We interupt this program...

We checked-in at around 3pm Friday afternoon and hopped online to check out the latest news from Mumbai. I was surprised to see the NY Times headline at that hour: Indian Special Forces Fire Upon Jewish Center. At the time, there really was no real information besides for that.

We left for Friday night services a few hours later and I somewhat expected the rabbi to lead the service at the end with a few Psalms, even if only to pray for the survival of the hostages inside the Jewish Center (let alone all the others in the Taj). But there was not even a mention of it.

On Saturday morning we learned that they stormed the center and 6 hostages were killed, including the young rabbi and his wife. But still no mention from the rabbi during his two (yes, two) sermons. I know that if I were home in Washington, we would have said a few Psalms and I'm sure our rabbi would have mentioned it. He wouldn't have expounded on it's political implications, as it's not his way to do so in a congregation full of real politicians, would-be politicians, fake politicians, government employees, and others. But he would have at least acknowledged the tragedy that was unfolding half a world away. In Sydney, the tragedy was unfolding a bit closer, but we got nothing.

Saturday was the first time since this trip began that I wished I could have been back home, even for 24 hours.

The Reef and the Rainforest

Tuesday was all about the Great Barrier Reef. We were picked up at 7:40am—this was going to be a full-day adventure. We got to the marina and checked-in: price of admission included 3-4 hours of snorkeling in two different Reef locations and we paid extra for scuba diving lessons and two subsequent dives. The day was gorgeous: all sun, no clouds, and more importantly, winds at 5 knots, meaning the water would be calm all the way out to Opal Reef.

While the boat was heading out to Opal Reef, we learned about the equipment we’d be using and what the dive would be like. Our instructor told us all about what we would experience, how to equalize the pressure in our sinuses and chest, and what hand signals we should use when communicating underwater. After a 20-minute session, we got all geared up and ready to go, but when it was my turn to dive-in, I put my head under water and couldn’t breathe well. The combination of the weight of the gear, the underwater pressure, and breathing the compressed air from the oxygen tank made it feel like I got hit by a truck. I felt too much pressure on my chest and was nervous it would just get worse as I went deeper.

The good news was that I could still snorkel. I waited for Andrew to return from the first 20-minute dive and then we explored the reef together snorkeling. We were one of five people who rented a digital underwater camera, which gave us up to 500 pictures, so we went all out snapping away. We saw beautiful coral and fish. During lunch, we moved to the other side of the Opal Reef and were ready for more. This time, Andrew went down for a 30-40 minute dive with the camera (cameras aren’t allowed on the first dive) and I explored the reef on my own. This side had more character: the colors were brighter and there was more variety of fish. As I swam, beautiful schools of fish swam all around me. At one point, I saw Andrew and his instructor below me and I followed them around for a bit. Unfortunately though, while the scenery was better on this side, the water was murkier, so the pictures we have didn’t come out too great.

On Wednesday, we drove to Daintree Rainforest. This part of Australia is the only place in the entire world where you have two World Heritage locations sitting side-by-side to one another. We drove to Daintree Village and then took the car ferry to the other side of the Daintree River, where the road takes you through parts of the rainforest and up to Cape Tribulation. The Cape Trib side of the river is not connected to an electrical grid, but there are small towns all along the 39-km road through the rainforest, which means that all of them are run by alternative modes of energy, which is pretty damn cool. We stopped at the Discovery Center and took a self-guided walking tour along designated paths inside the rainforest. Later, as we reached Cape Trib, we parked and had lunch at the last lookout point before the unpaved road starts (only 4WD vehicles are allowed past that point). We were basically at the edge of one part of the rainforest which led to the Cape Trib beach. As we stood between the edge of the rainforest and the beach, you could feel both a hot and cool breeze: the cool breeze coming in from the shore and the hot breeze blowing out from the rainforest. This is one place where you can see the rainforest and the Reef meet and oddly enough, live in perfect harmony.

