Guest Pictures

Itay has beautiful albums in his gallery, so you are welcome to visit, and see pictures from Australia from another point of view.

here are the 4 first galleries, from Sydney to Brisbane:

Sydney


Sydney - Bondi beach


Blue Mountains


Brisbane

Brisbane

The people of Brisbane are nice. They are most probably the nicest bunch of people ever gathered in a big city. We already wrote that on Sydney, but that's about the same everywhere we went. In Brisbane you feel as if one surfer told his friends: "Dudes, let's build a city and let anyone who is nice come live with us!". And indeed, a lot came. Being a city of 1.8 million people, it can't be regarded as an easy going town, but something from the famous "No worries, mate" atmosphere of a small surfer's costal town can be found in the DNA of this city.
We decided to spoil ourselves so we stayed at a backpackers hostel. It was only a short walking distance from the small but beautiful city center. We went touring the main streets and especially the Queen street mall. We found a nice place for dinner (though the food was too expansive for it's quality) and finished with a beer in a nice Irish pub.
On the next day we did the classical Brisbane tourist tour. We went through all the small squares to the river bank, passing on the way a coffee shop that offered a free coffee if you guess a coin flip. We didn't guessed correctly, so we had to pay, but the coffee was dissent enough. Later we took the city ferry to the "South Bank" the trendy promenade that is surrounded by restaurants, culture centers and museums. Being a city on a river, in a state known for its great coasts, Brisbane has built itself a small city beach in the middle of the boardwalk. It has true sea sand, water and even lifeguard tower to complete the picture. The interesting attraction of the South Bank is probably the Brisbane Eye - the great wheel that overlooks the river. However, it looked quite boring to us so we skipped it.
Later at night we took the city train to "Brisbane's party area", as it is often the name of Fortitude Valley. The "party area" turned out to be two streets with 5 pubs, non of which had a kitchen open in such late hours (9pm). Eventually, we found one that served Guinness and continued our evening there.
The third day was dedicated to final arrangements before starting the drive north.

Tip 1: Go to the Parks and wildlife service on 400 George street, if you are planning to go hiking in Queensland. They can give you lots of information and they are very helpful.

Guest Pictures

Itay has made a special gallery of the pictures he took of us, so now you will all know what we look like (as if that is interesting...)
Click on the image bellow to enter the gallery.

Pictures

Pictures from Brisbane:

From Sydney to Brisbane

When people imagine travelling in South America, especially in Bolivia, they imagine dirty, backpackers sleeping in crappy tents, eating tasteless rice that was cooked on a small stove in a field. In Australia, on the other hand, the travelling conditions should be a luxury. As a matter of fact, the real picture can't be more different than that. Moving from the poorest country of South America to modern Australia was a real descent in our life style. In Bolivia we slept in a private room with cable TV and ensuite bathrooms, and dined in high class restaurants every night, where as in Australia we sleep in tents (in all weather conditions) cook our own meals and pay at least 4 times more than in Bolivia.
After being in 3 big cities in a row, it felt good to be out again. We drove from Sydney to the Blue Mountains, 3 hours west, and got there just in time to see the sunset over the Three Sisters. At sunset it is also very clear why did the mountains got their name. The far mountains are being colored in blue by the thick haze when the sun disappears, and the valley becomes magical. The silence sometimes disturbed by loud groups of white Kakadus flying around.
Our first night in tents wasn't a very warm welcome. We arrived late in our campsite, just after drinking a huge hot chocolate, that is probably considered illegal and corrupt in some countries. The wind was blowing so strongly that we almost couldn't build our tents. That night was also one of the coldest nights we had in Australia. For Itay who wasn't used to sleeping in tents at all, and wasn't prepared for cold weather, the experience was especially traumatic. On the next morning he described it as one of the worst nights he ever had, but that didn't stop him from driving hundreds of kilometers on that day, just like he did most of our journey together.
One of the main attractions of the Blue Mountains area are the Jenolan Caves. It is one of the most interesting cave structures in the world. There are more than 300 caves full of beautiful stalagmites and stalactites, small underground rivers and lakes. Few of the most impressive and accessible ones were open to the public (not for free, though... God forbid). We did one self-guided (with earphones) tour to the main space and one guided tour to "The Oriental Palace". From both of them we learned a lot of interesting historical and geological facts about those caves. Lately, a new, few million dollar, lighting system was installed in those caves, what made our guide especially proud. On the next day, after another "pleasant" night, we drove to the Hunter Valley. The Hunter valley is a very nice rural area and the main wine district of New South Wales (the state where Sydney is). There we visited two wineries, tasted some wine, bought some fancy cheese, visited a funeral and interrupted few kangaroos with their dinner. After all of us got sober (especially Itay) we drove to Newcastle, which is a big industrial city next to the Pacific shore.
The day after, we had a long driving day (more than 800km) at the end of which we got to Bayron Bay. On the way we stopped in Coffs Harbour. Apparently, this is Australia's biggest bananas grower. They thought that this is a reason good enough to build a banana theme park, and Itay thought that that was a reason good enough to stop there. On the way to the "Big Banana" we got lost, that was actually a good thing, because we got a very nice lookout over the Pacific ocean. The park itself wasn't worth the effort, though.
We completed our long journey in a very nice city of Byron Bay. The majority of Australians like to stay indoors (aka sleep) right after sunset, that is why it was really refreshing to find a city with restaurants and bars open after 7pm. By the time we finished dinner half of the places were already closed.
We wanted to stay in this vital town for another day, but the local Pachamama (we really need to find out how do the Aboriginals call her here) thought it's time to go. It was raining most of the morning, so we decided to continue to Brisbane.

