Ahh its 10 am on a Sunday morning and with a stretch and a yawn I think about getting up to start the day with some bacon and eggs… but as a bright Israeli sun breaks over the hills of Jerusalem and into my window I realise, that was all a dream… Its actually 5am, sure I am still stretching and yawning but it's a work day here on Sundays and there's no hope of those bacon and eggs in a land where pork is not Kocher..

Na, that story is not strictly speaking true, I could get bacon easily enough here if I wanted to and I have got nothing to complain about at work, which this week involved offsite visits to the Mt Scopus area, botanic gardens, Hebrew University and Mount Gilboa off the Jordan Valley.

Anyway finally I have something to write about outside of horticulture. I have just got back from an overnight trek around the Meron region in the north of Israel. We ended up about five kilometres out of Lebanon and could just about see into their bathrooms from the mountain. It's also about 30kms from Syria which has a bad reputation at the moment but we were on the right side of the border.

Our coordinator over here takes ridiculously good care of us and on the spare of the moment on Thursday arvo (remember our weekend is Friday/Saturday), said she was off to her childhood kibbutz for Passover and if we wanted a lift to the north, she had spare packs, sleeping bags and mats and with a rare Peony population in flower somewhere in the mountains, the idea of a wild trek was too good to pass up.

The trek was fairly easy, a few ups and downs and part of some larger (several days to weeks) trails: the sea to sea (Mediterranean to Galilee) and the Isreal Trail (north to south) both good for a look Peter Clark… Actually we found a few special unit soldiers doing the sea to sea along the way and a Finnish (I think) guy on his fifth day. We only did two days one night though, which was enough for my Australian brother Warrick who had declined an offer of a sleeping bag in a slightly crazy move to travel light.

So as darkness fell and we started getting cold just building a fire, reality set in and the guy got visibly nervous. With good reason too, I had three jackets and a sleeping bag and still whenever skin was exposed it was freezing. I have no idea how much sleep he got but I awoke around three thirty and peered out of the sleeping bag to see him gathering more sticks at one stage and huddling around a freshly lit fire at another point during the night.

The next day we found our peony population and started the hike down to civilization before getting separated and Wazza going awol. After a few hours trekking alone I found a bus stop back to Jerusalem and was contemplating my next move with the last 5% battery on my phone before a scattered Australian figure stumbled up, as randomly as he'd disappeared. So united again we could get back to the game plan of getting home. It had been suggested we hitchhike but neither of us had ever tried before however the alternative was waiting for an extra four hours until 9pm after Sabbath had officially ended and busses would resume. So we split up to get a better chance of success and away we went… with no luck, either I don't signal with enough desperation or I look like a shady criminal… Probably both.

In the end Maor our coordinator who was still in the region rescued us and dropped us at the bus station. It was a great bus ride to fill out a great weekend with the driver playing some sort of Hebrew/English easy listening radio from his booth creating a great vibe, with a full moon rising and the lights of Israel passing by. The trip was topped off to a tee when a 'Girl on fire' by Alicia keys came over the radio. This song has a slow lead in and is an apparent favourite of the Arab driver who (I kid not) as the drum beat amped up and the chorus began, let go of the steering wheel to snap his fingers and do a few head snaps before seemingly realising he had a bus full of passengers and returning to the wheel slightly embarrassed.

Pure gold experience of a weekend.

Lehtrao't till next time