Day 9

Our first free day on the trip didn’t go to waste, with Nick and Dad joining other members of the group for a walk to the Jaffa Gate of the Old City. From there we did the Rampart Walk, which takes you on the wall around the city. As you’d imagine, the views are pretty spectacular. We then came down from one wall and to a very different wall, the Western Wall, sacred to Jewish people. It was a busy scene with a Bah mitzvah underway and hundreds of other people milling around. The men and women approach the wall (also called the Wailing Wall) from separate areas. We then met other members of our group and walked to Christ Church, the oldest Protestant church in the Middle East. They operate a ministry reaching out to Jews, in a very pretty and relaxing setting. We heard a moving talk from a young Messianic Jew (Christian Jew) who told us about how she came to faith in Jesus. We ended our sightseeing for the day with a tour around The Citadel, also known as the ‘Tower of David’. It features structures from all periods of occupation and is now a museum. One of the highlights was detailed model of the city which dates back to the 19^th century.

Day 8

Our first day in Jerusalem started with a visit to Temple Mount, the Muslim section of the Temple area. Temple Mount features two famous mosques, The Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aksa mosque. Because it is Ramadan we weren’t allowed to eat or drink anything (even water!) during our hour or so there. Charlie found that particularly tough. These are both very beautiful buildings inside, but unfortunately visitors are not allowed inside anymore because of terrorist attacks in recent years. We then continued on foot to the Antonio fortress, thought to be the scene of Jesus’ trial following his arrest. The crowds were building as we were walking the ‘Stations of the Cross’ route, a traditional re-enactment of the journey Jesus took from his arrest to the place of his crucifixion. When we arrived at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built on the site of Golgotha (the hill of Calvary), the place of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial. The crowds were big as people jostled to see the rock (still split by the earthquake which took place after Jesus breathed his last) and as some queued to kiss a picture of Jesus. Even though we don’t know that this is the precise location, it was nevertheless a deeply moving experience. We moved through the throng into the Christian Quarter of the Old City to a place called the Samaritan Centre, a charity co-founded by our guide Jack, where we had lunch and heard about their ministry to the elderly. After lunch we were driven by our bus to the Mount of Olives, a famous location in the gospels, and from there down the steep hill to the Garden of Gethsemane, the place where Jesus was arrested. The trees have been dated at between 1700 and 2500 years old – living witnesses to Jesus final moments where He prayed that somehow he might be spared the agony which was to come. This was probably the most moving moment of the day as we thought about Jesus, both God and man, preparing to give his life for us so that we might live.

Day 7

The day dawned hot and bright over the Dead Sea, the lowest point in the world at 400m below sea level. We made the short drive to Masada, the fortress built by Herod the Great (with a little help from Roman ingenuity!) and made famous through the occupation by Jewish rebels in about 74 A.D. and the subsequent siege by the Romans, which took about 3 years. From there we drove to Ein Gedi, the caves where David hid from King Saul in 1 Samuel. It’s a beautiful place with a natural spring and the natural habitat of the Ibex as well as some interesting rodents. We then headed to Qumran, where in 1947 the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered by accident and which provided what are now the earliest manuscripts of much of the Old Testament. The air-conditioned comfort of our bus was welcome as the mercury climbed into the high 30s and we drove to Jericho, the oldest continually occupied city in the world. We saw a sycamore tree (remember Zacchaeus in Luke 19?) and part of the ruins that are now being restored. We were now inside the West Bank, territory that ‘belongs’ to the Palestian people, but which is inside Israel. The problems with this complicated arrangement was evident at Bethany, where from a very poor Palestinian neighbourhood (where they get water provided once a month) you can look across to new affluent Jewish settlements with constant running water and electricity and expensive houses. We crossed out of the West Bank past the separation wall and got our first glimpse of the Old City of Jerusalem, where we’ll spend the next few days.

Day 6

Day 6 began with a drive to an amazing and mysterious place called Wadi Rum (Rum Valley). Wadi Rum is famous thanks to T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) a British archeologist turned guerilla leader who lived amongst the Arabs of Wadi Rum around the time of World War 1 orchestrating attacks on the Turkish Army. We rode in jeeps out into the desert to get a closer look at the incredible mountains that rise up out of the sand. Charlie and Nick both had a camel ride there, with Nick’s ride ending in a fall from the camel. This great moment was unfortunately missed by the video recorder (Dad). From Wadi Rum we drove to Aqaba and a tedious border crossing into Israel. It was sad to say goodbye to Maha, our wonderful Jordanian guide, but good to rendezvous with Jack, our Palestinian Christian Guide, on the other side of the border. First stop was the Dead Sea, and an opportunity to experience the weird sensation of floating in the water, thanks to the high levels of salt. Amazing!

