented car, who circled Tasmania for 1700km. My longest trek lasted 20 days, my longest tour 11, but the average was 3. I went rafting for 3 days, climbed 4 walls, visited the under water world 18 times, but mostly walked, a lot. I visited 2 doctors, 1 physiotherapist, had 3 colds and 0 traveler's diarrheas. But who counts, right?

This journey would not have been what it was without a lot of people. First, a huge community of travelers. A group of open-minded people who were willing to share the way the life in their countries really are, shading a different light than the stereotypes and TV and newspapers based knowledge I came with. Then there are the people I met from each country I visited, which added the spices and herbs to make each spot more than a collection of natural and artificial attractions. Finally the great group of people I left home (and around the world), my family and friends, who, though far far away, were always there to encourage, support, advise, help, criticize and comment.

If you'll be looking for me, I will be in Sydney for the next two months, trying to figure out what I'll be doing next without a backpack (and keep myself warm with those blasted cold waves). After that you might find me in Bangkok, maybe around Road Rambuttri, eating stir fried rice on the street, or maybe even at Haad Yao, Koh Phangan, reading a book and watching the sunset. Somewhere around the beginning of October, I'll head back home.

חתולי - בוטן מתוק בקרקס

חתול חתולי בתוך קופסת קרטון
תעשו לי קצת חורים אני רוצה לנשום היום
פיתולים פיתולים מתיר את הקשרים
פינת החדר ואני אני ואת

אם את כאן או לא כאן
אם את באה והולכת
אני לבד אני חושב
מי בכלל הסכים לך מי נתן לך רשות
להסתובב אצלי בתוך הלב

בלבולים בלבולים איבדתי מזמן
את הדרך ולאן לאן לאט

אם את כאן או לא כאן
אם את באה והולכת
אני לבד אני חושב
מי בכלל הסכים לך מי נתן לך רשות
להסתובב אצלי בתוך הלב

Do what you have to do - Sarah McLachlan

What ravages of spirit
conjured this temptuous rage
created you a monster
broken by the rules of love
and fate has lead you through it
you do what you have to do
and fate has led you through it
you do what you have to do ...

and I have the sense to recognize that
I don't know how to let you go
every moment marked
with apparitions of your soul
I'm ever swiftly moving
trying to escape this desire
the yearning to be near you
I do what I have to do
the yearning to be near you
I do what I have to do
but I have the sense to recognize

that I don't know how
to let you go
I don't know how
to let you go

a glowing ember
burning hot
burning slow
deep within I'm shaken by the violence
of existing for only you

I know I can't be with you
I do what I have to do
I know I can't be with you
I do what I have to do
and I have sense to recognize but
I don't know how to let you go
I don't know how to let you go
I don't know how to let you go

Private road - Bent

My heart from now is a private road
No thoroughfare
No heavy load
No slow traffic
No graphic details
Cold or collision
No more stories to make me end

I'll always love you, still you are mine
Why do you have to take so much time calling me?
I just wanted it to be easy like
Sunday morning

Snow falls in silence and covers the green
Still you can see where the birds have been
Hungry but alive and free
Waiting

Up along the East coast in a month and a half, part 1

The means: A hop on hop off bus ticket, a golden plastic card backed up with a luxurious bank account and, as one intelligent guy once said, underwear ( In my case, ten of them).

The mission: Go through about 3000km of beaches and other natural attractions, fake ones too, hostels, pubs (sometimes the same thing) and drunk travelers.


15-16 May - Coffs Harbour


A nice town I liked for its nice coastal scenery. My highlight was walking up to mutton bird hill, a nesting spot for the mutton birds! They weren't there when I was but the view was excellent. Other than that there is a nice mangrove walk and pretty big botanical gardens.
The YHA hostel over there was one of the best, with very friendly staff and rides to a local hotel for cheap dinner and backpackers' gathering.

17-20 May - Byron Bay



Hippie Byron Bay is definitely that. But other than that it has a nice beach, a lovely national park with the most easterly point in Australia and a relaxed atmosphere. Off the beach you can see Julian Rocks, my first diving spot along the cost. I went for one dive with Sundive and saw many Wobegong sharks, one Leopard shark and a turtle. The sea conditions were pretty rough as the sun decided to disappear just when I needed it (this element will repeat quite a few times in the story). Nevertheless, the visibility under the water was excellent, one of the best I ever had. It was also the first time I went into the water commando style, rolling backwards.
I stayed first at Arts Factory Lodge, a famous hostel. It was quite unique but a bit too expensive for the facilities it provided. I moved after a few days to Cape Byron YHA which was very good.

