Amir @ Oceania

Well, that's that. Last night I came back to my own sweet home, bed, and now - computer (huey).

It's good, but also weird, to be home.

Well, that's it. This blog is now going to stop. I will keep it active, but will not update anymore. This trip is over: time for some new adventures. If you wish to still read of my activities, right now the only thing I have active is:

http://www.meiri.org/luz

Thanks everyone, it's been amazing!

:-D :-D :-D

Amir

P.S. - Right now my cellphone's acting up, so if you want to reach me use the landline, or try the phone, I should be able to fix it sometime today.

Last night we came back from Chaweng to Mae Num (on Koh Samui), where we're staying, and found that the little pub, literally in the middle of nowhere, but on our way to our bungalows, is open, alive, and the live band is ready to play. There were two cover-bands playing, the first one was Siam, which featured a lead singer that only does Seattle style, even when covering Dire Straits, and a guitarist that simply knows his stuff and looks cool doing it, too. The second band Unicorn, featured a female lead singer, perky little Thai girl, with an unexpected strong voice, covering the likes of Tina Turner, the Cranberries, and even Metallica (Sad But True, and Enter Sandman as the encore).

They geeve us gewd time!

And the rest of my time would mostly look like this:

State of Mind

However the craziest weather is about us, with occasional torrents of rain and general dreary skies. It won't stop me from enjoying every minute of doing nothing! ;-)

And for whoever doesn't know:
My flight home lands at 19/2/2006, 22:15.
Oh, and there are new pictures (just a few)!

Krob khun mai kap!

Enter Pantip Plaza, the IT mall (Bangkok).
Receive increased feeling of nakedness not having a bluetooth headset on my ear(s).
Anything you could possibly want for your computer (even if you don't have one, yet) - find it here. From 10 year old used hardware, to spare parts for laptops (spare screens, spare keyboard, spare etc...), to the most high-end equipment you can think of, whether it be performance hardware, performance assisting hardware (coolers, liquid coolers, blinking leds), or the hottest cases (there was one case, I swear, that would send Lamborgini's design team back to the drawing board). Oh and laptops, accessories, anything I tell ya!

So, I had a fun day :-D

Crazy, sleazy, wildly colorful, trashy, dirty, noisy, musical, bouncy, cheap, the other cheap, tasty, smelly (not necessarily bad), fun, weird, dangerous, shabby, open-till-late, poor, pretty (?!), makes me smile...

Seriously, I don't know why people hate it.

He is a true believer.
He believes, for one thing, that his wheels are as wide as a motorcycle, squeezing into spaces you never thought you'd fit on foot.
He believes that whatever is in his way, will move.
He believes that everybody will see him and yield.
He believes that 'speed limit' means the physical limits of his riksha's engine.
He believes, finally, that his brakes are super-charged and can take him from any speed to a full stop within whatever distance there is left to the rear bumper of the car/bus/truck. (and that his passengers will remain in their seats without flying in any direction)

I guess I've become a believer myself: I took another one back from the MBK

So I've arrived, and I'm still all here. I met a girl from the Fraser Island 'adventure' at the airport, and we arrived at the Khao San at arround 23:00 looking for a room. Everything's full, so we ended up taking a very cheap room just for that night. Now we're looking again, but nothing will become available until after 11:30-12:00...

So, it's weird as hell here for me, but ammusing (someone blasted (and I mean BLASTED) a radio at around 8:00am to tell the whole street that the time was 8. Only they didn't know exactly when it would be, so they started the show a few minutes before the hour. I wasn't sleeping to well anyway on account that my body is still on Auz time... :-)

Anyway, I'll figure out the next place to stay and then go for some shopping. I plan not to spend too much time here, as I'm not interested in tourist attractions (aside from shopping, as I said), and this Khao San place is not really my idea of fun - I need to loaf on a beach somewhere!

So... everything's OK, and I'll probably be out of touch, unless my phone has reception and I feel like answering (SMS's are best! - Israeli #).

Well, it's almost time to leave this part of the world, head on back up to the proper hemisphere.

Sydney has been nice. I've seen all the art galleries I wanted to (some had really good stuff, really!). Seen the aquarium, seen the Australia Day fireworks show, and just cruised around town. I've also met some friends from before, and am going to meet some more along my way.