The Original Australian Coffee Pioneers

We pulled into the plantation parking lot at 4:30pm. There were no other cars around. There was a café which also doubled as the check-in point and there we met the Jaques family. They officially closed at 5pm but were more than happy to give us the tour, which consisted of a 10-minute introductory film to the family and the plantation and then a tour of the plantation itself on the Bean Machine. And considering we were the only people there, we got terrific personalized service and access to the family and the land.

Their story is absolutely fascinating. Nat Jaques originated from Tanzinia and Linda came from Zanzibar. He grew coffee; she grew tea. After getting married, they decided to move to Australia and open their own coffee plantation. After doing much research, they decided to settle in Cairns as the climate seemed perfect for coffee growing. In the late 1970’s, they purchased land and planted 25,000 coffee seeds. Coffee takes about 5 years to flower and ripen and by 1983, they were about ready for their first harvest when Australia suffered a major recession. Bank interest rates skyrocketed to 22% and they were forced to give up their land and leave the 25,000 plants of coffee ready to be picked. Not to be deterred, they purchased another plot of land a few years later and tried again. This time around, as the coffee was ready for its first harvest, the government came in and sprayed the entire plantation with pesticides, since there was a fruit fly infestation in the area, though there was no evidence of the fruit fly in the plantation itself. But instead of spraying the legal amount they were supposed to, they sprayed 10x over the prescribed limit and killed the entire crop.

But the Jaques were determined to try again. And like they say, third time’s a charm. Since the pesticide devastation, they’ve been growing and roasting coffee unabated. But, they’ve also been involved in a 12-year battle with the government for compensation over the episode. They did win the original case but since then, they’ve been mired in appeal after appeal, with the case going all the way to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled in their favor yet the government found something else on which to extend the case, and they’re currently waiting for one more judgment, which will hopefully be in their favor, end the fight, and finally close this chapter of the story.

What is fascinating here is that the Jaques are normal people and their plantation is family-owned and operated. They know a hell of a lot about coffee, were the first ones to grow coffee in Australia, and they make a fantastic roast. After the movie and the tour, we sat for around 50 minutes in the café, sipping their coffee and chatting with Linda, learning about their plight and how they’d love to expand operations once the pesticide case is over. Just to give some perspective: anyone who has seen me drink coffee knows that I like it sweet. With this cup, I enjoyed the coffee with only 1 tsp of sugar. It was that good.

In addition to coffee, they have a few fruit trees growing. As we were getting ready to leave, they picked a few bananas off one of the trees and gave me one to taste. The banana was terrific.

We left the plantation with two bags of coffee, one bottle of excellent coffee liqueur (we asked if it was grape-based; she didn’t know, so she rang the winery down the street who makes it with her coffee base, and asked for us; they thankfully answered “no”), and a shot glass. More importantly, we learned something new about Australia, met some fantastic people, and had an excellent time yet again, off-the-beaten-touristy-trail.

A Day in the Life of Cairns

We awoke early Monday morning to catch our flight to Cairns, which is in Northern Queensland. After checking in, we proceeded to pass thru security, and there I was getting ready to take off my shoes, remove my coat and sweatshirt, empty my pockets, and show the security guard my boarding pass. Then Andrew laughed at me. “We’re not in America anymore, dear.” Right. While we wait in long lines to get thru security in American airports, the rest of the world is still living like its September 10, 2001. Ahhh, those were the days…

We landed in Cairns three hours later and as soon as we disembarked, the heat and humidity hit us like a ton of bricks. While we left Melbourne at a cool 16 degrees Celsius, Cairns greeted us at 35 degrees Celsius. For those who forget the conversion formula, it comes out to around 95 degrees Fahrenheit. We were going to be in for quite a shvitzy few days.

Our first, and only scheduled stop for the day, was the Tjabukai Aboriginal Culture Park. In just a couple of hours, we learned about the native tribe that lived in the area of Cairns before settlers from the English kingdom arrived. We learned how they lived, using the surrounding rainforest and rivers in all aspects of their lives, and how their world was turned upside-down upon the arrival of English settlers. It’s an old and unfortunately not unique story with which we are quite familiar—Native Americans, Africans, Yemenites in Israel, etc., etc. Specifically in Australia, I get the feeling that it’s a story I’m not quite sure the country has truly and come to terms with yet.