21-22 May - Surfers Paradise



A paradise? Maybe, I'm not sure for who. The main activity around here is clubs or pubs "crawling". The bad weather decided to join in on my arrival day. From stories I have heard, I'm not the only one to whom it happened. I believe it might be more than a coincidence.



The main reason I arrived to Surfers Paradise was Dream World, a rides theme park. So the next the day, with excellent weather, I went there for some roller coasters fun. I was disappointed to know that the park closes at five. In contrast, the Six Flag parks in USA close at midnight. On the other hand, I went in the middle of the week and there was not that much to do. So I did the big five thrill rides about seven times each, except for the roller coaster, which was quite lame. The ushers on the big five insist that you strip off your belongings and anything that is not attached to you. Fortunately there are reusable lockers for the whole day. The ride that maintained its excitement level throughout repeated rides was the Claw


The free fall won second place.

23-25 May - Brisbane



Brisbane is a nice spot, but not a lot of places of interest to me. The main area of interest is the South bank of the river. There are quite a few museums for modern art and the like. There is a nice park, some nice take away dining and an artificial beach with real bodies.


I took a bus to mountain Coot-Tha, which has a view over the city.



From there I walked down a trail that leads to a now dried waterfall, because of recent years' draught. Next stop was the planetarium on the way down. I have watched a movie about our galaxy and Brisbane's night sky. The movie was shown around three. Being in a very very dark room at this time of the day meant that I had a good nap too.

I went to the city hall, visited the mayor's office and wondered around. You can go up to the clock tower of the city hall, which is a famous(?) symbol of Brisbane. Sadly, the only view from up there is of the skyscrapers surrounding it. The botanic gardens are a nice spot to have a quiet afternoon.

In Brisbane I met Stacy, whom I met in a hostel in Hobart, Tasmania. She is studying at Brisbane, but originates from Taiwan.

My hostel was a nice one, if a bit expensive. One day before my departure, the cleaners "cleaned" a bit more than they were supposed to. I found some of my personal belongings at their room, one thrown out at the corridor and that's about it. The manager had them look for the stuff but it wasn't found. The story hasn't ended yet. The annoying part is not hearing an apology from him (or anyone else in that matter, though one of the cleaner might have said something...).

26-27 May - Noosa



Noosa was a stop I didn't plan but came out quite well. There are actually a few "Noosa"s around, Noosa head, Noosa hill and more. The place has a mellow atmosphere to it, even though it is quite commercialised and oriented more towards those with deep pockets. Next to the beach is a national park with several walking tracks and koalas, if you can spot them. The marking of the tracks was the best I ever seen. I stayed at the Halse Lodge YHA, which is a historical building (but with modern facilities...).

A trip I did not know about and therefore missed was going through a place called the everglades for a few days with a kayak.

Status update

Hi! I'm still here. I'm just updating verrrry slow. That's mostly due to being busy and to the amazingly "fast" Internet connections around here.

I'm at Darwin at the moment. I arrived three days ago and I will stay here four more days. This is because I made a mistake by not taking into account the school holidays. All the flights to Sydney are booked and the only seats available are for three times the price. Therefore my flight back to Sydney, and the end of this part of the trip, is on the 16th of July.

The weather here is warm and sunny, blue sky and no cloud in sight. After three weeks on the East coast without a glimpse of the sun, fast winds and rain, I'm not in a hurry to go back to cold Sydney. It was supposed to be the dry season on the East coast, but it wasn't. Even the locals admitted it was a bit weird.

Another reason I'm happy to be here is that I had enough of the East coast. After a while, some of the things repeat themselves. My biggest two disappointments were the Whitsunday islands cruise and Cape Tribulation (I will expand more on it later) which wasn't so special. Of course, everything is relative. Cape Tribulation came right after Mission beach, which gave me all the rain forest I needed. The day after I went on a tour to a place called the Atherton Tablelands. It was much better than the Cape Tribulation tour.

On the 5th of July I am going on an eleven day tour, starting from Darwin and ending up in Alice Springs. The tour is actually made out of three separate tours: A three days Kakadu and Litchfield National Parks tour, three days Darwin to Alice Springs tour and four days center tour. The witty ones noticed that there are actually ten days. The eleventh day is a explore Alice Springs day at your own expense (accommodation included).

After that I will be over with traveling for now.

