Tasmania: Kor Klavim Ve-Wombatim

[David Gurevich]

Hello people,

It was a while since I reported last something from my adventures overseas. The reason - I'm in Tasmania (Australia) and the Internet communication here s
extremely expensive (a hour can reach about 10AUD, which are 35 Shekels!). Currently, I'm writing this message from local government service office branch; free Internet for half an hour but without Hebrew.

Well, I'm finishing my trip in Tasmania - the land of cold and frost; or a I wrote in my travel-book in Hebrew "kor klavim ve-wombatim". I've been here around three weeks.

One of the amazing things that happened to me is staying with wonderful family from Chiburim project (www.chiburim.com). When I arrived at Launceston airport they were waiting for me with big sign "Hiburim", written in Hebrew (Like if wouldn't be only a tiny and poor backpacker but some kind of rich Japanese-businessman).
"Ma shlomha?", asked me Philip, the father of the family, in Hebrew when I made my way out with the backpack.

Philip and Jelly are actually Dutch, even if their kids names are Moshe, Hananya and Yossi. In the lounge the songs of Noami Shemer are playing. The house is full with books about Israel... For years they are supporting Israel, and hosting travelers is only of the ways they do it. Around the Kabalat Shabbat Table, singing Gaya's "Od Yavo Shalom Aleynu" I felt really as back home.

One of the highlights of my trip down here was the famous Overland Track, which I walked for 7 days. Tasmania is actually an island, located south from the mainland of Aussie. Winds and cold fronts, having nothing actually to stop them on the way, "crash" here and make all the tourist shaking. On my first night the temperatures dropped down to -6! The next day I've almost went back. The scenery is a bit disappointing after New-Zealand, but on the track I've met a lot of wildlife. Wallabies (small Kangaroos) that can be petted, Wombats (some kind of vegetation eating bears?), Possums - that will steal your food if you'll not pay attention. On the last night I stood in the dark for a while and spotted Tasmanian Devils.

Next I had some wet experiences, when I rented a car and started to travel around... in the rain mostly.

"So what?", asked me Rob, the ranger. "Yes, there is a snake on the way to the toilet. It's ok. It is only a snake. Once I had a snake in my bed."
Maria Island is a wonderful place to see a lot of wildlife including huge, 2 meters long and vermin representors of this reptile world type. Yes, all of them are vermin. One of them was blocking my way to the toilet.
"Snakes are very shy animals.", Rob continued.
"But it was really huge!", I insisted.
"Yes, a lot of rats down here..."

Tasmania's east coast is nice place, but a bit boring after New-Zealand. They are several wonderful places to spot penguin in the dask. West coast is considered a one of the last wild place in the world, without population or roads, most of it is covered by rainforest ("bush") and nothing more, excluding perhaps a tourist-oriented-steaming-train ride on which costs like my flight to Darwin .

That's all till now. The next morning I'm having a flight to Darwin, north of Australia, where the climate is supposed to be tropical. Say hi to the crocodiles.

How it is going back home?

Goodbye,
David