Simba in the terrible twoes

Today our group made a trip to Eshkol Park, a site which played a very important role during world war I.
The Anzacs come from egypt to fight the turkish army and were stuck in israel with a long front - a huge battle with lots of victims: History.
Simba didn't like it at all, but no encouraging nor electroshocks from the grownup cars would convince him to keep going. He just flashed all the lights and stopped at the side of the road.
Check out Leah's Pics.


Long story shorter, a mechanic came, with a young(ish) blonde woman with red lackered nails on the passenger seat (i was told, that is quite common in israel - i guess always ready and willing waiting for calls might be boring every now and then...) - checked the electronics, put in a new battery and followed me to the garage for difficult cars, where he took back the lifesaving battery. Garages don't work on Saturday, not even the special ones, so i had to leave Simba overnight, alone on the road. I hope that will teach him.

The Crescent

Wadi Mishmar

In this episode Israeli Jones brought us to Wadi Mishmar.



We had no idea what was awaiting us. Foolish as we were, we were joking around...





... but then.
Da Da Dam...
we entered the canyon,...





... full of pools with deadly snakes. Even our fearless guide started sweating, when climbing the slippery rocks.



Some of us were unlucky...



not all of us would return...



(Can you guess how high the water was standing?)









Finally we reached the dome of the spring.
(There are two pple hidden in this picture. The place was huge.)



The spring - a tiny hole of about 3cm diameter in the wall.



Guarded by the spirit lion Mufasa, who was turned to stone by his brother Scar.



Mufasa could do nothing but watch the evil sorcerer, who lured the birds to him with food and water...



... but intended to catch and cook them for dinner (as he was tired of frog legs).



(no bird was harmed - they were way to fast. both sides did not get tired of this game. in the end the score was about 14:0 for the birds...)

Israeli Jones used his magic wand and transformed the sorcerer into a blue-headed gekko.



Well, ok. I'm not sure if I would watch the movie, but the stage is amazing.

צבים

Went to Nahal Alexander today to see the rare soft-shell turtles, that can grow up to 1.2 m and 50 kg.







Kingfisher at work



Boring turtles



Hello there!
Interestingly, the head looks less like a beak, instead there is a pointy nose that reminds me more of a mouse.

Round and round

I had friends coming and - the weather turned cold. Last weekend i promised to take them to the north, and sure enough the forecast predicted the coldest day in 2012: "Chance of light snow over the Negev mountain".
Two days earlier my friends had tried to go to Eilat, but had to turn around because of a sandstorm. I'm still a bit jealous for missing that adventure - all we had was lots of rain and hail.
Anyway, we went to Cesarea and had our first cold shower. But the scenery was amazing. The black clouds were pierced by the sun every now and then and you got blinded by the light and blind in the dark...











These days they are selling everything to tourists.



We went on to Akko and had a great lunch - a flat meatloaf baked in a pan, covered with tehina. i didn't find it anywhere else yet, i get it every time i go to Akko (Abu Christo is the place).

We stayed in Tiberias overnight and had a great view of the snow covered Golan on the way.





Golan heights were all covered in clouds - the tanks left their bases and were parking next to the road in the green. I guess someone has to take them out for a walk every now and then. Sry no picture, i was driving, and i didn't want Simba to play with them. He always gets dirty when playing in the mud.



Belvoir





Beit She'an





The Gang



Sunset



On the way home i had the fun experience to drive downhill from Jerusalem in heavy rain, road under water and crazy drivers around me jumping on the breaks as if they were enjoying the prospect of aquaplaning.