It's been an amazing trip. I won't really be able to sum anything up here, but just some notes for the real summary: Australia was a lot of fun, a lot of cool stuff and cool people, having fun by just driving lots of km's and camping and some popular activities, etc. I must say that the outback is the reason this country is so great to travel in. I really liked some stuff on the east coast, namely The Great Barrier Reef, Whitsundays sailing, and Byron Bay (not to mention some of the amazing fun people I've met at those places), but the real spirit is out west. I couldn't have been whole without seeing the east with my own eyes, so that I really knew that there was (almost) nothing there for me, but if I came back, I'd probably skip it altogether (OK, maybe another shot at Whitsundays, but that's it!).

New Zealand is beautiful, and as far as my trip went, the best place to really get some quality time with yourself. The beauty here is quiet, strong, solitary. You do meet people around, of course, but especially my route, which took me to a lot of unpopular places, left me more times than not by myself. Also, everyone who told me to go to Australia first was completely right. I can't imagine how disappointed I would've been with Australia's scenery after NZ's. Even though I think Auz is beautiful, after 3 months on the road I don't know if I could've stood the aridness of the bush.

Well, that's enough for that... Tomorrow I'm flying to Bangkok (anyone know of a good place to stay there?). I'm planning to get to some serious shopping (after I've been holding back all this time) and head on out to the islands (any tips here would also be welcome). I probably won't be very available on internet withing the next 3 weeks, nor on my phone. Speaking of which: I'm going back to my Israeli phone line, so I won't answer any phone calls unless it's urgent, in which case SMS me first! I'm not even sure I'll turn on my phone that much - I'm going to rest, I mean it!

:-D

A big hug to everyone,

See you real soon!

Auzzie's and Kiwi's know where they are. Period.

Otherwise, I have no explanation for the fact that there are hardly any street (name) signs in Australia and in New Zealand. Some really hip cities like Sydney or Melbourne might actually have one (1) sign per junction, but as I said, only one, not four (one for each corner). So if you're at the wrong corner, there's no way you can know which street(s) you're on, until you cross the road. And that's assuming that the intersection isn't so big that you can't find a good angle/distance, unless you actually cross the corner where the sign is.
Usually, for one major street, which will stretch for at least 10-15 blocks, you will find 3 or 4 signs with that street's name on them. If you're not on the right corner, keep walking for a few blocks, maybe you'll be lucky and you'll be on the street you were looking for.

Someone once tried to explain it by saying that the local kids like to steal street signs and hang them up at home. Sounds too fishy to me. I can't imagine that almost _every_ street sign has been stolen, and noone's replacing them or facing the issue...

Sheesh

Today's Australia Day, if you hadn't noticed. I was planning to mostly visit the various celebration areas and stuff, but I did end up putting a few hours of my morning at the car market.

And a good thing, too!

These two Irish guys came, practically _only_ looked at sedans, which were mostly just Steve (mine) and another one just like it. They ended up offering me a price, which I ended up accepting, and to cut a short story shorter: Steve is no longer mine! (might not even be Steve anymore). I got much less money than invested in him, but I'm relieved and unburdened and whatnot. I ended up seeing Australia Day for what it's worth, without any monkey on my back. I even saw the 'Kylie' exhibit at the Powerhouse Museum, which was sweet. :-)
In order to get good seats for the fireworks, Janna and I sat down at Darling Harbor pretty early (18:00), so we had to sit through a lot of crap ("What does Australia Day mean to you?" "Uh, Um, yeah!") until they started, but they were really really good, so I guess that's OK.

Now I feel a bit silly that I extended my stay in Sydney, since I don't have _that_ much to do here. I'll try and see if there are still spaces available at my original flight to Thailand, although I think I will keep my return date to Israel on the 23rd. Why not have a bit extra time for fun in the sun?

Whew!

Not much to write about, really, so I thought I should update on that.

I'm still sitting at the car market 9 to 17, but it's a whole social gathering. With over 50 cars & vans for sale, there's a whole mess of people breathing toxic fumes together. Of course that is including the required local Israeli gang. It's a lot of fun to meet all these people, however much we'd all like to be outta there. Also, there's a tradition of buying a case of beers if you sell your car, so whenever someone does you're happy twice: 1) Less competition 2) Beer! Most people comment on how they've never drunk so early in the day. :-)

I'm also catching up on some reading. There was quite a movement of buyers through the market today, but not much were serious, and almost none look at my nifty Steve, as he's a 'crippled' sedan. But I'm optimistic yet. Let all those pesky station-wagons move out and I'll show 'em what's what!

