Abu Dhabi Island Paradise

On the weekend a heap of us headed off to Abu Dhabi for a camping trip. A friend of Tom's owns this Dhow (old style boat) and said we could use it overnight for about 1/10 of the normal price.

We started at the Abu Dhabi sailing club, after loading what seemed liked a months worth of gear on to the front of the dhow we headed off.

Kat's facial expression mirrored mine, but everyting went fine (until we broke down on the way back!)

Here is Anthony guarding all the gear... It did LOOK like it was going to fall off!

It took about an hour to get to the choosen spot. Abu Dhabi itself is on an island and there are heaps of islands all around.

Here is the Dhow, they were used to trade up and down the coast of the Gulf, I believe some still do. Small dhows are used in Dubai as water taxis in the creek.

The water was blissful, we are coming closer to winter and it was just the right temperature. I couldn't help but take every photo with the Dhow in the background.

Here is our little camp site. There were other people down near the trees in the background, but they packed up and left in the evening.

We had a driver, he stayed on the boat all night.

Sunrise! One of the joys of camping is the very early awakening, but this was my reward!

We spent the whole next morning in the water. Rui and Melissa think they might have found paradise.

Early afternoon and it was time to head back to the real world. The boat broke down.... With the owner not far away in his speed boat noone was too concerned it just meant extra time in the sun with plenty to lok at. The Drydocks boys had us going again in less than half an hour and we eventually reached the safety of the sailing club.

What a weekend, bliss, pure bliss.

Not such a sensible state

I went out one night with my old workmates from Route 66, I worked there all through Uni and I always go and mooch around in the shop when I am home.

Laura, me, Paul and Sarah. Paul owns the shop. I haven't seen Sarah for ages, she lives in Townsville now.

Laura doesn't seem too impressed by my affection!

It's always good to get together and we usually have a good time.

YAY! It's the Eid/mid term break! 1 week holiday, we are going camping tomorrow, photos to come I am sure!

A sensible state

I was heading to the pub with Rach and Ed complaining about my climate induced asthma and how I was going to be dieing in the morning, after passive smoking at least the equivilant of a pack of cigarettes, when they reminded me that it is now illegal to smoke in pubs, clubs and restaurants in Tasmania. Coming back from Dubai it's a bit of a shock because every man and his dog smokes here.

I went out another night (to the Metz) and took this photo in the loo.

How many years will it take for Dubai to catch up with this sensible Tasmanian trend...

Hobart Bushfires

Rach just sent me this amazing picture of the recent bushfires in Hobart, Tasmania. This picture is taken from the city side of Hobart.

You can read about it HERE. Luckily I dont think there was much damage to property.

Dreamland

Yesterday we drove up to Dreamland in Umm Al Quwain (another Emirate) with Kat, Iian Jodie and Dave. Dreamland is the original water park in the UAE. It is quite old but Kat had heard a rumour that during Ramadan there was hardly anyone there and it was cheap to get in, she was right!

Here is an attractive picture of me coming down one of the slides...

Here is Kat sneaking photos of herself onto my camera, and Jodie and Dave coming down the family tube ride. This ride looked very tame but when we all got in the tube went way up over the side (well nearly!)

Here is the lazy river, I could have just floated round here all day on my tube. You can see where some of the other rides are in the background.

It wasa good fun day. We hardly had to wait for any of the slides (compared to Wild Wadi where we waited for about 45 minutes).

Two extras, all around the park there were a lot of date palms, which they were harvesting, the dates just fall in the bags. It keeps the birds from eating them as well.

There is this weird area between the water park (the Hole in the Wall bottle shop is right next door) and the highway. It is just desert but there are all these roads and roundabouts there. Ithink they are going to build and industrial area. Anyway thats where we saw these men driving these camels. We had to wait for them to get off the road.

So that was that! Sunday morning so I am back at school. SIGH!

My Favourite Ibis

I spent quite a bit of time in Hobart (the capital city of Tasmania, way down south). Rach is now living and working there. I took this photo because Mike (my flatmate) said he'd never heard of a Dagwood Dog.

