Since my last post a TON has happened and I hope y'all are excited. On the 29th of November I cooked Thanksgiving dinner (albeit a week late) and invited all the Americans I know as well as several Aussies to join in on the feast. Thanks to a lot of help from my dad I made a turkey and stuffing muffins for the first time. I also made delicious mashed potatoes, green beans, and apple pie and I found cranberry sauce in the can, which I was very excited about. We had about 15 people total and it was a blast. Everything was eaten and everyone enjoyed it. I actually thought it was a little dry for my taste but for my first time making a turkey I was impressed with myself.
On Friday, Sammy Bazian arrived for his two week visit. In the morning I went and picked him up at the airport with my Welcome sign. Then I introduced him to Glicks bagels and we ran a few errands to prepare for our holiday (for all of the Americans, Aussies call vacations holidays)! For Shabbos, Avi had made soup with the turkey carcass (even though it was about 30 C/86 F) and I made some sausages and couscous. Everything was delicious. Shabbos day we went to Central Synagogue and introduced Sammy to that scene, then we ate some sandwiches before doing the Bondi to Bronte walk.
On Sunday we left for our week long holiday. First we flew to Uluru (pictures will soon be posted on facebook but I would suggest googling it as well!) for a couple of days. Uluru is in the Northern Territory, but it is essentially a desert in the middle of Australia. When we arrived we had lunch and then walked around and took pictures at some of the beautiful viewing areas. Then, because the weather was about 38-42 C/100-108 F while we were there, we swam in the pool before our first excursion, the Sounds of Silence Dinner. This dinner is supposed to be a sunset viewing over the big Uluru rock and then a dinner followed by stargazing. Unfortunately the previous day it had rained for the first time since April so the weather was somewhat overcast and there were a lot of clouds blocking the sunset. It made for a very interesting sunset however it was rather obstructed. But the dinner and the whole experience was fabulous. They had prepared a delicious vegetarian option for us and there was plenty of wine/beer to go around. The clouds also obstructed our view of the stars however once they turned all of the lights off around us we were able to see some. Also they had a telescope and we were able to see Jupiter and some of its moons, which was really cool. Oddly, Jupiter looked like a big moon and the moons looked like stars.
The next morning we woke up at 4 am to go on an Uluru sunrise tour. The sunrise was beautiful and then they took us around the rock and taught us about some of the Aboriginal stories associated with it. Although the Aboriginals ask you not to climb the rock for religious and other reasons, it is usually an option. I was really torn because Sammy and Avi were planning on climbing it so I didn't want to miss out but also I did not want to disrespect anyone. I had decided not to climb it, but when we got there the climb was actually closed due to strong winds (it is a very dangerous climb). Afterwards they took us to the Uluru Cultural Center where we learned more about the Aboriginals and their heritage and stories.
After another swim in the pool we got ready for our next tour which was supposed to be the Kata Tjuta Valley of the Winds Tour. We got to our lobby at the assigned time and were waiting for 30 minutes before a bus came to pick us up. When it got there, however, we found out that the bus was for a different tour (the Kata Tjuta Uluru Sunset tour) and that our tour was apparently cancelled without anyone telling us. We went through this whole spiel with them and to make a long story short we were able to go on the other tour, which was more expensive, and they refunded us the difference between the two tours. Kata Tjuta, or the Olgas, (google it and look for pictures again), which means many heads, are a group of large domed rock formations. Between some of the rocks is where the Aboriginal men teach the boys how to hunt, but that is the only information they currently know about it because the Aboriginal people have refused to talk about it. It was a beautiful scene and since the weather was better on Monday, the sunset over Uluru was still nice and different from the previous night.
On Tuesday we spent all day traveling. There was a direct flight from Uluru to our next destination, Cairns (home of the Great Barrier Reef), but it was double the price of the layover flight we ended up taking. So we flew from Uluru back to Sydney (both flights were delayed an hour). Then we flew from Sydney to Cairns and then drove an hour to Port Douglas where we were staying. Also interesting, the Northern Territory (Uluru) is an hour and a half behind Sydney (don't ask me why) and Cairns, which is in Queensland, does not participate in daylight-savings time, so it was an hour behind Sydney. So on Tuesday we were in 3 different time zones; it was crazy!
Wednesday was my favorite day of the trip! In the morning we boarded a huge ship in Port Douglas to go scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef. The ride to the Reef was about 2 hours long and every type of activity was available, from scuba diving to snorkeling to taking a trip on a glass bottom boat. Since Sammy is not certified to scuba dive he was able to do an introductory dive and Avi and I did our first certified dive (very exciting!). Also because there were so many people doing the intro dive, Sammy was able to dive in our little dive group. For our first dive, Avi and I were essentially on our own while the dive guide focused on the two intro divers. Because of this and since it was our first time, we went through our air very quickly! We were very excited and wanted to see everything while we were down there so we were only able to dive for about 28 minutes. While we were down there though we saw a twin tail sea slug and butterfly fish. We also found Nemo (clownfish) and his family and got to touch their anemone, which was awesome. It feels really cool as if it's suctioning your fingers or something and trying to clean them; it's hard to explain but it was awesome. Also we saw a HUGE clam and we got to feel its "lips", which actually felt like real lips. After Avi and I went up, Sammy and the other intro diver still had air left so they stayed down and they saw a shark as soon as we went up. I was really disappointed because I kept saying that I wanted to see a shark so Avi and I decided to do another dive after lunch.