The park was pretty hands-on: we heard stories of Tjabukai culture and heritage, saw a dance performance, learned which plants they used for medicinal purposes, and learned how to throw boomerangs and spears. All in all, it was quite informative, but, at least from my perspective, I felt a bit uncomfortable taking pictures, especially of the dances, feeling that perhaps I was intruding or somehow mocking their culture.

We got back to the car at 3:30pm. We had nothing else scheduled for the day except to drive up to Port Douglas and check-in to our room. So, in following tradition, instead of taking the main highway to Port Douglas, we took a different route. The map showed a coffee farm just 20-30 km to the west, so why not check it out?

Well, we tried to check it out, but we got there and the sign simply said “Not Open Today,” so we continued driving. Good thing they weren’t open, because as we learned just 15 minutes later, a real coffee plantation was just around the bend waiting to be explored.

Our tour of the Jaques (pronounced Jakes) Coffee Plantation was so interesting and unique, it deserves its own post.

"Broadband" Internet

Up until arriving to Port Douglas, we've had pretty good internet access. No, we haven't been online all day everyday. We would just quickly browse the headlines in the morning and in the evening and every once in a while check our email. It also obviously has allowed me to post these trip diaries.

All that ended in Port Douglas. The place we're staying claims it has "broadband" internet access. You pay for the amount of time you want, they give you an enthernet cable, and you sign-in and start browsing. Well, unfortunately, it ain't that easy.

Weirdly enough, as soon as we plugged the ethernet cable into the laptop and the internet started flowing, the mousepad stopped working, which, as you can imagine, made browsing and clicking and scrolling pretty damn difficult. I was frustrated: I had these three blog posts all written and ready to be published, but I couldn't post them! A few days passed by because we were busy scuba diving and snorkling and visiting a coffee plantation (more on that later!), but we assumed, if we used the two desktops available in the reception area at some point before we left, we'd be fine.

Wrong. I was able to post my trip diaries just fine but for some reason, it won't upload any of my pictures and it takes forever and a day to get to any simple website. So much for broadband.

Anyways, the point of this long-winded message is to tell you that as soon as I can find reliable access I will add pictures to the three posts below. :-)

Game of Penguin

We left St. Kilda finally bathed in warm sun of the southern hemisphere and headed southeast, with our ultimate goal of Phillip Island to see the little penguins parade back from the sea to their burrows at sunset. The big question was how we would get there: would we drive straight to Phillip Island or would we take a circuitous route thru off-the-beaten-path towns in Prom Country? Well, if you know anything about my husband, you know the answer to that question.

Our drive started at around noon and we headed south out of Melbourne. One thing that I haven’t really emphasized enough up until this point was the sheer number of cows we had seen so far, mostly in the country land to the west and south of Melbourne. Well, the south and east of Melbourne is pretty much full of them too!

Our first stop was Korumburra, and old coal mine town, where we walked thru Coal Creek. From Korumburra, we drove 30 km south to Inverloch, where we picked up the coastal road to Wonthaggi. The views from a few of the lookouts were unbelievable.

From Wonthaggi, we picked up the road leading to Phillip Island. The main attraction of Phillip Island is the penguin parade, but there’s a lot more to keep the tourists busy until the penguins arrive at sunset. We arrived on Phillip Island at around 3:30pm and drove to the Koala Conservancy, whose job it is to protect the koalas that are left on the island. We walked around the grounds for about an hour and saw koalas of all sorts and sizes—from joeys in their mother’s pouches to grandmother koalas. One thing we have learned throughout our trip so far though is that while koalas look quite cute and cuddly, in truth they can be quite nasty. But at least we have fun pictures!

