Here is what we have done since Friday night
We davened at the Central Synagogue in Bondi (Sydney) on Friday night...it is a "very" modern Orthodox place, magnificent $12 million dollar building, chazzan and choir, with a Chabad rabbi (I do not think that there is any shul in Sydney with anything other than a Chabad Rabbi). There was a bat mitzvah at the shul and the bat mitzvah girl spoke from the pulpit. All in all it was quote entertaining.
Our hosts had a guest for dinner, a rov from Israel (complete with bekeshe and shteimrl ) who turned out to be related to me from England. He was quite a colorful character and we had a long delicious dinner with zemirot and diverei Torah till nearly midnight.
In the am we devened at the sefaradi synagogue with our hosts (again a chabad rabbi) and the sistet of the rov turned out to be Chai Cohen's daughter in law.
Again our hosts had guests and we enjoyed a long lunch, forgoing our regular nap and running right into Mincha.
On Sunday morning we went to the Jewish museum. The section on Sydney Jewry was most interesting and the guided tour of the holocaust section by a survivor was definitely worth the price of admission.
We then went down to the markets and took a quick look at the Queen Victoria Building which is one of the unique old buildings in Sydney.
We took our hosts out to Katzy's, one of the famous kosher restaurants in Sydney.
Early Monday morning we left for our 6 AM flight to Hobart in Tasmania.
Tasmania is one of the states of Australia; it is an island off the southern coast. It is perhaps most famous as the place where Britain sent its criminals to be forgotten! And so, there are many families in Australia today who proudly trace their heritage back to their ancestor who arrived by boat as a prisoner.
When we landed they had these cute dogs who were sniffing our luggage for undeclared food....whenever he would find a suspicious bag, he would simply place his paw on the bag until his handler reacted.
When we arrived, we still had not davened, so we found a little park and proceeded to daven outdoors.
It was not far from the Cadbury plant which has many kosher products, so we took the tour and bought some chocolate for our stay in Tasmania.
On the way up north, we hit a traffic jam but it was unlike any traffic jam that we had ever seen. A sheep herder was moving his flock of 4000 sheep up the road. But the only way he could do it was by having them move on the road.
We drove north to hike to Liffey falls which is accessed by driving for many miles on a gravel road. As luck would have it, we ended up with a flat tire on the way and we changed it at a scenic viewpoint half way up a mountaintop.
We arrived at Liffey Falls and it was breathtaking....
When we made our way away from Liffey Falls, we called to our hosts (another B & B) for the night and were told that we had not confirmed for that night. So on the spot we rented a place near the town of Deloraine. Look at the right side of the pic...guess there were Jews here before us!
It turned to be a beautiful 2 bedroom wooden cabin with all the modern facilities that we could have asked for...the lady even baked us fresh muffins that we were forced to give away. We had a delicious chicken dinner....
This morning we stopped into local stalagmite caves where we saw the ferocious Tasmanian Devil...but only pictures...not the real thing:-)
From there, we drove to Devil's Gullet, a short hike to an area high on a mountaintop where you have an awesome panoramic view of the entire area.
We continued on to Sheffield, a town that features awesome murals painted on countless homes and businesses in the town. It was quite amazing!!!
On the way back to Hobart, we passed this amazing wood sculpture in a park...made from a growing tree trunk....
We then headed back toward Hobart, and found our amazing house that we had rented for the night and watched the sunset from our wrap around porch...an end to a long and amazing day.
So that catches you up till tonight
Hope you are all well
All the best
Fran and David
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