Tomorrow's Australia Day, and that's a big reason to celebrate. I think I'll catch more of Sydney tomorrow and less car market. The buyers can go look for me (sounds better in Hebrew, eh?).

Amiri

For those of you who haven't been there, Kings Cross is one damn sleazy place. Kind of like Alneby street (in Tel-Aviv, duh): a mix of tourists, strip joints, pseudo-casino places, and all kinds of debauchery. The main difference, I think, is the ultra-mix of different cultures here, and the ridiculous prices.

So this neighborhood of Sydney is where the infamous car market of sydney resides, at almost the most bottom level of a car park, with approximately 20 cars for sale (not including the vans) and hardly any buyers. Whatever buyers do come around, all sing the well-known "I wanna sleep in the car" song, thereby passing my beautiful Steve by without a second glance. Not that they buy anything else, which is a slight consolation.

Two nights earlier I drove in from Melbourne, with a Swedish-English-somemorestuff girl who needed a ride. This was good for me: a bit of money saved on fuel, and the company makes it easier for me to drive for hours straight. Only problem arose when we got to Sydney and realized we don't exactly know how to get to wherever it was she was staying. It took us 2 hours, at night, but in the end we made it, I had some tea with them, and rode on to crash at my hostel.

Yesterday I cruised around Sydney by foot, and for the first time on my trip I met a friend I already knew from Israel: Ofir Biton. We cruised around some more and it was great. :-)

So now I'm 'working' at the car market, hoping for the best, and spending my time reading and listening to music. Can't really enjoy Sydney until this is over, and we'll see just how much patience I'll have left for Sydney after that. What I do know, though, is that I'm moving on to Thailand no matter what, on 7/2/2006, and that's a real relief!

See y'all real soon,
Amir

Well, I'm on my last leg down under: Sydney.

Melbourne was nice, but a bit mellowed out. The depression that came with trying to sell a car in Christchurch reached me once again in Melbourne, with nothing much to do except advertise in the hostels and on the internet. I got 4 replies:

3 scam attempts over email, 2 of them from the same people. These scammers send you an 'interested in item' email, asking for final price. Whatever price you list, they send you back another email, telling you of some cashier's cheque or money wire transfer, for more than what you asked for (with a vague excuse), and you're supposed to send back the difference. Yeah, right. With the 3rd attempt at this I got a little sneaky and emailed back a final price of $5000 (I'm selling the car for $3000). They still went on with it.
Oh, and one guy actually called me on the phone, asking to employ and 'alternate method of finance'. Thinking 'WTF?!', I asked politely: What does 'alternate' mean? He said he'd pay for the car in services instead of money. What services? He's a financial consultant. Maybe this scam makes him a good consultant, but no cash, no car.

Tomorrow I'll take the car into the infamous Kings Cross car market, plop myself down for a long wait (That's why I've extended my stay here) and hope for the best.

I've postponed my return by a week: will land in Israel on 23 of February.

Well, bye for now!

P.S. - Technological adventures continue: I've bought a new battery for my iriver, and now it works without being connected to the wall!

Hey everybody!

So... I'm back at Carmit & Anna's apartment in Melbourne, on Anna's eMac.

Selling the car was much tougher than I thought it would be. Hardly anyone came to the car market, and almost noone was interested in the car. Eventually I sold the car to two Taiwanese girls who work at the hostel where I was staying, at a big loss. Caparot, as they say.

So now I'm going to try and sell the car that I left here using ads at hostels (again) and in the paper (new), and if that doesn't move in a week I'll drive it to Sydney and try to sell it there.

So that's it, really. I don't really have much energy left to be a tourist in Melbourne or Sydney, but maybe that'll change if I find something really nice to do around here (suggestion, anyone?).

BTW, I'm back to using my Australian cellphone SIM: +61-415-251-651

Have fun, everyone!

Well, I'm in Christchurch, and there's not much left to do for me. I left Dunedin 'with' a guy called Oz that I met there, each in his own car. We met again at Moeraki boulders (just had to get a picture like Yair has in his office :-P) and then ate the best fish & chips in NZ at a town called Hampden. After that we met again in Christchurch at some hostel (Foley Towers was full, so I'm not staying there), along with another two Israelis: a brother and sister.

New Year's eve in Chch was a bit too mellow. Or maybe we just didn't know where to go. I'll try and get some more expert local advice for a good party this week...

Now I'm trying to sell the car, and I have a flight to Melbourne on 7/1/6. So not much to tell, really. Just resting and hanging.

See ya!