Tip 1: The best time to see the Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains is at sunset, then they are beautifully lit.
Tip 2: If you are planning to visit Jenolan caves, take into account that they have only about 3 different tours each day at set times. In order to save time make sure to check their schedule in advance.
Tip 3: If you visit Jenolan caves don't throw away the tickets. You can use it for another tour for half of price, for a whole year. You can even give it to your friends. That's what our guide told us.
Tip 4: In most wineries in Hunter Valley there are no tours and the tasting is for free. If you like what you had tasted they will be happy to sell you a bottle. Unfortunately, the ones we liked were much too expansive for us.
Tip 5: Take into account that Internet is very inaccessible all around Australia (that's why it takes us so much time to publish our posts). There are almost no Internet cafes in most of the towns and even if you have your own computer there are very few campsites that have Wifi. Eventually we had to buy a portable modem for Itay's computer from one of the local cellular companies.

Pictures

Pictures from the way from Sydney to Brisbane - Blue Mountains ans Hunter Valley

Sydney

8 years have passed since the first time I (Oren) was in Sydney. Since then I remembered it as one of the most beautiful cities I've been in, and now, after a week there, I'm waiting for the time I'll return for the 3rd time.
Sydney sits in a beautiful location. All the famous sightings, such as the Opera House, and the Sydney's Bridge are indeed lovely, on their own, but it is the total composition that really makes Sydney so beautiful.
We had a great place to stay there. We stayed at the beautiful renovated house of my friend Esti, her husband Brad and their cutest two year old son Mikey, that also served as the best alarm clock, waking us every morning at 6 with cute tiny calls “Mammy, Daddy, Mammy...”.

We met Itay, Lilya's friend, that joined us for the next 5 weeks, on our first morning in Sydney. We toured the botanic gardens, which are not that amazing as botanical gardens, but are a great place to see animals such as lots of giant bats, hanging like fruits from a tree, kakadus, flying frantically in a large group, and a lot of water birds. Itay has the same obsession for photography as me (and a big camera too), so we took a lot of pictures, while Lilya gathered enormous amount of patience and waited. This scenario will be quite common during our stay in Australia. We continued walking until we got to the Opera House, where the photography scenario returned.

We tested our luck and checked for performances at the Opera House. Surprisingly enough, we found cheap tickets for an acclaimed dance show for that night. We continued through Circular Quay, the main ferry port, to the central business district, where Sydney looks like a large American city. Large buildings and broad one way boulevards, but with a twist. The people on the streets are probably one of the nicest group of people ever gathered in a large modern metropolitan.

