Hunter Valley

Cheers!
Small disclaimer: you may want to read this with a glass of wine. You also may get drunk.

Andrea, Meghan and I decided to take a day trip up to Hunter Valley. Hunter Valley is one of the wine regions in Australia. I learned a lot of Australian wines. Fosters, the beer company, owns about 60% of all the wine that is exported out of Australia. Yellow Tail, one of the bigger labels that is exported, like Fosters is not really for Australian consumption. Many of brands that we have in the states are not even on the shelves here. Yellow Tail produces about 80 billion bottles per year while most of the Boutique winery's that I visited were making 3500-4000 bottles a year.
Our first stop was at Ernest Hills. There some grapes that are only grown in Australia, The Semillion and Verdelho are some of them. Here we tried; The "Cyril" Semillion, "The Chicken Shed" Chardonnay, Chambourcin, a Rose, "The Dam" Merlot, and Luna Star Semillion. Some of there wines had some bizare names (i.e Chicken shed) but that is because they would names the wines according to there proximity to diffrent locations. We ended up all really liking the rose so we bought a bottle here. The winery had just picked some of there Verdelho grape earlier that morning. The wine maker, Rosie brought in some of the fresh picked juice for us to try as well. The fresh grape juice was delish. Please remember I didn't drink entire glasses of all those wines, just tastes. Also our first stop was at 10:30 in the morning. No worries, our tour guide told us it was wine time somewhere so it was o.k. (I think 6:30pm in New York so I thought we were o.k)
The second stop took us to Iron Gate Winery. Here we also tried a variety of wines; The Semillon/Chardonnay, Verdlho, Rose (a Rose named after his mother Rose), 2 Sharaz ( purnounced shur-as), Sweet Mandala which is a combo of Semillion, Verdelho and Chardonnay, and a cold sweet Shiraz that had to be eaten with chocolate. The wines were delicious. I didn't complain at all about having to drink my wine while eating chocolate either. We quickly stopped for some lunch and cheese tasting before going to our next stop.
Next we went to Tempus Two Winery. Here Andrea and I focused on our red wines. I did try the semillion savignon Blanc first but that was just to get started. Then we Tried the Beechworth Sangiovese, Tempranillo, Zinfandel (Which is a white in the States but a red here) and the Barossa "Vine Vale" Shiraz. Andrea's favorite was the Sangioveses and mine was the Shiraz.
Then we went to Mcguigian Winery. Here we tried some a sparkling Pinot, two really good Shiraz and also one sparkling Shiraz.
Then our last stop was at Audrey Wilkenson Winery. This was one the best views from Hunter Valley. Ross, our tasting guide taught us some key phrases for ways to describe wines: B.G.R, R.B.G.R, and F.R.B.G.R. The last one is F***ing Really Bloody Good Red I am sure you can figure out the other too. Here I tried my favorite white wine, the Traminer. We also tasted a variety of Shiraz from a couple different years. They were F.R.B.G.R's. After five Winerys we concluded our day in the Hunter Valley.
Since the tour droped us off in down town Sydney, we decided to keep the party going. We opened the bottle of Rose that we bought, put it in our water bottles from earlier ( I am high class, I know) and hit the town. We walked up to Darling Harbor and found a nice spot to drink our wine, people watch, see the sunset and listen to a street performers digredo. The Sam's who had visited us in New York came in to meet us for dinner. We went to a nice restraunt on Kings Warf with the boys and then they took us to Congo Lounge for some drinking. It was nice to see more familiar faces. Apprently Sydney is trying to make some new rules regarding drinking. WE found a flyer protesting the new rules, " Can you believe what the state goverment is doing to our nightlife? 2 am lockouts from venues, closing bars for 10 minuets every hour, banning cocktails and shots after midnight, forcing us to drink out of plastic cups, outlawing bottles of wine and champagne after midnight. The goverment wants to shut down the state at 2am- our social life is under attack! We agree that anti-social behaviour is an important issue and that venues need to be safe, but the State's response is ill considered, misguided and unfair to responsible drinkers." I thought this was entertaining. Also in Bondi most of the bars kick you out at midnight but some stay open later, there are some bars that you can't wear thongs in (flip-flops), and people dress to the nines here. I felt under dressed in my jean skirt. Oh well! Sorry if this got you drunk.

