This time last year we were in Jordan, in the Middle East, drinking non-alcoholic beer because they’re muslim, and not eating any meat because it’s Hallal… :-S

Hanging out in Petra, Jordan Australia Day 2009...

This is one of my favourite days of the year for the following reasons:

• We get to do ‘Australian’ things like BBQ, eat damper, and drink beer. We’re drinking Crownies today.
• ANZAC biscuits. Need I say more?
• VEGEMITE. Only one my favourite things ever. Seriously craved it while we were o/s.
• Friends- nothing better then a day to relax and chill with friends.
• Triple J Hottest 100. So the winner has already been spilled, but it’s still good listening!

Talia and I write to you alive and well, although we’ve been on one hell of a ride.

Petra was awesome. Can’t wait to show off the photos. I’ll start the story once we got back from Petra.

There’s not much else to do in Petra town than see Petra itself, so passing time once we were back at the hotel was difficult, suffice to say we were in bed by 7.

We were woken up (as usual) by the muslim prayer siren which plays right next to our room. It was 11pm.

12pm comes. This time we were woken up by machine gun fire which sounded a little too close to our hotel than we would have preferred. A little afraid, we had a hard time getting back to sleep. We heard it again at 12:30.

Prayer siren again at 5 made our night that much more comfortable.

Did I mention that our mattress was about as soft as the floor, and our pillows felt like bags of powdered cement?

It wasn’t all bad though. That afternoon the petrol man had come to the hotel, which meant I got to have the first warm shower since we got to Jordan, and we got heat in our room that night. The desert gets really cold after sunset.

Okay, so morning comes, and we pack our things and get in a taxi. The next two hours were the scariest two hours we’ve ever lived. The driver spent more time on the wrong side of the road than on the right side, and more time 20 k’s above the speed limit than below. We also got pulled over for a security check 4 times.

The boat.

We weren’t exactly sure what port we were meant to be at – but the drivers lack of English didn’t give us much of a choice anyway. We got there and went back and forth between booths getting stamps and visas and more stamps. The whole process cost an arm and a leg. No English here either, which made things difficult and a little frustrating. We weren’t even sure whether or not our tickets were going to take us to Egypt, let alone the port our driver was going to pick us up from.

In the end we got on the right boat, and went to the right location, in the wrong class. We accidentally purchased first class tickets (we think). We were always pushed to the front of the line, and our bags were put separately – we got pretty special attention.

They took our passport from us once we got on the boat so they could process our Egyptian Visa. Getting them back was no mean feat – once we arrived in Egypt we had to find the place to buy our visa’s and the immigration office to get our passports back, amongst a crowd of screaming Arabs.

We rushed through the security check and onto a bus with a guy that spoke no English but had a sign that said the name of our hotel.

We’re now in Dahab, and it’s absolutely beautiful. Our internet time is running short, so we’ll leave it there – but know that the red sea is beautiful, everything is cheap, and we’re going to stay here longer and spend less time in Cairo.

We’ll write again soon.

Luke & Talia

Petra

This morning we went to Petra. It was really quite amazing. We rode a donkey up to the top where the monastry is, and I can’t wait to show you some awesome pictures! It was Luke’s first time riding a donkey, and a horse, which we rode later.

Petra is basically just HUGE temples etc. CUT into the side of the cliff. We also went to the edge of one cliff that claims to be ‘the top of the world’. It certainly did feel a bit like it, and it looked over the desert. Petra is a LOT of walking (about 15km), which is why we took the donkey and horse some of the way. We did see some parents with two small boys, and two babies. I asked Luke to remind me about this day if we have kids and I stupidy think I want to go on a holiday to somewhere like this. I do not fancy being a pack horse!!

There is not much else to do in Jordan, so we’ve been walking around the street buying cheap 7-up, and shwarma. Not as good as in Israel, but I like the way they wrap it up here- more like a ‘kebab’ at home, but yummier ‘bread’.

