Australia day 6

2 July

We awoke in the synagogue parking lot this morning. Bouts of intense rain awakened us several times during the night, just enough for us to be aware of them, then we returned to our slumbers. We were in the synagogue building ahead of the arrival of the first of the congregation's officers. Services began precisely at 9:00 AM, but a minyan of men only materialized a half hour later. All together, the number of congregants this Saturday morning reached about two dozen (with three or four of them women). The venerated rabbi from the night before was a no-show. It was a special Shabbat, Rosh Hodesh Tammuz, so all kinds of extras were included in the service. I was given the first aliyah (Levi bimkom Cohen) and had the chance to ask for a blessing for my mother and sister's health. The rabbi gave a short explanation before each aliyah, rather than a full sermon. I found this a refreshing alternative I'd like to suggest when we return to our own synagogue in Beer Sheva. After services we had an opportunity to chat with some of the congregants and learned that 90% of them are South African transplants. We found them to be warm and affable and we're very glad that this was the congregation that was suggested to us by our contact in Singapore. We parted from them with a wonderfully positive impression, and with the taste of cholent on our palates, from an old-time favorite recipe passed down to a South-African congregant from his Eastern European ancestors. Razelle loved it and had seconds. (I had thirds!)

Our destination for the afternoon was a natural wonder called "The Pinnacles". The official name is Nambung National Park, near Cervantes. It took us about three hours to get there. The scenery along the first part of our journey was comprised of plantations of trees that honestly looked like Christmas trees (spruce?, fir?, pine?). We passed them too quickly for me to tell what kind of tree they were, but knowing Australia, I would assume they were an indigenous equivalent of the species I mentioned above, rather than one of those introduced species. We also saw orchards of neatly pruned fruit trees. I didn't have a clue what kind of fruit they would bear during Australia's summer or autumn. The more remote half of our journey took us past a wilder natural landscape of tangled shrubs. Our turnoff toward Cervantes took us past a wind farm of tall whirling windmills. I thought that there was some poetic value in placing windmills so near to Cervantes.

Another turn and we found ourselves on a far better highway than we'd arrived on. Our GPS took us along the scenic route rather than the more direct coastal road from Perth. Serves us right for relying on our GPS!

The pinnacles were stunning. We took turns posing among them with our monkey mascot (the stuffed toy that has accompanied us all the way from Amman). Our timing couldn't have been better. With the long shadows cast by the low sun and the hues of an imminent sunset, we caught these mysterious pillars of stone at their most photogenic time of day.

We left the park at dusk shortly after 5:00 PM with less than half a tank of fuel but expecting to find petrol stations along the way back to Perth, as there had been on our way up. Our GPS was entirely confused as to why we were on a road it wasn't aware existed. As my fuel gage reached one quarter full I realized I might not reach the northern outskirts of Perth before I ran out of fuel. I didn't even know if I'd be able to make it to any supply of fuel before I ran dry. In the gathering darkness I found a caravan park in Ledge Point (a place too small to appear on some maps). I pulled in to ask where the next filling station might be. On a Saturday night, I was informed, nothing would be open after 6:00 PM (it was now 6:30 PM). Ledge Point had a petrol station that would open the following morning at 7:00 AM. All the logic in the world told us that we should go no further. Since our campsite the night before cost us nothing (at the synagogue), we decided to splurge and get a room for the night here instead of sleeping in the camper. This gave us the chance to haul all our possessions into the room, organize it according to suitcase, take out dirty clothes over to the washers and dryer and take hot showers in our room. This oasis in the night was the perfect solution on so many levels that we were more than content with our decision to stay here. Once again we were serenaded during the night by heavy rain and stormy winds while we slept indoors. Razelle said that the camper was more conducive to sleeping during such a storm than the room had been for her.