The Australians are only western on the outside. The clothes, the style, the cars and the iphones are just a disguise. On the inside they are as easy going as a Buddhist monks, and they are never too busy to be extra nice to you. They do have the (little bit annoying) habit of apologizing if you had to move a little bit due to their existence in the space near you.

We literally got lost between the large buildings, so we had to take a cab back to the Opera House. The show that we saw, “Of earth and sky” by Bangarra, was a modern dance influenced by Aboriginal traditions. We had mixed feelings about it, though. It was quite a spectacle of light and movement, but also very abstract, and not uniform in its quality: the second part was considerably better than the first.

We spent the next day in the Powerhouse Museum, which can be defined as the museum of everything. An eclectic collection of exhibitions about science, technology, design, photography, culture and music. The most remembered exhibition was an homage to the 80's. All the music, the events (anyone said Berlin wall?), the fashion, the style (or lack of it...), and even old Atari video games. It was fun, but at the same time, reminded me that this was probably the most ridicules decade in the last century. Some of the people I know were born in the 80's but other than that, completely useless...

Later that day, we took the Monorail – the touristy light rail that goes on a single rail, that is hanged above the street, to the Rocks. The Rocks is one of Sydney's oldest neighbourhoods and today is a centre of pubs and restaurants. We found (at last) a Guinness in an old Irish pub and finished the evening with a walk over the famous Sydney bridge, watching the wonderful light on the Opera House.

On the next day we took the fast elevator to the lookout at the top of Sydney Tower. We got there just in time to see the sunset, but it wasn't as good as we expected. Later that day we had a special dinner with Esti and Brad. Esti, with the help of Mikey, cooked us a great meal, while we baked Lilya's famous apple pie in return. On the next day we visited few of the bars/cafés that Newtown, the trendy neighbourhood where Esti and Brad live, had to offer. Esti and Mikey even joined us for a beer (for Esti) in one of the pubs.

The next day was a business day. We spent it looking for a car. We wanted to buy one, but got convinced by a dude named Gass (or Garry, as his parents called him) to rent a station wagon and to avoid the fuss of selling it at the end. While probably not most economic decision, having a car is probably the best way to travel around Australia. It will allow us to go off the bitten trek, park in small campsites and caravan parks, and not only in the main cities.

Oren didn't feel too good the next day, so he stayed home with Esti's computer, while Lilya and Itay went out. First they visited few travelling gear shops and mostly enjoyed the great variety. After buying all they needed, which is not a lot, they took a train and a bus to Bondi beach. A very nice and relaxed neighbourhood of Sydney. It's main attraction, as you can guess from it's name, is the beautiful beach. Even though it was the middle of winter there were plenty of surfers in wet-suits trying to catch a wave or two. Unfortunately, in this part of Australia the sun doesn't set in the ocean. They don't know what they are missing. When Lilya and Itay returned we all joined Esti and Brad in a very good Thai restaurant not far from their home.

We took the car on the next day from the rental company, said our goodbyes to Esti and to Sydney and started our great road trip across Australia.

Tip 1: There is no need for tips in Australia! At least not in restaurants. But don't worry, the prices are high enough, anyway.

Tip 2: Don't be fooled by the easygoingness of the Australians. The fines you can get for speeding, for example, can easily reach 1000$. Don't take the chances if you rent or buy a car.

Tip 3: A show in the famous Opera House of Sydney doesn't have to be extremely expansive. At the day of the show you can find very big discounts, especially for student card holders.

Tip 4: You can find few car rental/selling agencies especially for backpackers on William st. not far from the Kings Cross station.

Pictures

At last, first album from Australia. Pictures from Sydney are on line:

Pictures

A small but very special album from our flight over Antarctica:

Buenos Aires (second time)