After some hot chocolate at a café and a very windy walk around the Nobbies, we got all bundled up and ready to sit on the bleachers on the beach. Don’t forget that Phillip Island faces south and gets hit with chilly Antarctic winds every night, so I was bracing for the cold. We got to the bleachers around 45 minutes before sundown and after some waiting, we could finally see schools of black dots rolling in with the waves. The excitement was building. From one corner of the beach, a little penguin emerged out of the water and tip-toed onto the sand, walked up a few feet, and then all of a sudden, scurried back into the water. We were told earlier that the penguins wait until sundown before heading out of the water in order to ensure that the path home was safe from predators. This dance happened many more times along the length of the beach: 1-3 penguins come out the water, take a few steps inland, and then run right back. I decided from then on to rename “game of chicken” to “game of penguin.”

Finally, after around 20 minutes of watching the penguins scurry back and forth, one group finally ran from the water across the beach. We continued to watch as each group move in and as we started walking back towards the visitor center (the center is around ½ km back up from the beach), we were able to watch up close many penguins run up the side paths to their burrows underneath the center.

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take any pictures of these tiny and cute penguins, so all we got to take back with us is the memories of what we saw and this sign outside in the parking lot (yes, we check underneath our car for penguins before pulling out;, no, there weren’t any there, but we did see a few penguins in the lot on our way out. They were pretty damn cute).

Four Seasons in One Day

Apparently it's not unusual for Melbourne to experience "four seasons in one day," as a few local Melbournites pointed out to us. But the weather they'd experienced in the last 72 hours we were there was a bit unprecedented. On Saturday we had rain, gale-force winds, and hail, plus a bit of sunshine every 30-45 minutes or so. Just last week, they tell us, the weather was terrific, sun was shining, and it was a marvelous 25-30 degrees (Celsius that is). But all that changed by the time we got here. As you’ve probably gotten by now from previous posts, the theme of our trip to Melbourne has been the weather (and more cows!).

We arrived in St. Kilda at our Shabbat hosts with plenty of time to spare. While the sun doesn’t set until at least 7:45pm, the Jewish community likes to bring in Shabbat early, so we made sure to arrive with enough time to relax and shower before ushering in the Holy Sabbath.

Our hosts were spectacular. My sister-in-law spent a semester in Melbourne in 2002 and was “adapted” by this family during her stay. So when she told them we were coming to Australia on our honeymoon, they graciously opened the doors to their home for us. As soon as we were greeted at the door, there was instant chemistry—no awkward hellos, just a pleasant feeling of being “at home” with people you don’t really know, in a home that isn’t yours, and a city that is thousands of miles away from familiarity and comfort. After a busy week of endless hours on planes, in a car, and very little resting time in one place at once, it was comforting to know that Shabbat was almost here and the only responsibility we had was to shower and get dressed.

Shabbat itself was great: we had dinner Friday night with our host family and a family friend. Conversation was good and flowing and we learned a lot about the Jewish community in Melbourne. Turns out that after Israel, Australia had the highest rate of Holocaust survivor immigration after World War II. On the flip side, Melbourne boasts the highest rate of aliyah to Israel than any other city in the world.

Following with the theme of the week, it poured on Friday night. The men returned home from synagogue soaked pretty well, and it was only a 5 minute walk. The next morning was no different: as mentioned earlier, gale-force winds, rain, some hail, and pockets of sunshine. It was incredible! Our hosts informed us that Melbourne was in the middle of experiencing a bad drought and strict water restrictions were in force. But oddly enough, this rain didn’t really do much besides for water the grass, probably because it wasn’t a constant downpour. Regardless though, the talk of the town was the odd weather pattern Melbourne was in the midst of experiencing.

On Shabbat, we spent part of the day with other people in the community and we also got a nice 3.5 hour nap in. Apparently we were both quite tired. Between havdalah at 9:01pm and the time we turned in (after 1am), we learned all about rugby, watching New Zealand pull off one of the greatest upsets of all time beating Australia in the World Cup, and had a terrific supper with other members of the community, as our hosts hosted what turned out to be a small dinner party. Despite the obvious age difference between us, our host’s daughter, and everyone else in the room, we had a fun time, talking politics and learning more about Melbourne.