Sydney

Day 2 in Sydney. Andrea, Megan and I went to Phlip's art gallery in Surry Hill. She had a sculpture exhibit located on Dank St. After spending some time looking different art work, I proceeded on to down town Sydney via the The Sydney Hop on Hop off bus. Yes, I went on the double decker, Hi I am a tourist bus. Even though the bus screamed tourist it was still a good time. I got to see a lot of the sights; The Power house museum, Star city Casino, Sydney Harbor Bridge, The Maritime Museum, the aquarium, The Rocks, Kings Cross, The Opera House and Hyde Park to name a few. Then after touring the city in the sun, the 3 of us met up with Chad, a friend of the the Judges, for drinks in Cooge. It was an excellent day. Today, Thursday, I am able to finally adjust to the new time zone. And we started the morning off with a swim at the Bondi Iceburgs. The pool is located on the rocks on Bondi Beach. The pool is filled with salt water and when high tide comes in, the ocean water spills over into the pool. It was breathtaking. After an intense swim practice, we retired to the beach to soak up some rays. We played in the waves and also played kadima (paddle ball). We ended the evening in Cooge, we dined at 5 O's and then went for drinks and desert at Ocean Beach. Our Cocktails at ocean beach included, an Umpalumpa, a Vanilla and Passion fruit Mojito and a Banana Daiquiri. They were all made with love, it took about 10 min. per drink. This bar would not survive in New York, service would take to long. We were also persuaded to do an open water swim up at Manely beach Sunday, its just a 2k. Appently if you can swim and your in Sydney, then its like a sin if you don't participate.

Finnally Here!

4+:45+6+8.5+4+9.5= the hours it took me get to Sydney from Tel Aviv. It was not a quick trip. I got to spend some quality time at Amman, the airport in Jordan. The food selection there was amazing, Popeye's chicken, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, and a some random sandwich shop. I couldn't believe these were my food choices. Everything was written in english and everyone I encountered spoke english as well. The abundance of english deffinalty made the 6 hours I got to spend there berarble. Then I made my way to Bankok airport. Eveything was in English as well. When I arrived I found out I had a small visa problem but it was quickly resolved. The airport was huge, maybe 10 times the size of Amman. After exploring the airport a little and browsing the duty free shops I made a point to eat some Thai food while I was in Thailand even if it was going to be airport food. I found a cute little thai place and ordered. In New York my meal that was searved on a real plate with silverware probally would of cost around $12. However, I think I spent about the equivilent of $3. I love the exchange rate! After my expensive meal I proceded to get ready for the second leg of my journey. BEcuase I had already slept on the previos flight and had technically woken up about 4 hours ago sleeping on the next leg of the flight was going to be a little harder. A movie, half a book and a sleeping later I managed to get about 4 hours of sleep on the flight. It was better then nothing.
Finnally I arrived in Sydney!!!!! I went strait to Andrea's new apt in Bondi Beach. It is very cute. It was a little rainy tuesday so instead of beaching we did some work on her apt. Andrea and her roommate Meaghan now have bed frames, pots and pans and a little frig! We spent the day puttering, exploring and planning the rest of week. We made the best of a rainny day.
I can't wait to go explore the sights, hit the beach, meet some Aussie's....