Coming back to Buenos Aires felt like meeting an old friend. When we left Buenos Aires we felt like we're going into the unknown. We were sure that we'll come back after two months of rice and bread diet in Peru and Bolivia after spending the tine in the worst hostels. Well, as you dedicated readers know, that wasn't exactly what happened. On our last stay in La Paz the food and the hostel were so good that we didn't even want to leave. However, we felt great when we landed, after a long and tiring night that we spent on the benches in Lima's airport and on the plane, that had to land and wait 3 hours in Cordoba, because of the fog over Buenos Aires.
But old friends forgive, and even the long bus (hour and a half through the inner city) from the airport to our hostel didn't ruin the fun of the reunion.
We went back to Lime house hostel where we stayed during our first visit. We didn't spend a lot of time in hostel and headed to the Sunday market in San Thelmo. On the way we passed a parade. The people of Buenos Aires like to march or celebrate, and this time it was child's day combined with the celebration of Bolivia's independence day that was the day before. The market was especially happy, this time, because there was yet another parade on the market's main street. This parade belonged to the clubs of the drummers and Samba dancers of the happy city. We thought we are going back to Argentina, and found ourselves in Brazil again! That was a real fun. On the second day we completed the “must-do's” of Buenos Aires. We walked through the trendy neighborhood Palermo, saw the Botanical garden, took a peek at the animals of the zoo from outside and were very happy to see at least one animal that we didn't see during our trip to South America, a giraffe.
We had a quick visit in the Japanese gardens before we crossed the city to get to the real attraction of the day: the weekly music concert of “La bomba del tiempo”. The stage was located in a large hangar, and on it were a group of 14 drummers with every possible percussion. From time to time they were accompanied by a trumpet player and a Brazilian singer and guitarist, that was the special guest of the evening. The first sounds removed any doubt that might have been about the strange collection of instruments. The next two hours were a wild party of music that switched between jazz, Samba and dance music. Time flew and we were so into the music that it seemed only few minutes passed before the show ended. If you are in Buenos Aires, plan it so you'll be there on Monday and don't miss the show.
Early next morning we met Anna, Lilya's friend, that came all the way from Santiago, Chile to see us (22 hours by bus!). We visited the Caminito, the famous coloured street in the notorious neighbourhood “ La Boca”. The Caminito area is very touristy and not that interesting, so we spent there only a short time and wanted to walk to Porto Madero where the trendy meat restaurants are located.
Soon after we started walking, no more than 5 minutes walking from the touristy area of El Caminito, the atmosphere changed completely. The street became abandoned and even though it was morning, it looked scary. An old woman, that left her home with her grandson told us to go back and take the bus. 5 minutes walk on the way back and the environment changed again. Don't be fooled by the large boulevards and the celebrations of Buenos Aires. This city has its dark side and it can be as close as 5 minutes walk.
We ate at “La Bistek”, an all-you-can-eat meat restaurant, that was really good. It took us more than an hour to walk from there to the shopping street Florida, because we left the restaurant almost twice as heavy as we entered.
We spent the rest of the day doing shopping. On the next morning we said goodbye to Anna and took the cab to the airport.
It was hard to say goodbye to this great continent that gave us such a great time, but after 4 hours of flight we already flew over the Pacific ocean on the way to Australia. We waved to the imperial penguin when we flew over the South Pole, on our way.
The next post will be from a new continent.

Tip 1: If you slept during the post and missed this tip, we'll write it again: don't miss the show of "La bomba del tiempo". It is every Monday on 3131 Sarmiento st. at 19:30.
Tip 2: The lunch deal at "la bistek" on the weekdays is really good. Be there around mid-day.

Pictures

Pictures from our second visit to Buenos Aires and from the music concert "La bomba del tiempo" are online:

La Paz

Some people love it, some really don't, one thing is sure, its name is misleading. La Paz means "The Peace", but there is nothing peaceful about it. Most parts of the city resemble a third world market. Everywhere you go there are Cholas (traditional looking women) selling something. Most of the streets are informal markets, but in addition to that there is one big official market that sprawls over few dozens of blocks. It reminded us the market of Istanbul. There is a street for every purpose. A street for knits, a street for underwear, a street for plumbing... you just need to find the one you need. Since we love markets we also loved La Paz.
In the center of the city there is a witch market. In those few streets you can buy all kinds of witchcraft, potions, gifts for Pachamama and dried alpaca's babies or even embryos. We didn't bother to ask what is it good for, it was too creepy. In this area you can find most of the cheep hostels. The prices begin with about 3 dollars for a person, but those places are really bad. After spending few nights in various places we found the perfect place for us. It was an old and red colonial house with internal patio full with climbing plants, and more important with real hot water all day long.
Surprisingly enough, in La Paz we had few very good culinary experiences. But Bolivian cuisine can not take credit for that. We were so frightened by other travelers and didn't have any free time to get sick in, that we decided to skip the local street food (which made Lilya very sad) and eat only in touristic places. And there are few really good ones, as you can see in the tips. The prices in those places are much higher than street food (about 5 dollars for the main course), but that way you can be sure all the food was washed with purified water, and the meat met a refrigerator at least once in its life.