During the second dive there were only 3 of us with the instructor and we were much more relaxed, so we were able to dive for about 36 minutes, which was great! I was really hoping to see the shark on the second dive but I wasn't expecting it because all of the instructors warned me that it was very rare that the shark would stay in our area. Fortunately, as soon as we got down there, the instructor did the sign for shark and I looked to my left and there was a white tip reef shark! I was ecstatic! It wasn't that big at all but it was so interesting and exciting. We also saw a grouper that was the size of Avi and me put together, some chromis, a moray eel, lionfish, and a sea cucumber. I am so glad that we decided to go back down for the second dive because it was amazing!
On Thursday we went on a tour of the Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation. The Daintree Raiforest is the oldest rainforest in the world and it was beautiful. Unfortunately it was very hot so we weren't able to see many of the wildlife but the trees and the flowers were beautiful and we were able to go atop the rainforest and look down on it which was amazing (see pictures on facebook). Our tour guide was so knowledgeable and taught us all about the Rainforest. After the Rainforest we drove to Cape Tribulation which is a beach in the middle of the rainforest, very cool! Then we had lunch in the middle of the rainforest before going on a Daintree River Cruise. The Daintree River is famous for its crocodiles, crikey! Unfortunately, since it was blisteringly hot we weren't able to see any crocs, but we did see a very pretty bird. This tour was really good, however there was a lot of driving involved and the heat made it so that there wasn't much to see. We would have preferred spending more time exploring the rainforest and less time driving, but we weren't in charge of the tour. However, during the tour we stopped at this little ice cream place where they grow their own fruit and make 4 ice creams each day. When you order the ice cream you don't tell them what flavors you want, they just give you a scope of every flavor they have for the day and if you don't like a flavor, don't eat it. It was actually pretty cool and each flavor was delicious!
On Friday we went back to the rainforest and rented ATVs. It was our first time ever riding them and we all had a blast, especially because it had rained the previous day so it was extremely muddy. We went through huge mud puddles and then towards the end we got to do figure 8s in the mud and sprayed it everywhere (definitely look for facebook pictures and videos!). By the end we were soaked through and filthy. After long and thorough showers we had dinner and then went to this bar that had toad racing. Now this isn't your average toad race. They auctioned off toads and I won one! There were 6 toads in total: Fat Bastard, Camel Toad, Gay Freddo, Jerry Springer, Pigeon Toad, and Aussie Aussie Aussie (nick named Ted). Mine was Ted. After you got your toad they were all placed into a bucket. Each toad racer was given one of those party favor blowing things and you had to use that to move your toad off of the table. Once your toad was off the table you had to be the first one to put your toad in the bucket to win. The first prize winner won a bottle of champagne and a pass to some crocodile tour. Second prize won a pass to some other tour and third prize won a bottle of champagne. Yours truly won first place by a millisecond. The guy who came in second got his toad in the bucket literally right after me. It was awesome; I was clearly so excited.
On Saturday we just spent all day at the beach and went to bed really early because our flight the next morning was at 6 am and we still had to drive back to Cairns to catch it. Once we got back to Sydney we took the ferry out to the Sydney Zoo. Now I was not that impressed with it, I think the Atlanta Zoo is much better, but also the weather was awful! The lay out of the exhibits was very windy and confusing and we had a hard time finding anything. But the chimpanzee exhibit was amazing! There were at least 20 of them and we got to see how they interacted with each other, it was really great. After the zoo we went to a Chanukah party and I'm pretty sure that every young Jewish adult in Sydney was at the party. It was packed! We had a really good time seeing all of the friends we've met so far, introducing them to Sammy, and meeting lots of new people.
On Monday, Avi had to go to work and it rained again. So Sammy and I went to Darling Harbour to a place called Pancakes on the Rocks and had some deilcious pancakes for brunch. Then we walked to Circular Quay where we went to the Museum of Contemporary Art. Then we walked all around the city until 6 when we met Avi and went back to Darling Harbour to see the newest James Bond on the biggest IMAX in the world; it was HUGE! After that we went out for some delicious Indian food.
Yet again on Tuesday the weather was pretty crappy. Sammy and I went to Watsons Bay and walked around in the off and on rain. Then we went grocery shopping and then I made some sweet potato and regular latkes, with Sammy's wonderful help shredding. Today, it was finally sunny so we did the Bondi to Coogee walk. When we arrived at Coogee we saw several people gathering around someone on the beach. We walked closer and saw that a woman had been drowning and the lifeguards were trying to save her. They gave her CPR for a good 5 minutes but by the time the ambulance came she was breathing. I'm not sure if she was fully conscious because she was thrashing around and I think they had to give her a sedative but it was very scary and I really hope that she is okay. Afterwards we got some sushi and then some gelato and walked back. Then I met up with our friend Natan Kuchar and his daughter Ayala and played with them in the park for a bit.
All in all these last 2 weeks have been amazing.
Come and visit, you never know what exciting things will happen!
Happy Chanukah, y'all!