Day 5

Petra! Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade brought the world’s attention to Petra, through the featuring of The Treasury façade in the last scenes of the movie. So we knew what to expect, sort of, but nothing can really prepare you. It was a truly awesome experience for all of us as we walked from our hotel into the park area (along with hundreds of other tourists – Petra is Jordan’s #1 attraction) and into the Siq, the naturally occurring crack in the sandstone cliffs that wends its way through spectacular cliffs and into the Treasury. The city of Petra was initially created by the Nabateans (1^st century BC) as a holy place and cemetery. They constructed countless tombs and built ceramic waterways into the wall to bring pure water all the way down to The Treasury and beyond. Later, Petra was occupied by the Romans who paved the roads and extended the city with shops, temples and government buildings. One of the highlights of our day was the walk up to The Monastery, which featured an even bigger but perhaps less completed façade like The Treasury. Trying to think about the logistics involved in the construction is mind-boggling. Just beyond the Monastery are spectacular views over the Rift Valley and the Negev Desert from precarious positions. Charlie was held on to by his dad very tightly!

Day 4

Moving day #1. We travelled south destined for Petra, but with some other exciting stops to make along the way. The first stop was at Macherus, the site of one of Herod Antipas’ castle, and the place where John the Baptist was incarcerated and then beheaded. Amazingly rugged yet beautiful scenery overlooking the Dead Sea. Then on through one of the most amazing gorges I’ve ever seen – the Arnon Gorge. The road wends its way down precipitously which was a little scary at times, but no problem for our fantastic driver. How he manoeuvered a 49 seat bus through steep winding roads and then through incredibly narrow busy roads at Kerak drew a number of rounds of applause. And Kerak was the last stop of the day, the site of a Crusader castle on an incredibly strategic location enabling control of trade routes in the 11^th – 13^th centuries. The day ended when we arrived at Petra, one of the true wonders of the world, but more on Petra tomorrow.

Day 3

A very special day saw us travel to the Baptismal site on the River Jordan, where John the Baptist baptized Jesus. Although the exact location can’t be determined, in 1997 an archeological expedition discovered a number of Christian church structures dating to the 2^nd and 3^rd centuries that would strongly suggest that the location was known at that time. To stand in the place where Jesus walked and was baptized was very moving. The Jordan is otherwise a pretty underwhelming river, being barely 10 metres wide , one side being Israeli territory and the other Jordanian. A soldier kept watch on us as we first baptized Patrick Sheep and then listened to Paul read the account of Jesus’ baptism. We then travelled to Mount Nebo, where Moses saw the Promised Land after wandering in the desert for 40 years. The view from the top was a little obscured by the haze from the Dead Sea but remarkable nonetheless. Our day finished with a visit to ancient city of Madaba, famous for 6^th – 8^th century mosaics.

Day 2

In the morning we travelled to Um Qais in the north of Jordan, one of the cities of the Decapolis (known as Gadara) and once the site of major Roman city. From there you can see across into Israel (the Golan Heights) and over to the Sea of Galilee. To the north you can see Syria. This is the region of the Gerasenes, where Jesus healed the demon-possessed man (Mark 5). We will post a video clip of Paul reading the passage in the next day or so. Then we drove to the amazing Graeco-Roman city of Jerash. It was a pretty warm day but we enjoyed walking through one of the most significant Roman archeological sites in the world. Check out some of Nick’s photos (some of the 1000, yes that is not a typo, 1000) he took during the day. They had to excavate through two previous civilizations (Umayyed and Ottoman) to find and then restore the Roman ruins we can see today. Amazing stuff! At the end we were entertained in a stunning theatre by a Bedouin bagpipe band, one of the legacies of British occupation.

After a long but uneventful trip through Bangkok and Dubai we arrived in Amman, capital of the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan. We were met at the airport by our guide, Maha, and our daytime home for the next three weeks, a comfortable air-conditioned coach. We drove through the streets of Amman and then stopped for lunch at a nice but empty restaurant; most Muslims observe fasting during Ramadan but once the sun goes down there won’t be a spare seat. After eating too much we headed to the ruins of the Umeyyesh (?) palace, circa 6^th century AD. There’s a non descript museum there which housed some amazing and priceless artefacts including dinosaur fossils, tools from the stone/bronze/iron ages, and some pieces of the original dead sea scrolls. We thought such things deserved a grander home. After that we continued our drive through the streets of Amman, taking in the contrasts between the more traditional bustling, run down markets (souks) of East Amman with the more progressive and incredibly wealthy West Amman. The houses here rival anything Sydney has to offer (except the harbour) with prices of US$5 – 10m typical. This part of the city is also home to the embassy district. We drove past the US embassy (no photos were allowed), which looked like it was the size of a few city blocks. As you’d imagine it was very heavily guarded with amour plated, machine gun-equipped 4WDs at every corner and soldiers everywhere. It was great to get to our hotel where, after a brief dinner, we all crashed. We hope everyone at home is well and we’ll look forward to bringing you more news in coming days.