Me.

Pronounced duh-NEE-din, but also Danny-Deen (by Israelis) and also Dan-Eden (also by Israelis)

I'm here, but I'll show you some pictures of the way over: (all of the pictures should be click-able to go to the gallery, maybe learn a bit more about them)

This is the Fox Glacier that I was telling you about before:


After that Alona joined me to go to Wanaka, and there we went to Puzzling World to try and solve a few puzzles:



After then Wanaka we came to Queenstown, which looks like this:


Alona left then for Auckland, and I went on the Rees-Dart track:







(there are a bit more pictures from the track at the gallery)

Then I drove on to Te-Anau, as you might remember, and I met a whole bunch of Israelis (funny story for this picture, if you click):



And we celebrated Hannuka:



Seeing as how I was not going to do the Milford track, I figured I'll go to Milford Sound (which is actually not a sound, it's a fjord) on a day-cruise, to see how beautiful it is. It is. But not that spectacular. Or maybe it's just gotten boring to see so many spectacular views. Just not that impressed with Milford, sorry!

This pic is on the way to Milford:


And now I've left Te-Anau and the Israeli gang to come here to Dunedin. Cool town, but all the good things seem to be closed, and the town's dead. I guess that's what you get right after Xmas, when everybody's on vacation until after New Year's, and also this is a student town (Otago University), and they're all between semesters or school years on break. So Dunedin's pretty dead. Still cool though.

So Happy Hannuka everyone, and hug whoever's next to you for me!

Amiri

Hello everybody!

Well, since last update, a few things have happened:

I was in Queenstown, as you remember (?). Before I knew what was happening, I jumped my plans to go to the Rees-Dart track by a day: these Israeli people I met were planning a Hannuka party at Te-Anau today, the 25th, so I decided to join them. OK, enough boring details.

One little detail about Queenstown: No offence to the people who recommended it, but Ferg's Burger is _not_ all dat. The place is cool (great music), they build sandwiches (burgers are technically sandwiches) beautifully, but the beef is just plain cheap crap, like Zoglovek's cheap patties that come frozen, 5 in a clear plastic container. Even Burgos in Netanya makes better burgers, not to mention respectable burger places in Israel. So no, I won't recommend it any further. :-\

The Rees-Dart track was wonderful. Weather was not entirely great, but not awful either. For a change, I took the recommended time for the track, only added an extra day to take a day-walk out to Cascade Saddle. Also amazing: just sitting up at about 1400 meters, looking at a drop of 1000m on one side with mountains on the horizon, and the Dart Glacier on the other side, eating my sandwich. Too bad there was _noone_ around to take my picture (as you'll see).
I was mostly alone on the track. After meeting some Israeli guys at the second hut, everyone except for me went onwards to the next one, while I stayed for that day-walk. Met noone on that day, and hardly anyone afterwards. My last two nights I spent all by myself at the huts. At first it was a bit weird and scary, but once I got used to it I really grew to like it. You can't walk around the hut naked at Milford, I'd bet! :-P
Another nice thing about this track is how easy it was for me. There were tough climbs, to be sure, but they were bearable mostly. What was really different is that I came out of this track fit to walk: feet didn't hurt, no limping, nothing! Just a little fatigued after a days walk, but I still managed to drive to Queenstown, shop at the supermarket, eat-all-I-can-eat at Pizza Hut, and drive on to Te-Anau, and then spend time with friends until a late hour! I must be getting better at this trekking thing!

Anyway, after that I came into Te-Anau, through a beautiful day and great scenic drive (not many drives in NZ are not scenic). Landed at Lakefront backpackers straight in the Israeli Ghetto. Tonight we'll light the first candle and also celebrate Christmas. Should be sweet!

I'll post some pictures next, once I get my camera hooked up to this computer...

Happy Hannuka, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and whatever else to everyone!

To those who've tried to call me: no reception at the track, but now I'm back in civilization, you can try again.

Kisses,

Amiri

Hello,

I don't have much to update you on, just been to Franz Joseph Glacier (that's the town, not the glacier) and also to Fox glacier (that's the glacier, not the town). The glacier hike was cool, I got to experience just a tiny bit of ice climbing, using cramp-ons strapped to my boots and walking around sticking them and the walking ice pole into the ice, carefully not to fall! I expected the glacier to be cleaner, not have so much rocks and tiny debri and stuff all over it. Guess the people who shell out $300-400 for a heli-hike get to see the real clean stuff. Also maybe those who went to the Franz Joseph glacier (the glacier, not the town) saw cleaner ice. But anyway it was cool, and the weather wasn't too bad, so sweet!

