*note the Kilometers to Melbourne...hehe
Hello Friends and greetings from sunny Melbourne Australia! Sorry I haven't been able to post this last month. I've been a bit preocupied with moving. Moving??? Yes, you read correctly!
Just when I (and maybe you) thought my crazy adventure couldn’t get much crazier, I decided to experience a different part of Australia, quit my job, and go to seminary. I guess you can say I’m finding myself.
Do you remember the post about Rivka Leah? The musician? Well she convinced me that I just had to go to Melbourne and I just had to go to Merkos Women. (“haha, right” was my first reaction) Yet, my friends seem to have a way of getting me to do awesome things. So after a bunch of convincing, thinking, fighting, writing to a dead guy*, and deciding…I quit my job, packed my stuff and decided to head to Melbourne on an open ended adventure.
Conveniently, my flatmate was also already planning to embark on her own world adventure and I was in need of new accommodation. Also, she decided that a little holiday in Melbourne would be fun. I have 2 words: Road. Trip! Keep reading and you can read about it.
First, here's how I ended my time in Sydney:
For our last morning in Sydney we went to the Sydney Flower Markets. Got up at 4am to be there at the crack of dawn. But we got to watch the sunrise! And get Beautiful flowers!
Here’s a picture from my last lunch in the park:
Also, I forgot to post this picture from the inside of the Great Synagogue. It is right next to my old office:
I said Goodbye to my Boss and POB:
It was really bitter sweet. In 4 (which was effectively 3 because of Tishrei) Months, this man and I built a diamond distribution company from the ground up. I set up all of the accounting, stock flow systems, client contacts etc. After training my replacement, I was astounded to recognize all we accomplished. And we even turned a profit before I left. Such a cool thing to say I did with my life!
Goodbye Home:
Road Trip:
We loaded up the car and on the first day, we drove from Sydney to Narooma (which is the cutest little beach town). We stayed with Raizel’s parents and their 3 Chow Chow dogs. It was beautiful.
(View from her parent's balcony)
The drive was so exciting. I absolutely love the farm land and would LOVE to live there some day. It would be so cool to open my “holiday for health house” idea in some of the places we saw.
I also loved going to the farmer’s market we found:
We enjoyed Raizel’s Family so much, we decided to stay an extra day and just delight in our vacation. We went to Mystery bay outside of Narooma:
Mystery Bay
Turns out, going with the flow is quite fulfilling. I’m actually really glad we did because when we drove through where we were thinking of camping, it wasn’t so great. I loved Narooma!
The second day we drove Narooma to Melbourne. It was an adventure*. We had sunny weather, rainy weather, wind, more sun, more rain.
The diversity of landsape was also neat. We saw flat lands and things that looked like Jungle all in 1 day.
Also exciting, on our way into Melbourne we found our first real highway! Wahoo! All of the other roads we were on were 2 lane winding “highway’s”--although the name is kind of a misnomer.
We got into Melbourne as the sun was setting and it was magical. We walked into our new home and the girls instantly radiated warmth and welcome. They even helped us carry all of our bags up to our second floor room.
…And that is how Raizel and I got to Merkos Women.
Everyone said Melbourne was more artsy and boy were they right! Not even a week of living here and I got to go see a world renowned orchestra.
And they played my all time favorite piece!!! Stravinsky firebird! The bassoon solos in Tchaikov’s 5th were also exceptional. Happy ears :)
and I got to help create a giant mural:
(Art party)
Melbs
Here is what the CBD of Melbourne looks like:
And Here is my new beach:
Totally not as pretty as Sydney, but it’ll have to do. #StKilda
Chanukah
“May it be a season of light and learning”…and so it was. What an amazing holiday. I finally learned the true meaning of Chanukah. I also went to a party everynight. Living in a Jewish area has perks!
I also got to go to the biggest public menorah lighting and Chanukah party I have ever seen. Pretty sure there were a couple thousand people. And there were fireworks! Afterwards I we went to a great Moishe House party put on by some friends.
(#chabad)
(My new friends!)
The girls and I also made special Latkes that I could eat!
So yummy!
And the winner of the award for best use of technology this month...
Lit Menorah with my Grandparents!!! Seriously, don’t know who got more nachas. I love this picture so much!!! I am so grateful that on Thanksgiving I was able to light Chanukkah candles with my beautiful Grandparents. L’dor v’dor!
To wherever my adventure waits…!
*(saving that story for another time. It’s a little much for this forum.)