A dagwood dog is a savaloy stuck on a stick and cooked in batter. It's usually dunked in sauce. It's one of those foods that seem like a good idea but it turns out it's not once you have eaten it.

We were at Salamanca which is Hobart's market, famous for it's quality goods nationwide.

After we went into town for some shopping and when we were done, we rested our aching bodies with an aqua massage.

This was very strange but also very good, you lay inside this solarium type machine, there is thick black plastic that covers you and then the water squits onto your back. I guess squirt is not quite the word but you know what I mean!

Rach had to work during the week of course but I entertained myself with other friends and wandering round Hobart. This is a picture of the Tasmen Bridge across the Derwent River. Hobart is a very picturesque city.

This little birdy was quite happy to have his photo taken in the botanical garden.

Here is Rach and I being censored, even though I am not an Australian Resident I had to call up and get a form and fill it in!

We Are Australians....

So the rest of the photos seem to be just people from back in Tassie, I have hardly any photos of the beautiful scenary to astound you with, just photos of my beautiful friends and family! You've probably seen a lot of these people before, but I am going to put them all on again!

Let's start with the extrodinarily commited blogger-commenters, my good friends Lauren and Bec. Here is the Beautiful Bec enjoying a delicious Chocolate Caramel cheese cake (well just one slice of it, though I wouldn't put it past her, he he he).

We were enjoying one of the best Cafe meals in Launceston at the Konditorei Manfred Cafe, which is where Zadok and I had our reception.

Here I am with the Lucious Lauren, not quite sure why my hair looks red but it's probably a climate thing! I have heard someone say we were also spotted in Charcoal Chicken one day at about 11am, enjoying economy packs but I can assure you it was imposters.

Footy and the Hounds

I had my first pilgrimage to the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) the AFL ground and also the venue for cricket games in the summer. We saw Collingwood absolutely thrash Hawthorn but it was still great to be there.

This is start of the game with the teams about to run through the carefully made banner.

Here is brother Doug enjoying a beer and the company of one of Phil and Dan's (his housemates) dogs. They have 2 rather large boxers and when I visited they were babysitting another! I wont bore you with a list of all my stuff that Toby ate... I learnt my lesson eventually.

A big 'Hi' to Phil and Dan, and Doug of course!

Melbourne

I spent a few days back in Dubai after Europe and then I escaped the heat and headed south to Australia for the remainder of my holiday. I flew Dubai/Singapore/Melbourne and stopped off to spend some time with Doug.

I haven't been to Melbourne for ages. My favourite spot is St Kilda down on the water, it was freezing but worth it to walk along the pier as the sun set.

Here I am wearing a jacket (a bit of a novelty really...) We had a coffee out at the end of the pier. Here is the view back in towards St. Kilda.

It did rain while we were out there. Oh well, what more can you expect from Melbourne!

It's a bit difficult to see but in the photo blow there is the Spitit of Tasmania, you can see the white blob. And there is brother Doug as well!

I don't love Melbourne (could be due to my paranoia about suburbia) but I can see how people do. The public transport is amazing and there are things going on and interesting people everywhere. After we went to St Kilda we got a tram back into the city and walked along the Yarra to the Crown Casino. I am not a gambling woman but it was worth a look, I actually felt strangely like I was back in Dubai as we walked in....

Here is the big fountain out the front, it is a circular design, jets of water pop up in all sorts of patterns. There were heaps of people trying to run to the center without getting wet... Doug... Which was quite amusing.

Every hour on the hour they burn these huge gas torches. There is some crazy figure like each blast the gas consumed is the equivelant to the gas one house hold would take a year to use... I probably got that quite wrong.... It's impressive though!

Another long post, sorry! More Australia to come. Actually, it is mostly more Australians to come!

Another Premiership!

What a great game! The West Coast downed the Sydney Swans on the weekend in a thrilling grand final. One of our Satellite sports channels has been broadcasting the AFL finals so I have been watching along all through September, and on the weekend my boys won! The game was on at 8am, it's still Ramadan so I just watched in the lounge room. I must the end was very stressful with the Eagles taking the cup by just 1 point! Bad luck everyone else that go for inferior teams, Wx