General tip: You should be aware to the fact that La Paz can also be dangerous. Try to stay in the center, in places with a lot of people. Beware of fake policemen, fake tourists, fake money and fake taxi drivers.
Tip 1: Marrakech (Jimenes 774, near Santa Cruz st.)- A great, but very small, Moroccan restaurant. Their Couscous del la casa with lamb is wonderful.
Tip 2: In plaza San Fransisco there is an old colonial building right on the corner. On its left side (when facing the building) there is an elevator that can take you to the 7th flour, which is also a roof. On that roof there is a very cheep but very good cafe and a great view on the main square. The name is Campaniero... or something like that.
Tip 3: Thai Palace (Linares 947) is a really good Thai/Indian/Japanese restaurant.
Tip 4: Sol y Luna (at the corner of Murillo and Cochabamba). The place belongs to a Dutch guy. They serve very good authentic food from all over the world (except from Bolivia).
Tip 5: There are a lot of good places to eat in Sagarnaga street. Two of them are really recommended: the "100% Natural" has great breakfasts. The Cuban restaurant "Sabor de Cuba" is a restaurant that you just can´t miss! They make great Cuban food. Try the dish that is called "Ropa Viejo" (old clothes)
Tip 6: The best hostel we've been in Bolivia. Blanquita on Santa Cruz st., 20 meters below Jimenes st.
Tip 7: On the corner of Sagarnaga and Illampu there is a really good tailor that makes repairs for everything: shoos, clothes, backpacks, backpack covers, whatever you need...

Pictures

Pictures from La-Paz and from the flight back to Lima are now online:

Rurranabaque - the jungles and the Pampas - part 2

For the first part of the post about the jungles, click here.

Since the Pampas tour was much more popular than the jungles, we had to join a group. We went to a company that looked more or less professional and was quite recommended by others. Apparently this company worked a lot with Israeli travelers and their representative was very happy to inform us that he had a group of 6 very nice Israeli girls we could join. He was very surprised to hear that we preferred a more mixed group rather than all Israeli group. We had to wait for that mixed group for one more day, which most of it we spent in Oscar's pool, another Israeli colonial postal. It was located on a hill above Rurrenabaque and had a great view over the town and the river and also an Israeli music and Hebrew speaking owner. The regular way to get there, or anywhere in town, is by motortaxies, which can be quite extreme on the unpaved roads. There are almost no cars there. Only later we discovered that this wasn't the only pool in town, but that was the most popular among Israelis.

The next morning, after another sleepless night (see Tip 6 in the first part of this post), we met our new group. There was one Colombian\American girl, Becky, with whom we shared our cabin later on, a German couple Julia and Nicolay and 4 Czech guys, Lenka, Margarita, Michael and Michaela (I hope I got it right) that we got to know only on the last day. Big groups tend to be more closed to people from outside. It took us three hours drive in a jeep on a very bumpy road to get, all covered with a thick dust layer, to the river where we waited for our boat and more important for our guide. Negro, that was his nickname, was much older and more experienced than the other guides. He was a guide there for the last 20 years. The fact that on his first years only Israelis came to the Pampas caused him to learn Hebrew and, at least that what he said, to grow a lot of grey hair. After he found out that we are Israelis, he started shouting in Hebrew instead of talking, since he was sure that this was the only way we communicate. Taking into account most of the Israelis we met in South America, you can't really blame him for that.

Our boat was a 20 meter canoe with pairs of chairs along it, when Negro is driving it from the back. That way everyone gets to see an angle wide enough.

