Cataract Gorge ~ Launceston

One of my favoutite places, we spent a lot of time here when we were teenagers.

My faves...

Zadok and I were married just near here and had photos just here.

A special dedication...

Here is a special picture just for my favourite Ibis. What more could anyone want? A SCARLET IBIS playing in the sun!

Mr. and Mrs. MacDougall!

On the weekend we had the pleasure in celebrating with Kat and Iain their long awaited wedding. It was a delightful day, starting for us girls in the salon, moving on to the church at Jebel Ali and then to the One and Only Royal Mirage. Just a few pics here to give you a feel for the day.

Mr. and Mrs. MacDougall cutting their cake.

The girls plus 1/2, sex as yet unknown (sorry Mum it's not mine).

Later on down on the beach. Looking quite merry I must say.

Some more of the girls having a quick dip...

Some more (delayed) Oman!

Some more Oman.... Muriel convinced a friend to babysit and we headed out for a delicious Mexican meal (I'd have to say it was better than Prickly Cactus...). Here we all are having a laugh.

Here's me with Charlie, I think he is probably trying to get away from my alcohol tinged breath, hehe. Isn't he gorgeous!

Dubai is not marked on this mapbut it's parralel with the curly border of Oman, on the Persian Gulf of course. When we drove in, we crossed the border at the curly bit then drove through to Sohour (Suhar) then down along the coast.

Muscat is divided up into areas, like suburbs, that pretty much run straight along the coast, ending with Muscat, which is the oldest part.

In the photos below we are in Muttrah, which is just before Muscat and has the old Souq which is stunning. It's all decorated in Carved wood and stained glass. To my untrained eye the style seemed more Morrocan than you would see in Dubai.

For those of you who haven't been, Dubai has a very flat coastline and although the beaches are beautiful the lack of cliffs can make it a bit monotonous, in Muscat there are cliffs everywhere plunging to the sea whith quaint little coves in between.

Most of this area was severely damaged during Cyclone Gonu in August, a good deal of work has happened to make it look like this.

Lots going on, will try and post last lot before end of term. Holiday next week! YAY!!!

Oh man, a long weekend in Oman!

I had half term TOW (4 days sigh...) and Zadok took the time off so that we could go and visit Muriel, Alasdair and baby Charlie in Oman. They moved there in September last year for Al's work. Charlie was born a month later so we hadn't met him yet!

It's about a 450km from Dubai to Muscat, the capital of Oman, it took about 5 hours but that did include visas and customs checks (they didn't look very hard) at the border. I'll post in installments.... Charlie pics to come I promise! Our first tourist stop was Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, which is stunning.

The mosque has the largest carpet in the world, made in Iran.

And the largest chandelier.

Women have to be covered from head to foot so here I am all wrapped up... Each of these arches features Islamic art from a different area, there qre 12 countries represented and about 10 arches in each area.

I've not been very detailed so if you want to read more have a look here....

Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque-Wikipedia