On Sunday morning our hosts were gracious enough to take us shopping to help us prepare for our upcoming trip to Cairns. Since there is no Jewish community up north, we needed to take food with us for lunch and dinner for three days. So we bought packaged cheese, a loaf of bread, some deli meat, and snacks, figuring we can buy fruits and vegetables once we get to our hotel in Port Douglas. As we packed our bags and prepared to leave, we thanked our hosts for a lovely weekend, for taking us in, and taking such good care of us. Anyone planning a trip to Melbourne and needs a place to stay for Shabbat would be lucky to have them as their hosts.

A Day in the Life of Melbourne

I was pleasantly surprised to wake up early Friday morning to sunshine. We had a packed day ahead of us: a stroll thru the Queen Victoria Market, hopping on the tram to take us to Flinders Lane (a 10 min ride) for some breakfast (yes, kosher breakfast IN THE CITY!), starting our touristy trail thru the city of Melbourne by 10am and getting back to the hotel to collect our bags and drive to St. Kilda (a suburb of Melbourne) for Shabbat by 4pm.

Queen Victoria Market is simply amazing. For those familiar with the shuk in Jerusalem, this is the shuk on steroids. A huge tent full of fresh fruit and vegetable stands, an indoor market of cheeses, breads, pastries, meats, fish, teas, and coffees, and rows upon rows vendors selling general goods. The fruits and vegetables looked so fresh and so delectable; given how much of this stuff they eat, AC and RSC would have been in heaven. If only we had planned to stay in the city for more than a day and had a full kitchen in our room, I would have cooked up a storm (well, a vegetarian storm at least). A few highlights from the market was the seeing the Sarah Palin jacket on sale and the American Doughnut Kitchen van parked right outside.

Before leaving DC, we made sure to print out all of the relevant kosher food information to have handy when the need arose. Once we arrived in the city and got to know the streets around us, we realized that one of the kosher bakeries was located just 10 minutes from our hotel! How spectacular! Turned out, this bakery is part of a chain called Glicks. They have 5 locations in Melbourne and one in Sydney. I’d like to meet the owner and propose that he go international. Seriously folks: not only is this a bakery; they also make their own bagels, pizza, and sandwiches! We ate our breakfast and picked up lunch for the road while we were at it. And since this place is downtown, the majority of the customers are not Jewish; they just come here for lunch and don’t think a thing of it. What a concept…

At 10am, we made our way to Federation Square, which has become the meeting place for people of all ages. We walked around and made our way to the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV). After a 30 minute stroll thru parts of the museum, we made our way to Southgate, an area right on the other side of the Yarra River (the official boundary of the city itself is the river) and walked along the promenade. By then, it was already 11am, the sun was shining, and we were enjoying a glorious spring day.

The City of Melbourne has a terrific public transportation system. Besides for the trams, which run along the middle of the street, there are buses and trains, all of which run very frequently and are pretty easy to figure out. In addition, Melbourne runs a free tourist shuttle, which stops at 11 designated areas in the city along its route and runs in a loop. We decided to split our day with walking and taking this shuttle between sites.

Our next stop after Southgate was the Royal Botanic Gardens, which was simply beautiful. The Gardens sit right outside the city on a huge plot of land and showcase every type of plant that can be found in Australia and the surrounding countries.

After the Gardens, we hopped on the tourist shuttle to take us north to the Melbourne Museum. We ate our lunch in their café and bought our tickets to stroll thru their galleries. The Melbourne Museum is a bit different then other museums: it is certainly not traditional, where you stare at pictures on the wall and/or look at artifacts behind glass. Instead, their displays are very hands-on and deal with more present-day subject matters. While the galleries tended to be more scientific in nature (human body and forestry, for instance), it’s not a science museum. It also had a display on the history of Melbourne, but it’s not a history museum either. To me it seemed like a museum modeled in a post-modern tradition (very sleek, not many walls, etc) without much of a direct mission, besides for education. It was certainly interesting and had some character to it, but seemed a bit scattered.