In the Pampas all you do is seat inside the boat and take pictures of all the animals seating on the riverbank, and there is so much to see! There are hundreds of alligators lying by the river, some with their mouth open, as if they are waiting for the prey to enter it. There are many turtles seating on brunches inside the water, leaning one on the back of the other, as if they are dancing. There are lots of different types of water birds seating on trees close to the river. Cormorants seating with their wings spread in order to dry them after another dive session. Curious and very cute Capibaras (the largest rodent in the world) watching us as we pass. The whole experience looks a bit like a "drive-through". There are few boats just like ours going up/down the river, one after the other, stopping next to another animal, waiting that all the tourists picture it from every possible angle.

Our campground was very different from the one we had in the jungles. Maybe it's because it was meant for 10 times more people. The food wasn't great either. But there were monkeys... Behind the cabins there was an area were the cooks threw away the leftovers. Naturally, all the monkeys from the area came to eat there 3 times a day... Not very eco-friendly, but that gave Oren a great opportunity to take lots of pictures from really close, and it allowed the monkeys to get to know SEMPA.

On the second morning we went searching for Anacondas. Usually they hide inside swamps. The deeper the swamp, the bigger the Anaconda. We went to a very shallow swamp. In order to walk inside the swamp, we had to wear rubber boots. The swamp was so dense that my boot got stuck inside, while my foot continued on, what made my sock change from white to black. After about 40 exhausting minutes in the swamp, and after almost stepping on a medium size alligator, Negro found a small Anaconda, just 3 meters long. He grabbed it by its tail and brought it to a place where everyone could see. Then the poor snake wasn't left alone until every tourist took a picture of himself holding its tail. At some point I was sorry we found it in the first place. The only thing that was asked by the guides was to touch the snake only after "washing" the hands in the swamp, so our smell wouldn't stick to their skin.

Since we found the Anaconda so quickly, we had some spare time so we went swimming in the river, not far from the alligators, that showed no interest in us. The water was quite brownish, so we came out dirtier than we came in.

After lunch we went fishing for piranhas, in order to do that we sailed on a smaller river. On the way there we stopped few times to watch the strange pink dolphins that swum next to us. Not like regular dolphins these showed very little interest in us.

During all our stay there, our heads were high in the trees, looking for sloths, but our eyes didn't stand a chance when compared to Negro's hawk-eyes. In the middle of the sailing he stopped the boat and shouted "Atslan!" (A sloth in Hebrew). The sloth was on the top of the 40 meter tree that was far from the riverbank. It was so small that we had to take a full zoom picture in order to see if it was actually a sloth. I wasn't that excited since Chelsea took the championship. After few minutes Oren spotted another sloth on the same tree. According to Negro, it is really rear to see two sloths on the same tree, it must have been the mating season. Few hundreds meters after that we saw another sloth, much closer this time. Three different sloths in less than half an hour! From that point on everything looked pinker to me. The grey skies became sunny, the alligators smiled at us from the riverbanks and the Capibaras waved with their ears and tails. When we finally got to the fishing part I was already walking on clouds. Actually it should be called Piranhas feeding and not fishing. We used fresh meat as a bait/food for the fish. Since the fish saw that we are inexperienced gringos (foreigners), they ate most of the meat without getting caught. I managed to catch two very small fish, so small I had to release them back. All together, the weight of the meat that was spent as a bait was greater than the weight of the fish that was caught. In the evening we had the fish for dinner, good thing we had other dishes as well.

The next morning we woke up early to see the sunrise and after breakfast went to take pictures of the same animals over and over again. In addition to all the "regular" animals, we also saw a monkey hunting and then trying to eat a big snake. Unfortunately, because of all the audience, the monkey accidentally dropped the snake back to the water, and was left without lunch. Then we said goodbye to Negro and had another "joyful" ride back to Rurrenabaque, where we spent another sleepless night, and then flew back to La Paz.

At the beginning of the first part of the post, I mentioned that I wanted to see wild Aras flying free over the jungle. I didn't write about that, but don't worry, we saw plenty of them. Aras, or Macaus as they called in South America, mate for life, that is why they always fly in pairs. We never saw a Macau flying alone. That makes seeing them alone in captivity even sadder. At some point I even saw 10 couples of Macaus flying over the Tuichi River. So as you can see I have accomplished all I planned just on time.