More than meets the eye

I couldn't help it, the heat, the intense light outdoors and the cool and dark promising interior. Not to mention to see my childhood action figures (about eighteen years ago...). Thus I went to see the Transformers. The action scenes were brilliant. They made up for the fact that the movie's skeleton was a teen-flick, boy wants girl, etc. and other senseless acting, especially by John Turturo. The transformers are enough of an attraction without the annoying teenage scenes.
Enjoy!

Sucked in


Spreading out on too many things wastes your time. But it was inevitable and I am now on Facebook too. My main web-sites for the moment are still Flickr and Blogger, but I'll be maintaining facebook too, for the sake of travel "relations". So check it out.

Alcohol

Australia has a lot of laws to limit people's consumption of alcohol. For example, from certain time of the night, alcohol can be served only in small quantities, like pots (for all the serving volumes and their names check here); Two days ago I met someone I knew, who was sitting in an outdoor area of a pub. She stood up to talk to me. After a few minutes one of the pub's guards came over and asked her to sit while she was in that region, because "it is the law"; The law also defines areas where consumption of alcohol is forbidden. They can be inside hostel rooms or even a block of houses.
So why, with all these restrictions, I see so many drunk people around? Probably it has to do with all the bottles shops around... For them (and just to post another song) I dedicate the following song, "Alcohol" by the Barenaked Ladies

Alcohol, my permanent accessory
Alcohol, a party-time necessity
Alcohol, alternative to feeling like yourself
O Alcohol, I still drink to your health

I love you more than I did the week before
I discovered alcohol

Forget the cafe latte, screw the raspberry iced tea
A Malibu and Coke for you, a G&T for me
Alcohol, Your songs resolve like
my life never will
When someone else is picking up the bill

I love you more than I did the week before
I discovered alcohol
O Alcohol, would you please forgive me?
For while I cannot love myself
I'll use something else

I thought that Alcohol was just for those with
nothing else to do
I thought that drinking just to get drunk
was a waste of precious booze
But now I know that there's a time
and there's a place where I can choose
To walk the fine line between
self-control and self-abuse

I love you more than I did the week before
I discovered alcohol
Would you please ignore that you
found me on the floor
Trying on your camisole?
O Alcohol, would you please forgive me?
For while I cannot love myself
I'll use something else.

Standards of living

While I was in Asia Orit, a friend of mine, asked me how do I handle the degradation of the standards of living I was used to. It came to my mind again while traveling in Australia. While I was in Asia I used to have a room all to myself, sometimes sharing it with someone else, with en suite bathroom. I always ate out, whether in restaurants or on the street, whether noodles, rice dishes, organic salads or croissants.

In Australia, a Western country, prices are Western too. Therefore I sleep in rooms of four, six or eight people. My earplugs have finally began proving their worth. The bathroom is en suite some times but it can also be on the other end of a corridor. The quality and prices vary, but they are not necessarily related. I mostly go to YHA hostels. They are a bit more expensive and tend to be quieter, in contrast to hostels defining themselves as "party" hostels. When ordering a package from a travel agency on the East coast, you get vouchers that give discounts for several hostels on the East coast. I use the vouchers to know where not to stay for the night and, on the other hand, where to go out to.

I have a green bag full of groceries I fill up in the big supermarkets, like Woolworths or Coles. For breakfast I eat muesli with yogurt (actually quite good, might turn out to be my new breakfast). At evening I "cook" an instant pasta meal from a bag, improved with some canned "goods" (that's how my cousin, who traveled up the East coast too, calls them) like tuna (in flavors!) or salmon. For lunch I go for the cheapest food I can find. It usually consists of either fish and chips or a burger. I started going for the "works" or the "lot" burger, consisting of a tiny burger topped with lettuce, tomato, beetroot, fried egg, bacon, cheese and pineapple. Unfortunately, in Australia the cheapest food is junk food (nothing like Humus or Falafel). You can get a huge box of chocolate chip cookies for two dollars! and for the same price, half a banana (exaggerated a bit...). The basic menu of take away store will consist of fish, chips and burgers.

There is a positive side of course. Traveling is much easier. Everything is in English and almost everything is online. There are information centers and loads of brochures. Sometimes the huge selection is actually confusing and that's where talking to other travelers helps sorting things out a bit.

And one last complaint, why the Internet tends to be really slow in a lot of places? Why it was easier to burn DVDs in Asia than in Australia??

Shaq

On Koh Phi Phi, Thailand, I was hanging out with Amaya and Nathalie. They have decided to call me "Shaq" in order to deal with the problem of pronouncing my name by languages, like English, without the relevant sounds. I never thought this would come in handy later on. I usually spell my first name when it comes to registering at hostels and similar, but of course it can be avoided when meeting people. If I would have taught each and every one of them, it would have taken ages! So I compromised with "Shaq" and that is how I introduce myself. Last night I went dancing with some English fellows, and you can imagine what happened when the song "Love shack" by the B-52 played...

