5th

At 4:45 in the morning Allan's alarm went off and he Rhys and I got up, changed and headed out of the hostel to tackle the 2km snake path up to Massada. We didn't get far though as the big gate to the hostel was locked. Rhys noticed a rectangular outline in the tarmac and thought it might be a sensor for cars so we both jumped on it and the gate opened, we didn't actually think it'd work... We made our way up the steep track and were on top of hte 300 metre rock well before the sun had risen. Masada was the last strong hold of the Jews when the Romans invaded, it is a fortified little city ontop of a rock. The Romans had to build a massive dirt ramp to reach the door and then had to burn the door down, whentey got inside they found all 900 Jewish people dead. They men had killed their families then ten people were chosen to kill all of hte men, then one person chose to kill those last remaining 9 men and himself. We scurried back down and had breaky with the three girls who also went up Massada in the morning and found that they were doing a col walk and camel ride ane were going to Tel aviv like us. We didn't get an invite to join them so we though we'd bit the bullit and just ask - as it utrn out they were just going to bum around the hostel or that was just their excuse to get rid of us. We never really figured out there whey were coming from, seeming really pleased to see us and very friendly but a little stand offish. We said we'd probably se them on the bus t Tel aviv and headed off to a waterfall near Ein Gedi about twenty kms away. We tried hithing and wee successful! A bus pulled over for us and we payed 16 shekels for the ride (okay perhaps not technically hitchhiking but the intent was there). We saw some cool animals like ibex and hyrax (dear and tail less possum looking things) at the waterfall place, then went to wait for the bus, but it was a little late and a lady in a small suzuki pullled over and offered us a lift to Jerusalem so we took it. Then with the hel of some very friendly locals we made our way to central Jerusalem bus station, then sat on the floor of the bus to Tel Aviv where we caught a sheroot to our hostel near the beach. Straight away i could tell that there was a difference between Tel aviv and the rest of Israel - it just seemed like a big Western city. The hostel that we stayed at too was different, very laid back and social. Still only one sex per room, but as Rhys said, they don't mix their cheese with meet, so haved mixed dorms must be way out of the equation. Rhys and i were starving and decided as this was our last night together we would make it a big one. Allen had talked of sending 200 shekals in one night on booze so we thought we'd aim to try and spend a similar amount on food. We managed to spend 70 shekals on Shwarms, pizza, chocolate milk and sweets - we went crazy! At the end of the night we got completly lost. It was fun, but we were quite tired, i was really sure i knew where we were, but i was wrong, very wrong. That was a pretty solid day.

4th

We had fruit for breaky and then walked about the old city abit more and checked out the dome of the rock in greater detail, at one of the security points we passed a security guard with what looked like an uzzi, a very very mean looking gun. We caught a bus to Ein Gedi, and talked briefly to a Canadian guy who like most canadians carried a 'canadian safety flag', a small flag on his backpack so that people would know that despite the accent he wasn't American. In Ein Gedi we met up with Denise (32) who is an Irish Garment Technician working in London. We swam and floated in the dead sea which was alot more fun than i've been told after a picnic lunch and then the we met up with the three sydney girls form Jerusalem. They were staying in the same hostel as we were planning on staying at in Masada, as was the Canadian guy Allen (27ish) who we were sharing a room with.

Rhys and i then went for a walk in a cool dry river bed which looked like hte stampede scene from the Lion King. As we were walking back we were approached by two men not in army clothes by holding machine guns - then about 100 Jewish school girls followed them, apparently that is how they go on excursions here.

Dinner was quite exxy but we ate bucket loads, and we stayed town there for almost two hours chatting to Allen and Denise, who has a fantastic accent.

3rd

Our plans changed yet again and we went back to Jerusalem instead of Masada as this was easiest. We hadn't booked tickets for the trip so spent most of it standing or sitting in the isles. Some army girls got on who looked younger than us, they wore earrings, and make up, and carried mobile phones, but they also wore the army uniform and carried machine guns. In Jerusalem we took a taxi to Yad Vashem the Holocaust museum, but were told that it was closed. But luckily we got in via the back entrance by walking in with two girls who knew someone working there. It really wasn't a barrel of laughs and was quite full on, but worth seeing - something like that should not be forgotten.
We walked back, picked up some milk, bread, sweets (there are lots of lollie shops here) and made macaroni cheese and ate it on a wall overlooking the city.

Our room here is better described as a walk in cupboard of average side.

2nd

We ambled around Aqaba in the morning before having cheesy bread for breaky cooked in a big oven. We then caught a taxi which pulled up for us in less than 40 seconds of us walking on the street, and headed back to Eilat. We were easlily viewed as tourist even before we had our bags on, and as a result may have got ripped off for some things, bu not to what it was worth to us in Australia.