Our last stop was Lygon Street: Melbourne’s own Little Italy. The four-block stretch was lined with cafes and clothes shopping and by 2pm, was hopping with a post-lunch crowd and kids who finished their uni classes (university) for the week. The weather was still unbelievably gorgeous. Little did I know what was to come just 5 hours later.

Stormy weather better than none

The drive along the Great Ocean Road was magnificent. We started our drive on Thursday morning from Apollo Bay, which is just about the halfway point on the route we were taking to the Twelve Apostles at Port Campbell. The sky was overcast and a steady drizzle was falling accompanied by blustery winds, reminding me of an autumn day in Seattle. I was a little bummed at first, but the woman who checked us out of the little motel we stayed at assured us that seeing the Twelve Apostles is boring any other way. And as we started driving, I realized she couldn’t have been more right: seeing the ocean rip against the eroding limestone and shoreline as the waves come crashing in was absolutely awe-inspiring.

Our first stop that morning was the Cape Otway Lighthouse, which is around 15-20 km detour to the coast off the main road (at this point on the GOR, the route goes more inland, as opposed to the first half which mostly hugged the coastline). On the way to the lighthouse, we saw a car pulled over to the side and two people standing with a camera near a tree. We got out of our car and immediately saw a sleeping koala! The koala was literally at eye-level on a branch snuggled so cutely against the trunk. We snapped a ton of pictures of the sleeping one and his two other buddies higher up on nearby trees. By the time we were ready to get back on our way, 5 other cars had pulled over fascinated by the same little guy.

We got to the lighthouse and started the walking hike around the property. At this point in the morning, the wind was ripping and it was especially windy on the coast where we were. After walking through the old residents’ quarters, we got to the lighthouse and climbed up the winding staircase. At the top, we met an older man, whose job it was to greet tourists and tell them about the history of the lighthouse. Before walking out to the balcony, he warned me to take off my hat if I “fancied keeping it”. We stepped outside to take in the views but couldn’t really stay out for so long given the strength of the winds. As we got back inside, the guy asked us where we from. After we answered, he asked us if we were happy about the outcome of our recent election, and we told him yes. He then went on to tell us how riveted people in Australia were and how much the media here followed the campaign in America. In general, he said a majority of Australians are quite happy with the election outcome and they are hopeful that Obama can repair America’s standing on the world stage. As we chatted for a bit more, it was remarkable to reflect on the extent that people around the world actually cared about who Americans would vote for; not just that they cared, but how deeply they felt about the last eight years and what it had done to America’s reputation. The fact that Australia is not a main player on the international stage makes it hits home even more: in very simplistic terms, Australians look for America to blaze the path, lead, and do what’s right. And they are hopeful that America can be that again once more. That’s humbling.

We left Cape Otway, making our way back to the main road, passing the sleeping koala with now at least 15 people standing near it snapping pictures. The next stop, more than an hour away, was Port Campbell, home of the Twelve Apostles. The weather didn’t change much, except for the on-again off-again drizzle and the packets of sunshine that tried to make its way thru the thicket of threatening clouds in its way. But, no matter. As we walked out to the lookout points, the words of the woman from this morning rang true: seeing the Twelve Apostles when it's sunny and calm is boring. In brief, the Apostles are limestone stacks that apparently were once part of the mainland but, over time, eroded from the intense wave action endlessly hitting against it. If you click on the Wikipedia link above and look at some of the pictures at the bottom of the page compared to the picture on the right, it's hard to argue that it's just better to experience in windy weather.

Since the plan was to be back in Melbourne for the evening, we decided not to just turn around and drive the GOR back, but to take a route inland that would take us thru Ballarat, the home of the Australian Gold Rush. (We learned only a day later that Ballarat is also home to the oldest synagogue in Australia; the stupid guide books didn’t tell us that.) The 2 hour drive to Ballarat was mostly flat, and after a day of meandering, windy roads thru the cliffs of the Australian coast, I was happy to see flatland filled with cows. Yes, southern Australia is dairy land, full of cows grazing on endless land. We drove thru very small towns on the way, flat land all around, except, to our surprise, a few formidable volcanoes standing in the middle of absolute nowhere. Here is Mount Elephant. Who knew?