12

12GB was the amount of space the photos from this trip so far took on a hard drive when I checked it a week ago. So dear friends, no photos presentation when I come back! (More likely, Flickr will do the job for me)

Brainwashed

I forgot to bring along something to connect my MP3 player to the car. Therefore I was obliged to listen to the local stations. I found one that I could receive everywhere, when I had reception. It was Sea FM Hobart. I spent most of my driving time with these guys , which was fun, but I the station has a top 40 limited play list, so I was brainwashed. Here are the songs I was brainwashed to like:

JT - What goes around
Nerina Pallot - Everybody's gone to war
The Fray - How to save a life
Thirsty Merc - 20 good reasons
Evermore - Light surrounding you
Avril Lavigne - Keep holding on. Another waltz song similar to the one from the first album (I'm with you?)
Snow Patrol - Hands open
TV Rock vs Dukes of Windsor - The others
MIKA - Grace Kelly
KT Tunstall - Suddenly I see
Missy Higgins - Steer

My Tasmanian tour

I circled Tasmania in ten days. It was intensive and exhausting and you might want to focus on one area instead. Here's my itinery, which is mostly based on walks.

23-25 April - Hobart. It took me a while to decide what I want to do. It is not necessary to stay there for three days, though it's a neat place.
Things I did and saw:
Cadbury factory - They really have chocolate flowing in their pipes, unlike Max Brener.
Mt. Wellington - Either by walk or by a tour, there is no bus going all the way up. Check the pinnacle state before going, and cross your fingers, it can disappear in minutes. Mt. Nelson is an alternative
Eating fish and chips at constitution dock
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery - Hey, it's free.
Cascade Brewary - I actually missed that.
The botanical garden - A nice place to sit and relax, even if you're not into flora.
Salamance place - For coffee and for the market if you're on Saturday (which I haven't)
Battery point - For historical buildings
North Hobart - Restaurants and pubs. More live than the center at evening. Just go up Elizabeth st. (quite a bit).

Get a car and start moving! (A note about renting cars: The insurance doesn't cover/charges more on accidents happening on unsealed roads. Now guess what? Half of Tasmania has unsealed roads!)
I refer to walks at the 60 great short walks booklet, http://www.discovertasmania.com.au/pdf/GreatShortWalks.pdf

26 April - A taste of the South East. Tahune Forest reserve and Air walk, lake Esperance (30) or South Cape bay (33). In real I haven't done neither of the two walks because I started a bit late. The later one is less recommended because it is a bit far. On the other hand, you'll be on the South most point in Australia. Next stop Antarctica! A night in Dover.

27 April - This was an insane day. Dover lake, then a drive to Kettering, a ferry to Bruni island(check the schedule beforehand so you won't miss a precious hour!), South Bruni walk (34) all the way up to Fluted Cape. Then a ferry back, a drive back to Hobart and to Port Arthur, arriving just on time for a Port Arthur ghost tour, without killing any animals on the road, including yourself. A night in Port Arthur.

28 April - The Port Arthur Historic site includes an introductory tour (a good way to start) and a short cruise (oh well). At one thirty the devils are fed at the Tasmanian Devil Conservation park, you can hand feed a kangaroo at two thirty and continue to the bird show at three thirty. I could use more time at Port Arthur, but that's compromising. This time a night at eaglehawk neck, not far away.

29 April - The blowhole, Tasman arch and Devil's kitchen, then a walk all the way to waterfall bluff (36 + more). I mistakenly started at Devil's kitchen and did exactly walk 36, though you can drive more, get to the bay and start walking from there to the Bluff. A night at Coles bay, quite a drive away. If you have time do walk 44 (too long name, oh well, Loon.tite.ter.mair.re.le.hoin.er.) from Swansea. It was too late for me. I also totally skipped Maria island.

30 April - Wineglass bay lookout (47) to Wineglass bay(48) and back through Hazards beach (Basically we did 49, the whole bonanza. Looking at the map again, I think we had a mixture of the walks. Oh yeah, and that day I walked with Eric and Maike). Cape tourville (46) is your next stop, a nice lookout. A short drive to Bicheno, where I barely arrived to the Penguin tour. Later I discovered I could go and see the penguins on my own, but the tour does add some extra information and knows where and what to look for. A night in Bicheno

1 May - Bicheno foreshore walk, then Apsley river waterhole (50) and gorge (51). The river was a bit high for me to cross it so I had to pass on seeing the gorge. So I went to St. Helens and went to see the bay of fires. At that point I was getting a bit sick of the beaches scenery and look forward for a change.

