Israel Trip - Feb 2013 - Part 3

Praise the Lord!!!

At the tomb

Windows of an unused shop in the Jewish quarter.

An excavated part of the wall built by Nehemiah

The line to visit the Temple Mount stretched for hundreds of metres.

Orthodox Jews at the Wailing Wall

The Dome of the Rock, built on the Temple Mount

The Golden Gate through which Jesus will once again enter into Jerusalem.  As prophesied, it has been blocked up.

In the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  It is filled with shrines.

I walked along the top of the Wall of Jerusalem.

The Mount of Olives as it is now, as viewed from the top of the Wall of Jerusalem.  It is covered in graves.  People are buried here because they want to be the first to be raised when Jesus returns.

Tulips :-)

Israel Trip - Feb 2013 - Part 2

This is us at the top of Masada

At the top station of the cable car, at the top of Masada but still below sea level

The view from the top.  The Dead Sea is in the distance.  The square in the middle of the picture is an excavated Roman camp

I didn't buy it, but I found this at the Masada gift shop

Back in Jerusalem, this is a reconstruction of the city of Jerusalem including the temple at the time of Christ

Jaffa Gate

An olive tree growing out of the wall of Jerusalem

View from the top of the Mount of Olives across the Kidron Valley to the Temple Mount.  The golden dome is the Dome of the Rock, built on the Temple Mount

An olive grove at a proposed place of the Garden of Gethsemene

Two Lion of Judah's at the Lion Gate

Israel Trip - Feb 2013, Part 1

Day 1 - enjoying a proper kitchen and the goodies from the market.  Notice the cheese!!!

The doors of the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth.  The pictures follow stories from Christs life.

In Galilee - the supposed site of the Sermon on the Mount.

This is all that is left of Capernaum.  I was reading in Luke not long after visiting here.  Luke 10:13-16.  Seeing the actual place opened that passage up. 

At the Sea of Galilee

The Jordan River

It is a bit blurry, but these are almond trees.  We saw them everywhere when we were driving through Galilee.

Date palms - again, we saw them everywhere when we were driving through the desert areas close to the Dead Sea.

There are a couple of shadows in the forward cliff face to the left of the photo - these are the caves the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in.

Masada.  A really interesting place to visit.  Read up about it.  It was built by Herod the Great.  He was really crazy.

Christmas 2012

The very beginning of the day, approx 6am

Preparing bananas to be roasted in the fire or fried

Mother and daughter preparing 10kilos of chicken wings

Hanging out and cooking chicken

More chicken, as well as cassava and bananas

The matriarchs of the family hanging out together

Such fun with such good friends

One of our team mates came to get breadfruit for their Christmas party

'Be careful up there Andy'

Halle was exhausted after such a huge day

Village Life 2

Local food - fresh octupus

Only 2 of these cats are ours, but for some reason the neighbours cats take refuge in our backyard too

My good friend - Zali

Playing with henna

The final product

One of 'our' little girls.  She has just learnt to walk and is learning to talk and is a perfect imitator - very cute.

Every day Becca or I sweep the leaves from the front of our house.  To sweep is a big cultural expectation.

Toi loves to play :-)

Halle loves food!!!  This is a piece of breadfruit, roasted in a campfire.  Yum-yum

Breadfruit nearly finished roasting.

A friend from another island and the sister of Zali

Just some chooks.