I told you already about my fish-o-phobia (June 8th, http://www.travelblog.org/Australasia/Australia/Western-Australia/Exmouth/blog-11938.html). I said I could handle fish in fresh water places. I mentioned I knew they were smaller than me. Did I mention everybody always told me: "fish won't bite you"??? Well, they do. I got bitten by a fish in Mossman gorge! I felt teeth in my ankle, and when I got out I saw clear round mark there! So: (1) fish do bite (2) it didn't kill me... [View Full Entry]

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I booked the famous Uncle Brian's tour to the Atherton Tablelands for Tuesday. Some explanations: the Atherton Tablelands are an very green, rainforest, waterfalls and lakes area just outside of Cairns. The famous uncle Brian's tour is... well you'll read about it in a moment. I was picked up by Gus and cousin Paul in the morning. Gus is our bus for today, a bus with a soul of its own, and cousin Paul is our guide. The weather was awful - rainy and coldish, not at all what you wish for a day of lakes and waterfalls where you want [View Full Entry]

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On Monday I went to Kuranda, a small village on the mountains just outside of Cairns. The village is so commercialized that it was really boring, but on the way I did some exciting things. The first place I visited was an Aboriginal Culture park called Tjapukai. They call it "culture park" and not culture center and probably for a good reason - it does feel a bit like Disney, except for one very strong film about the sad history of the Tjapukai tribe since the white man arrived to this land. But this was the last thing I saw there [View Full Entry]

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It's addictive... It's was so much fun... I just had to do it again. I don't like the sea so much so I don't go diving - I do like the sky so I go SKYDIVING!!! The whole day was really great. I chose to skydive in the town of Mission Beach, 2 hours away from Cairns - for the same price of skydiving here you get better views plus a trip in the beautiful tropical north of Queensland. The drive was really lovely. Mission Beach is a most beautiful place, with the forest going almost to the sea, leaving a [View Full Entry]

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After a way-too-early early morning flight (with a Jewish French couple on their honeymoon sitting next to me - we had a really very interesting conversation about Israel, France, antisemitism, media and more), I arrived to Cairns. I was tired and just wanted to go to sleep, but after a short nap I went to town and spoiled myself with a great salad in a cafe. Cairns offers plenty of temptations and I so I spent the day shopping around for tours, reading my Rough Guide and planning the next days. In the evening I went downtown again with some guys [View Full Entry]

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I mentioned before that I really missed seeing Israelis. Since Passover in Sydney I met only 5 Israelis in almost 2 months. I missed talking Hebrew, I missed some Israeli directness... Well since I arrived to Darwin I had plenty of that! And I enjoy it a lot. The first evening here - Friday, only just arriving, I hear "Anat, how are you???" I turn to see Hila, a girl I met in Wellington. We even thought of travelling together but it didn't work out eventually. She is travelling now with another Israeli, Nadav, and we immediately went to catch up [View Full Entry]

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What is a SKI vacation and who is the gray army? Ilana Dayan would say “TOFA’A” (explanation to non Israelis at the end). Thousands of Aussie retirees (pensioners) leave their homes, buy a caravan or a campervan, or even just a station-wagon and a tent, and they tour their country for months - some for 3 some for 30 months. You see them all over, and you see them a lot when you do an expensive one day tour, and of course when you stay in a campground. The first time I heard the term “gray army” was from my guide [View Full Entry]

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The last day with the car... I am getting very close to Darwin, the final destination of this part of my trip. One last place to visit - Litchfild national park. Since I slept so well in the car the night before, I started the day really early and had the whole park to myself in the morning. I stopped to take pictures of some HUGE termite mounds - far taller than me. The flies were so annoying there, I had to use my fly net again and even took a picture with it on, have a look. Then I wondered [View Full Entry]

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During my time here I grew more and more fond of Aboriginal art. I do think it's over-commercialized (you can buy fridge magnets, ashtrays, tea towels etc. I am even wearing a T-shirt with Aboriginal style painting but that I find OK), but it's lovely in museums and it's simply amazing to see the originals: the aboriginals used to paint on rock walls, as they were nomads. The paintings had different reasons: from teaching the kids, to transferring messages to other Aborigines that may come to the area - like what bushtucker (bush food) you can find here, and sometimes pure [View Full Entry]

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When I was in Sydney my local friend Susan made me a list of “must see attractions” in Australia. By now I have covered almost all, only 2 left - Great Barrier Reef (arguably the Ningaloo is better but anyway I didn’t really see it) and Katherine gorge. So today I visited Katherine gorge. You can either canoe there or join a cruise - I think I had enough canoe experience in NZ so I joined the relaxed cruise. In the wet season the river is high and you can’t cruise it at all. In the dry season the water level [View Full Entry]

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