At the hostel I met this Israeli girl, Alona (not our Alona, sadly, but still a cool girl). We ended up travelling together to Wanaka, which is a beautiful quiet little town at the edge of a lake (yes, another town at the edge of a lake). There at the Purple Cow (again: thanks Rom!) I encountered my first experience of the Israeli world invasion. For the first time on my trip, the Israelis outnumbered everyone else! You could pretty safely strike up a conversation in Hebrew with anyone at the hostel! It was weird for me, after all this isolation. I even met someone I know (by sight) from the gym at the university! Sheesh...

Then Alona and I travelled up to Queenstown. I did not heed to Eran's advice, about booking rooms in advance, and had to take a chance with a hostel that was rated 59% by fellow backpackers. Bad choice. Messy, dirty, and not at all fun. Today I switched hostels and Alona flew off to Auckland, where she will eventually fly out back home. However most of the people I've been meeting so far are travelling along the same route, so we all meet again and again (I guess a lot of you know what that's like). So that means that I meet some of those Israeli people, too. Lucky thing at least I don't do any of the popular tracks. NZ is starting to get a bit too crowded for me, with the season picking up. I hope I'll benefit from this when I sell the car...

One thing though: Queenstown is an amazing little place. Also at the edge of a lake (!), but not at all quiet! A lot of stores, cool eats (can't wait to try Ferg's Burgers), cheezy bars/pubs, and what-not. This area also has a very active ski season (not now), so I'd guess it's this active and fun year-round!

Well, that's it for now. Since I haven't done much I've spent too much time on the fine details. Next update should be a bit less boring.

X X X
Amiri

Maori wannabe Sandra assured me that what I'm trying to do here is the proper Maori male response to a Maori female trying to attract him...

Click this picture to go to the gallery and see the others.

So...

After all that whining and bitching after the Queen Charlotte track, for reason I cannot understand, I headed out for another track.

First things first, I made my way over to Motueka. Mainly following advice to go stay at The Laughing Kiwi at least a few nights, I landed, found room with no trouble, and even found that the place was quite empty. Cool, sweet, comfortable, clean, but there were hardly 5 people staying there. The owner himself was kind of baffled by it, but there it stood. So I settled in, and started inquiring about the Heaphy track.

Turns out that the main deterrent from this track for most people is the fact that its two ends are, on the road (i.e. when _not_ hiking) 463 km's apart (!). But I said: screw it, it sounds like a swell time, let's figure it out! So I booked huts, got some groceries, packed, made sandwiches, again finished preparing at 1 am, got up in the morning, caught a special bus to the head of the track and slept on the way (around 2-3 hours). I woke up to find we were at the start of the track and the start of my next adventure!

I must add here that this track is _easy_, but 82 km, usually done in 4-5 days, if not 6, and I chose to do it in 3. This means that the first day is about 26km, 2nd is 40(!)km, and the 3rd is only 16km. That second day is 10 hours of hiking, and my feet did really _not_ like it! But eventually I did get to that blessed hut at the end of that day, catching up with people who'd started the track 2 days before me! I was mixed-proud-and-feeling-foolish (cause my feet hurt so much, I still limp right now!).

Anyway, the important stuff: This is one beautiful track, lemme tell ya! Aside from the dodgy weather (mostly grey, some light showers, a lot of mist in the mornings), which actually sometimes just made everything so magical, the scenery is (guess what) amazing. Also this track has so many different kinds of scenery, from open grasslands to mountains and rolling green hills, to lush (I mean _lush_) rainforest and just plain forest. And of course all that crazy NZ plantlife, which just doens't match anything we've grown used to in the proper western world of Israel... ;-P

So I came back, exhausted, but satisfied. Once again I feel like there's no chance in hell of me going on any more tracks, but I guess that will change once again in a few days.

I do have to figure out my next move, once again. I guess the west coast is my target, maybe the Fox glacier, although I'm not sure I'll really like it...

Hope you're all doing fine, I'll go upload some more pictures, and do some email things.

Ciao,
Amiri

Gina, Janna, Amir Reunited with Gina, which we'd already met in Taupo, this is at The Villa, Picton. (All Japanese tourists do this 'V' sign when they get photographed. We asked: it means 'Very Good')

I promise a nice surprise, if you click the picture and cruise the picture gallery.

A.