Blue Mountains return and Esther

Dayna (left) and Sarah (right) from Ontario Canada hiked with me through the Blue Mountains for two days. They were awesome and really made the trip. The three of us also had an opportunity to name one of the waterfalls in the valley so we chose: Siknah Falls (combining our names). It's a small waterfall really, no more than 6 feet high, and though you may not see it on any maps.....well.....how many people can say they've named a waterfall, eh?
This is a view into the valley. The mountains are called blue because they look blue. Except in this picture. An oily mist rising from the Eucalyptus trees are what gives the mountains a blue haze. Admittedly, the mountains did look blue but I think most mountains look like that from a distance. This waterfall is called Bridal Veil. We were able to walk around the top of it and then trekked down to the bottom of it (seen in this picture).

Back in Sydney I decided to stay at the Wizard of Oz hostel near Coogee beach. This is the first uni-sex bathrooms I've been in where you can brush your teeth, do your laundry, take a shower, and go #1 and #2 within a space of ten feet. Add a few guys and girls- I've never before brushed my teeth amongst so many people and sounds and smells.

As I was eating a BOC (bowl of cereal- Dix family jargon) that night in my room I met a friendly couple from Israel. They said they had met a lot of people from Israel in Australia and seen a lot of "Judiasm food". My obvious lack of cultural knowedge came out when I asked, "Are you Jewish?" Their reply was, "Yes, we are all Jewish." Oddly, the conversation suddenly moved to Halloween. I told them our traditions are harmless but the day represents witches and goblins. They found that funny because Halloween translates to All Saints Day in their culture. Israelis- 2; Michael- 0.

They said the day they dress up is called Queen Astor Day. Back in the day there was this queen who protected her identity by dressing up or something. I thought that was silly until I realized that they were trying to say, "Queen Esther Day." And I was suddenly enlightened. I carry a book with me that has old maps of Israel in it and the Israeli couple pointed to where they grew up- I thought that was just awesome. The guy grew up in a Moshav (neighborhood) in the Jordan Valley. Yeah that's right near the Jordan river. Epic-
I then faulted them for not carrying around a map of where I grew up. Final score: Israelis- 3; Michael- 1

Then next day I visited a beach called Maroubra. I had heard that there was a spot to cliff jump into the ocean. I walked up to the edge of many cliffs contimplating the best spot to jump off when I came to a plaque set into the stone right at the edge of the cliff. Feeling a little better that this might be the spot - I bent down to read the plaque. Instead of reading: "Jump from here" it was someone's grave stone. Something about a guy that died and the stars will watch over his ocean grave. Awful. I decided this wasn't the best spot to jump and walking further I came to another grave marker! Utterly discouraged I did no cliff jumping. The rest of the beach was nice though and I watched the surfers take a few sweet rides before heading off to the University of Sydney for a look-see.

Andy arrives on Saturday and Forrest gets back on Sunday. We have U2 coming up on Monday and might try to squeeze in a Cricket game as well.