It is freezing cold here, and as soon as the sun sets (about now) it gets a LOT colder. We buy hot food to keep us warm, and read by a gas heater in our ‘hotel’.

Our room is about 2m x 3m, or, for those of you who have been to our house and seen our bathroom, about that big! It fits a double bed, and has a small corridor of sink, toilet, shower. The door to this corridor is broken, and our main door doesn’t close unless locked, so it’s a process to get into the freezing cold shower, which appears to have no hot water option. Oh, and the toilet seat detatches. We will try to take photos, as this is an experience we’ll never forget.

If you didn’t know, Jordan uses Jordanian Dinars as their currency, and 1 JD is about 2 AUD, or 1.5 USD.

Appatently it’s customary to voice your appreciation for arab mens moustaches, but when Luke tried to compliment the man at the restaurant we went to last night, he was quite confused. Perhaps he didn’t know what a moustache was…!
People beep their horns a lot in this country. On our way here our taxi driver seemed to beep whenever he saw a police man, someone he knew, and for all we know, people he did’t know as well. As we walked to Petra today we heard many car horns beeping around us.

We’re off to catch the ferry across to Egypt tomorrow, and will leave Egypt next Tuesday, and be home next Thursday the 5th. We’re thinking of skipping Alexandria, cause things are more pricey here then we first anticipated. But it’s all good, and we’re having an enjoyable, and memorable time!!

Luke & Talia

Petra

We spent today travelling on various buses down to the very south of Israel. i am starving, but sorry Sam, I’m well and truely sick of fallafel! I really just want a sandwich, or some pasta! Our tour has been awesome, and we’re made some good friends, and learnt a lot about israel, jewish people, God, and ourselves. I would definitely recommend anyone coming here.

Even in the midst of a war, with the hamas sending rockets over our border frequently, we still feel very safe. God is with us. I will do a more detailed revew of the trip (including about 4gb of photos), when we get back- for now my head is still a blur. Our next adventrues include staying in jordan tonight and tomorrow night, and visiting petra inbetween, then catching a ferry over to egypt, where we’ll snorkle in the red sea, and visit Saint Catherines monastry, and climb Mt Sinai. onto Alexandria and Cairo after that, then HOME! (yes, I’ m excited, and I miss my family, and my pepper, and my bed, and FOOD!!!) Hope everyone is well at home.

xox T & L

We’re graduating at different times for different reasons, but the point is that we’re not all at Uni anymore. Before our lives, though different, were all consumed by a common factor- Uni. Now we’re all in different places and we talk about different things. Every school holidays Katie comes back to the coast (her and Alex moved to Emerald to teach), and we all get together for a ‘uni night’. It’s always fun to talk and catch up and hang out with these people that for the last 3 years I have spent so much time with!!

The thing I noticed about Monday night (our most recent Uni night), was the different conversations that went round the table, and how the amount of conversations that included everyone was decreasing. Rachel and I could talk about puppies, Katie and Carmen about graduation… there were conversations about being married, getting engaged, engagement rings, churches, friends, girlfriends, children, houses… the list goes on.

I guess the thing I love is that even though we’re all at different places in life right now, we are still able to get together and talk for hours and hours. I hope that this never dies, as long, good friends are hard to find.

Our bedroom is the only finished part of the house, so everything else is just scattered in the enourmous space we have (it’s taking a bit of getting use to!) Mum and Luke are painting the last wall of the lounge room today, and then there’s the floors to do- but it should be done by the end of the week!! Then we’re on our way to doing the main area- kitchen, study, living area, dinning area. Which is exciting!

We had some great friends, Rachel, Aaron, Pete and Jordan who helped us move yesterday. Thanks guys!! Rachel did some cleaning as well, which was a real blessing! Pete took some photos of the move, which you can view here.

Oh, and Luke had a little accident in our car… no one’s hurt, but if you could all pray (or do just whatever you do!) that it doesn’t cost us heaps and heaps, and that it gets fixed quickly, that would be great!! Thanks. xox.

And my mum showed me this awesome thing today: http://www.simplesavings.com.au Check it out!