We made it to Ballarat by 4:30pm, just in time to get in to the Gold Museum (everything touristy in Australia closes by 5 or 5:30pm, which is a bit disappointing, but doable). The main part of town still has the old building facades from the late 1800’s, which is pretty cool to see.

By the time we got back to the city, the day was practically over. We grabbed dinner and drove to our hotel for the night, which conveniently enough, was two blocks from the famed Queen Victoria Market (more about that later). Since we were both extremely tired, we ate dinner and called it a night at around 10pm. Friday was going to be a full day of city touring.

Two quick Australian observation:

• Filtered drip coffee doesn’t exist here. You either have an espresso-based drink at a café or you drink instant at home.
• Australia loves it's powernaps. In truth, they use these signs to encourage drivers to take powernaps at service areas along the highways so that they don't fall alseep while driving. Brilliant.
  

Shabbat shalom

Shabbat is slowly making it's way to Melbourne. We're staying with a lovely family for the weekend and I couldn't be more excited. After 3 days of driving and running around with an early to-bed and early to-rise mantra, I'm very much looking forward to a quiet 25-hour period of home-cooked meals, a nap or two, and really terrific people to converse with. Not that being on my honeymoon and only having my husband to chat with all day and all night is a terrible thing, don't get me wrong. But it's never a bad thing to be around interesting people, a new community, in a totally different part of the world to drum up conversation and good fun time.

In short, we toured the city of Melbourne today, including an early walk around the Queen Victoria Market, which, to some reading this, can be described as the Jerusalem shuk on steroids. It's quite awesome. Wish I had me one of those in DC.

OK, must run. More about our last two days on the other side of the Holy Day of Rest.

Look Right, Not Left

Well good’ay from not-so-sunny Melbourne! Today is Thursday, November 20, 2008, despite what the dateline on Blogger may tell you. It really is a strange thing to realize that you are 16 hours ahead of everyone else you know. It’s like it is today for me but you are reading this yesterday and by the time I get to write to you again, it’ll be tomorrow for me but still yesterday for you. Yikes.

Anyways…we are now Down Under. I don’t recommend the 24 hours of being in transit to get anywhere, but I guess you have to do it in order to get here, so you’re kinda stuck if you don’t.

Our journey began on a Virgin America flight from Dulles to Los Angeles. Virgin America is a cool airline. You can order your food and drink from your seat and it magically appears within minutes. Brilliant! And these new in-seat entertainment centers, where you can choose from a ton of different movies, tv shows, play games, read the news, all with a touchscreen, are AWESOME. More on that in a few…

We landed at LAX, collected our bags and made our way to the Bradley International Terminal to check-in for our flight with Qantas. Now this was going to be exciting, because we delayed our trip by one day so that we could fly on the new A380. Most people wouldn’t know the difference when scheduling a vacation but when you’re married to a guy who loves trains and planes, you pay attention. More on the A380 in a few…

By the way, next time you connect out of LAX, have some layover time, and want awesome kosher food, call Jeff’s. They apparently deliver to the airport. Or you can call a friend who lives down the block from Jeff’s and he’ll deliver to the airport; specifically we ordered two sausages, a schnitzel sandwich, and two orders of fries to be exact. Yum!