The Jew Crew

Back at Maryland we had the Jew Crew. The Jewish swimmers on the team, Ari, Inball, Mike, Mark and my self. Who knew jews could swim. Inbal and Ari had returned to Isreal after college so I hadn't seen either of them in about four years. We got back together and you would never have known we had been apart. Ari and Inbal are doing great. Ari is teaching communications and coaching swiming. Inball is an instructor at a theraputic horseback riding kubutz and preparing for a cross country trek. She will be hiking from the southern tip of Isreal to the north.
It was such a pleasure to hang out with them both. They both have contagious smiles. It only made all of us smile more. It was so nice to reconnect with old freinds and share stories. They also tried to convince me to move here. I don't think thats going to happen. I am not sure I can make it in Isreal just knowing how say, ehad, steim, shalosh, arba (1,2,3,4), saba (excellent) and yalle (lets go). Language is definalty not my strong suit, on that note neither is spelling or grammer. I appologize for all misspellings and grammer mistakes.

Taglit- Hebrew for to learn

The Birthright trip is over. Definatly an experiance. Lots of new friends, crazy stories and lots of laughter. 10 days with over 40 people is intense. We each shared and learned from each others religious and spiritual experiances. It was amazing to watch some peoples transformations over the 10 days. Now that the trip is over I have a stronger identity with Isreal and my peers from the trip. The trip didn't make me want to become orthadox or go to temple more it didn't change my personal expectaions of temple going.
I learned a lot about Isreal. Eli, our tour guide was amazing. It was amazing to learn Isreal's history not just by reading facts but by seeing and experiancing everything first hand. Taking biblical facts and applying them to tangable things is the best way to learn and it made everything more meaningful. Reading about the current situation in Isreal is one thing. However to read in the news that the soliders are pulling out of Gaza and then look out the window and actually see the tanks on the way back from the Gaza Strip is an entirily new experiance. Learning about the song, " A little girl from galot" written about a little girl who grew up on kabutz Galot and how her Kabutz used to get bombed a lot and then walking past all the bomb shelters definatly created a new perspective on reality. After staying at the Kabutz we found out that one of the bomb shelters at the Kabutz has now been turned into a bar. So after that anytime we had a meeting or activity in a bomb shelter (NOT BECAUSE I WAS GETTING BOMBED, I WAS VERY SAFE!!) there was always hope we would be going to a bar as well. Unfortuanltly that was the only bomb shelter we went to with a bar in it. One of the biggest eye opening things on the trip was to see how many people had made Alliah (moved to Isreal). Some of the kids from my trip started talking about moving to Isreal and about half of the group extended there trip to stay here longer. Then we met a handful of people that had gone on there birthright trip and then never left. Crazy.
The last 10 days have been action packed: The Golan Heights, Tzfat, mystic teachings from an artisit, the old city of Jerusalem, the Kotel (Western wall), Shabbat, Movies at the Ma"ale school of TV. Yad Vashem, Lecture from a Holocoast Survios, Meeting 6 Israli Soldiers, Har Herzels Memorial and Soliders Cematary. Sunrise at masada, The Dead Sea, Eliat Beaching at the Red Sea and a Night out on the town, Hike to see 4 countries at the same time, A night at the Bedouin tent- sleeping with 40 people in one room, eatting with our hands, and a campfire that almost lasted all night, camel rides, sde bokes and Ben Gurions memorial, planting a tree in the desert, Elissa's birthday party in Tel Aviv, Jaffa and dinner at Dr. sheshuka. Very busy.
Then friday was followed by my arrivial to Herzaliah to see Uncle Bobby, Aunt Heliane and Petra!!!!

Quest- Isreal Out Doors

So far I have been on the whilwind tour of Isreal. Internet is hard to come by...sorry. I have been from the Golan heights to Eliat. All of my fellow travlers and I were all sold on the "quest" part of this trip. The logo even says Bike,Run, Hike, Float, Climb, Swim. So far we have just ate. Just eatting no questting. Today we got a taste of the quest with a 55 min hike total. 15 min up the easy ramp of masada (easy) and then 40 min down the hard snake trail wich was also easy. The hike was followed with a float in the Dead Sea. So the Dead Sea.... Awesome. Imagine swimming on top of a surfboard but no surfboard. I instantly became an amazing synocronized swimmer. Although we don't "quest" we are kept busy running around. When I have more time on my own there will be more posts. I promise.

The Next Chapter

And the next chapter begins...