He was the most gorgeous guy I have seen but it wasn't about that. He was sweet. He was gentle. He was fun to talk to, fun to be with. He taught me to play pool and taught me a few words in Norwegian. Even though I was totally not interested to begin with, and even though it so wasn’t meant to be, he managed to sweep me totally, head over heels, way too much. We only spent a few days together but I did “the girly thing”, took it too seriously. I extended my stay here to see him again [View Full Entry]

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After having watched a rugby match last week in New Zealand, I decided to go also to a local football match. The local football is nick-named “Aussie Rules” and I believed it is played only here. It’s a strange game that’s somewhere between rugby and normal football (what they call soccer). I must say, I don’t understand how come this and the American football call themselves FOOT-ball when they are mostly playing by hand. At least in the Aussie one, the target is not to “touchdown” but to actually score goals by kicking the ball into the goal which is [View Full Entry]

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Since this is my second time in Sydney, I am taking it in a very relaxed manner. I am not running from one place to the other, and I enjoy seeing corners that I missed the first time, which was a more “tourist classic” week. I started Thursday morning in a bit unconventional way: I went to visit the Victoria Barracks. It’s an active military base and every Thursday they raise the flag with a military orchestra marching in and playing. It’s open to the public and they didn’t even check my bag at the gate, weird (and of course photography [View Full Entry]

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Those are not easy days now in Israel, with the withdrawal from Gaza and the removal of the settlers. It’s on the news here all the time. I don’t watch TV so much, but I read the Israeli websites, something I didn’t do much since I was travelling. Everybody knows what’s going on. Whenever I say I am from Israel I get sympathetic comments. Of course in the Jewish museum I met some religious people that support the settlers and were mad at Sharon, saying “he sent them there”. I told them sometime people make mistakes and they have to correct [View Full Entry]

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The first time I arrived to Sydney was almost 4 months ago - 18/4. It’s hard to believe it’s been already 4 months! The time went by so quickly, it seems like yesterday, but I have done and experienced so many things, so it must have taken some time. On my first days here back then I felt a bit lonely, I was intimidated and confused. I had to plan a trip in this vast country - the mission seemed impossible. Of course my mood changed after a few days but I remember this feeling in the beginning . It’s so [View Full Entry]

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After this great weekend in Dunedin I drove up north to Christchurch on Monday afternoon. The highway is not as beautiful as the inland scenic road I used when I went from Christchurch to Mt. Cook when I just arrived, but one can still enjoy the mountain scenery from a bit further away, and when the sun went down I thought it was probably my last ever sunset in NZ. It’s true what people say - never say never, but the world is big and there are so many places to visit and I have a feeling that this was my [View Full Entry]

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I didn't even plan to go to Dunedin, but the bad weather in the west coast convinced me to drive east. It was a good decision! I had so much fun here that I stayed 3 days and was so sorry to leave, but the flight to Sydney was coming and there was no other choice. I arrived in town on Friday afternoon after a long beautiful drive from Wanaka. The first brochure I found in the information center was for a ghost tour! I decided to do that one. Just before the tour started I got a text message telling [View Full Entry]

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On Thursday I decided it was about time to leave Qtown finally and go to Wanaka. The weather is not as good as yesterday, it's pretty overcast. On the way I visited the Coronet Peak ski field - today I could go all the way up without snow chains and enjoy the white soft snow. Maybe I should have stayed here longer and ski one or two days, well it's too late. The road to Wananka through the Crown Ranges is winding and steep, and as always the views around me are stunning. The road itself is stunning - at some [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday morning was a beautiful one, the blue sky returned, and I headed to Glenorchy to go on a Dart River trip on a jet boat. The booking office where I booked the trip made a mistake - I wanted to go with Dart River Safaris, and they booked me on Dart Wilderness, a different company. I was a bit angry when I discovered that in the morning but eventually it was so great, I was lucky again... First of all, I was the only one on the boat that morning, just me and Kirk my driver. Dart Wilderness definitely has [View Full Entry]

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Queenstown is in a way the embassy of Australia in New Zealand... in a way means the beer way. It's one of the only places at least in the south island that you can actually go out in the night, there're plenty of pubs, clubs etc. On our first night here Marie and me stayed in a lousy hostel (Flaming Kiwi - highly NOT recommended) but found there a bunch of nice English guys so we had a good drinking night. The following day was a total chill out day, enjoying the nice weather although in the afternoon it got quite [View Full Entry]

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