Back to the A380: We boarded the plane at around 10:40pm LA-time with about 400 other people. Yep, 400. Simply put, this plane is MASSIVE. Just click on the link and take a tour of the Qantas A380- it’s huge and pretty cool. We didn’t get to sit in First or Business, but we got exit row seats which were nice, after I stopped being grumpy about them. Turns out these two seats are a bit narrower then regular Economy class (regular Economy class seats on the A380 are about 1” wider than the Boeing 747) and there’s no room to leave your carry-on next to you. The plus side is that you have all the legroom you can possibly need. And the awesome touchscreen entertainment center pops up from between the two seats, so it’s like your own personal TV right there. You can choose from literally hundreds of movies (I watched Don’t Mess with the Zohan and Baby Mama), TV shows, a ton of games (interactive too!), read the news, listen to audio books, and get your email (for a cost). Plus, you can create your own playlist of music from different genres and CD choices that will play for you over and over again until you change it or do something else. Flying will never be the same, and these are quickly becoming the standard. Needless to say, they make a 16-hour flight go by just a tad faster.

After we landed, a terrifically-splendid flight attendant gave us a tour of the upstairs, which includes business class and premium economy. One word: SWEET.

The line to get thru customs and passport control once inside the terminal was quite long. If you didn’t know this before, Australia takes their customs pretty seriously. Not only do they ask you to complete a form declaring anything non-native you are carrying and bringing in (all countries do), but while standing on line, they bring around trained dogs to sniff it out of you in case you aren’t 100% truthful. And in case the dog didn’t find it, after you pass passport control and collect your luggage, you and all of your bags are randomly screened thru an x-ray again. The Australians are pretty hard core- no meats, fish, poultry, aqua stuff, cheese, etc., can come thru without being declared and perhaps taken away from you, obviously in order to protect the fragile eco-system on this huge country, continent, and island. And just in case the Australian version of Big Brother is watching, I won’t go into details about why my heart was pounding when the dog came around. Suffice it to say, they mean it, and the signs all over the airport telling you “Declare It or Dump It” every 10 feet made you think twice about sneaking anything even remotely similar to anything on that list.

Once we finally made it thru customs and got our bags, we picked up our rental car. I’m thankful to the Australian government for being sensitive to the fact that the majority of the world drives on the right side of the street. Until you do it yourself, you have absolutely no idea how disconcerting it is to be driving down the street and see cars coming at you from the wrong side. Or in this case, from the right side, though it certainly didn't feel right at all. It's not that hard to get used to highway and city driving, but once you're out on the Great Ocean Road, where you're winding all around the mountain and the coast and there's just one lane each way around the twists and turns, it gets kinda freaky. That's all I'm saying, it's just freaky. And crossing the street? Man, I thought I had that down. Apparently not. Two words: Look. Right. After you make the mistake one time and you come out of it unscathed, you never make the mistake again.

Once you get over that (not saying I have yet), you start enjoying the views and boy, they are spectacular. There's something to say about knowing that once you pass Anglesea and you're standing on a cliff looking straight out to the ocean, there's absolutely nothing between you and Antarctica. And then you realize that you're basically at the end of the earth. That's friggin cool.

All in all, it's been a good first day. We called it an early night on Wednesday, given how exhausted we were-- all I wanted was a bed, as I had not been in one in 35+ hours. Due up this morning and the rest of the day: more of hte GOR, the Twelve Apostles, and driving back to Melbourne. Hopefully the weather will clear at some point.

Let the Honeymoon Begin!

The trip is finally all planned and we're ready to go!

We'll be heading to LA tomorrow afternoon and then hopping on the grand spankin' new A380. For those interested, I'll be taking some pictures of the cabin and posting them at some point later.

Our itinerary, Monday Nov 17 to Tues Dec 2, in short:
Mon: Fly to LA, then to Melbourne
Tues: Doesn't Exist :-D
Wed: Land in Melbourne, drive Great Ocean Road
Fri-Sat: See Melbourne, Shabbat in St. Kilda
Sun: PENGUINS!
Mon: Fly to Cairns, go to Tjapukai
Tue: Scuba the Great Barrier Reef
Wed: Daintree Rainforest
Thur: Fly to Sydney, drive to Blue Mountains
Fri-Sat: Shabbat in Bondi Beach
Sun-Mon: Explore Sydney
Mon night: See ballet at Sydney Opera House
Tues: Start journey back at 11:40am...land in LA at 10:50am...finally land at DCA at 11:24pm...

Keep an eye out for some trip logs and pictures.