In Eilat we had a power nap, laid on the beach and ambled town, saw the film 'august rush' on a tiny cinema screen which paused half way through for an intermission. Then we ate more felafel and looked out over the bay towards Jordan before hitting the sack.

1st

With a hearty breakfast of a bag of milk (our staple drink which cost only 2 shekels) and a pastry we took a taxi ride twice to the boarder of Jordan, the second time with Rhys' passport that was no longer safely tucked under his matress in the hostel. The guard at the boarder chatted to us about Australia where he was planning to study, and then advised us that it probably wasn't worth going to Jordan as the road to Petra were closed because of the snow. We opted to go anyway, but were a little disencouraged when we met some American backpackers going the other way who had missed out on it because of the snow. After walking the eerie 100m or so to Jordan through no mans land we met up with some Israelli's who also wanted to see Petra - Jael (ya-el) and Daniel. We struck a deal with a taxi driver to take us there and back for 80 Dina's which works out to be about A$40 each. We were then taken from the boarder in a samsung taxi to a driver who didn't speak much english in a corolla in Aqaba. On the way to Petra we saw a sleepy driver in a van smash into a guard rail (not too badly) as well as lots of dirt and mountains without any vegetation which looked just like piles of dirt from mines. It was getting quite hot in the car but when we stopped for coffee we realised it was actually quite chilly outside dispite the sun being out and not a cloud in the sky. Then all of a sudden we started seeing snow sitting on the desert floor - odd! It then got thicker and thicker until we had to take an alternate route because the road was blocked.
Our time in Petra was quite limited but was long enough to get a feel for how mighty it was, Jael and Daniel shared their megre lunch with us and we ambled through the ruins taking plenty of photos of the sharp gorges, cave, and the monumental treasury facade.

On the way back we had some thick turkish coffee and Jael and Daniel were dropped off at he boarder, and our taxi driver took us to a cheap hotel. Although he didn't speak much english he was good fun and we had a few laughs along the way. That night we had cheese burgers and realised for the first time that we actually missed not haveing cheese and meat together. Jordan is a lot more how i pictured the middle east to be that Israel, really baron and not many women about at all, the ones we did see were covered with the burquas, yet the ones that we saw on the music video's on the tv in our room were dressed just as scantily as you would see in any western country.

The pillows in Jordan were very hard.

31st

That morning it was very snowy - but not slushy and we bought some food for all our three meals for the day for 37 shekals, about $1.50 each per meal. A one armed man in our hostel told us that buses were not going out of the city because of the snow so we decided to take a sheroot to Tel aviv and go to Masada from there. It only snows in Jeruselam every 3 or 4 years and when it does it is a big deal and most businesses close down. Talia was going to Tel aviv that day so i told her that we were going also - she came down stairs but decided not to go - Pol came down too - which was both good and bad, good because it was nice to see her again before we split but bad because it meant that we couldn't part on her previous final statement which made me chuckle " Just remember if you stay in the dead sea too long your genitals might start to sting"

After a moment of panic in Tel aviv where i left my black bag containing my passport, wallet and camera in a sheroot we boarded a bus bound for Eilat - right at the bottom of the country. We had missed the bus to Masada and figuered we would do it on the way up. With us on the bus trip were many Israelli youths from teh army with their menacing guns and a lady who we talked to briely from Tasmania. In Eilat five hours later we opted not to be driven to a cheap hotel by someone at the bus station and went to the one accross the road - the little prince. It was quite cheap but very empty. We dried some of our clothes and our shoes there with a hair dryer that we were lucky enought to find. For dinner we had meaty `israelli take away burgers as we hadn't had meat in two days - i also had a malt fizzy drink which smelt like beer.

30th

Rhys and i woke early and went out into the street to a grocery store to get some breakfast (soup). While eating the girls emerged and we headed out into the snow. Rhys ad i wore bags over our socks to keep our feet dry, but they only worked for the first little while, before long we were stepping into puddles of icey slush without caring, our feet coldn't get any wetter or colder. The alley ways in old jeruselam created a maze that we got lost in frequently, but we finally found the Western wall - the most holy site in Judaism and the Dome of the Rock - one of the most holy sites in Islam. Both looked quite spectacular draped in snow. At the wall we all had a pray and then headed back through the ubiquitous security checks to have some lunch, and take off our shoes to warm up our feet. Then we met up with the girls' guide mate who took us around to some other places like the entrance to Hell before we went back to the hostel to warm up. Rhys and i couldn't get right into the warming up with too much vigor as the hot water in the showers wouldn't come on until four (an hour away) and there were no heaters to warm up next to or dry our stuff. As we didn't have any dry shoes or in my case pants (i was wearing my towel) we just stayed inside for the rest of the evening and night and didn't even get tea.

There haven't been many other times in my life when i have been this cold, but it was well worth it - there haven't been many other times in my life when i have been walking around old Jeruselam in the snow either!