Travel and first day of work

View of the Sea of Galilee from the bus

So then, the volunteering part of my trip to Israel began yesterday. Jehn (my fellow volunteer that came all the way from China) and I left the rest of our new friends at Jerusalem Central Bus Station and began our 5 hour bus journey north towards the Golan Heights and our project. After a quick stop-off in the nearest town to our project we switched to a local bus that would take us as near as it could to our destination, the Mountain Eco-Lodge in the small village of Nimrod (the highest settlement in Israel!) in the Golan Heights. We got off at our final stop around 3:30pm hoping for a pick-up from Guy (the person who runs our project). However, it turned out that he couldn't pick us up so we had to carry our bags up the 2 kilometer mountain road to Nimrod in the mid-afternoon sun!!

View of Nimrod from the Bus stop 2k away

You can see how far we had to walk..... the road we walked up is in the left of the photo and Nimrod is just visible on the hill on the right

Finally at Nimrod :) the bus stop we walked from is at the edge of the large group of trees in the left  of the photo

A while after we arrived, Guy finally met us and gave us a quick tour of the place. The views are amazing (as the pictures will show) and it really feels like we're up in the mountains. We met the other volunteer, Carolyn, that will be leaving with Jehn in 2 weeks time. We gave our accommodation a quick clean before fixing dinner (we are cooking for ourselves the entire time we're here) and meeting Guy's wife,  who would be finding things for us to do during our stay :).

A bit foggy.... our accommodation at around 10pm yesterday

So, now we are up to today (our first full day of volunteer work). We made pancakes for breakfast before having a more in-depth tour of the lodge with Lilach. She also gave us a security briefing (she is the local security officer so we are in the best of hands) as we are really less than 5km from the Syrian border! Rest assured it's completely safe here. Although we do here the occasional boom and bang coming down the valley from Syria.

Our first big piece of work for the three of us is to clear an old sloped vegetable patch so that it can be replanted. Clearing the grass and digging out the weeds with only a rake (which broke after an hour!) a shovel and a hoe (the farming tool that is) was hard work but it was nice to be outside surrounded by incredible scenery. We had a break for lunch (pita bread and hummus brought up by Carolyn) and the other two fell asleep for a few hours. So, on the first day we've cleared the first patch of ground for replanting, we just need to keep at it over the next few days. We may have some tourists using the campsite from Friday for a while so cleaning up after and taking care of them will keep us occupied over the next few days.

All in all, i'm loving it here. The scenery is amazing and the independance we're given by guy and Lilach with regards to getting on with our tasks and cooking is very nice. I think i'll enjoy my 6 weeks here :)

Morning view from outside the lodge, Jehn is walking in the middle of the photo. Over the hills in the distance is the Syrian border

Our first big task, prepping this old veg patch for re-planting 

Me, taking a midday breather by the pool