2 May - St. Helens point walk and Peron dunes. Then I started the drive on highway A3 to Scottsdale, which is the most scenic road I had. On the other hand, it's the most curved one. On the way I stopped at St. Columbia falls (31), in which the walk was more interesting than the waterfalls themselves. For late lunch I stopped at the Pub in the Paddock. Then a long drive to Launceston, and a walk to see the Cataract gorge at night.

3 May - Walk around Cataract gorge. It was raining and I wasn't prepared properly, so I spent most of the time in the cafe there. Then a drive to Sheffield, city of murals, and from there to Cradle valley.

4 May - Dove lake circuit (5) adding the Marions lookout (there are two ways to climb there, one more steep that the other), Wombat pool, Ronny creek and back to the starting point with the free shuttle. Be prepared for harsh weather conditions. A drive to Strahan.

5 May - Vacation! Rivers day. I went on a cruise to rest a bit with Gordon river cruises. We saw Hell's gate, the Gordon river and Sarah island, lunch included. There are different seating options, but you can basically walk everywhere. A drive on Lyell highway and stops at Donaghys lookout (17) and the Franklin river (18). It was quite dark then, and add to it a walk in a forest, creepy! A night in lake St. Clair.

6 May - Echo point walk (21), which is inside a rain forest, full of fungi (watch out for leeches) and the short walks in the lake (19). The short walks are not that great and I had to skip Russell falls (23) as a result. A drive back to Hobart.

Well done, you made it! Now I need a vacation...

Tasmania resources

In every visitor center in Tasmania there are loads of brochures and help. Be careful about the information centers, which are less on information and more on selling stuff, though they are helpful too.

Online:
http://www.discovertasmania.com.au/ - The main web-site
http://www.discovertasmania.com.au/home/index.cfm?siteid=89&subsiteid=1026 - Brochures page, some of them can be downloaded. I used the 60 great short walks, http://www.discovertasmania.com.au/pdf/GreatShortWalks.pdf
You can get a brochure's package by calling them. "Fortunately", the package arrived while I was away. It includes a rather essential map of Tasmania, if you have a car. Luckily I got the same map when I rented a car.
The country is organized to touring routes, explained here http://www.discovertasmania.com.au/home/index.cfm?SiteID=783 though the information is a bit overwhelming.

A park permit is necessary. The recommended one, if you're seeing more than one park (which is rather obvious) is the holiday permit http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/natparks/current_fees.html

The latest Lonely Planet Tasmania was a great help, though it is almost two years old, a time span where things have change at accommodations (which is not a big problem anyhow).

Tasmania

To all of you who have wondered where I was the last two weeks, and to all who have not, I have been to Tasmania. Land of endless green, tons of wallabies, tiny villages, vineyards and dairies.

I booked a flight on the Internet (so easy!) and arrived to Hobart, capital city. After contemplating a bit I have decided to rent a car and see Tasmania on the road. The bus service is quite limited in schedule, sometimes running only every other day and usually just once a day. Renting a car made me rush through things. I started each day with a walk and then drove to the next destination, sometimes arriving a minute or two before the hostel's reception closed (some of them leave you an envelope with a key and a map if you are late) or before a tour began. In ten days I've circled the whole island and still skipped a lot. So it's a must return to destination. Bottom line: I need a vacation!

I visited Tasmania at the end of the season. This meant that I had sometimes a whole dorm room for myself, cheaper prices and easy bookings. On the other hand, I had some awful weather.

My days were consisted of walking and driving. Almost every day I did one of the great short walks (ranging from 5 minutes to 8 hours, so I stuck to the average 3-4 hours) and then drove to get to my next destination. Sometimes I had a tour at evening, so it kept me quite busy. As there is no daylight saving at the moment, dawn is around 17:00, when the animals come out. Luckily I did not run over any of them, but it was not a pleasant experience, and I had to take that into account, basically trying to start my day as early as possible.

At evening I used to plan the following days, which is something I haven't done yet, but was necessary though to the style of this trip.

Driving in Tasmania is great, but can be quite a challenge or fun, depends on your mood. A highway can be a two lanes in each way road, but it can also be a twisting road, with no shoulders, where the maximum allowed speed is 100Km/h but your average speed is somewhere around 40Km/h. This fact has to be taken into account when planning drives.

The age of perpetual upgrade

And so another camera goes obsolete by its new successor