One Month Update

Above - NS on one of the hundreds of themed R/A's in Al Ain. This one, surprise, is called the Zoo R/A, at the entrance to the Al Ain Zoo.
Above - In case we forgot this this is a desert, a sand dune for you. These babies are massive and really need to be seen to be put into scale. If only i had a piece of cardboard for sand-surfing.


Above - Some of my colleagues; never sure if their laughing at me or with me?? Good people all the same!

Above - Wadi (creek bed), running through a valley.

Above - Desert Flowers, due to recent rains, some areas are really beautiful.

Above - Desert Grasses, in seed and flower, very similar to the native Australian grasses. Again, the picture doesn't capture how good this looked for real.

Above - Lots of rock. This valley was huge and indicative of some of the out of the way places to see near Al Ain. the valleys are full of fossils and crystallised rocks too.

Above - That's right, suck the gut in now take the picture. NS and more rocks.

Rightyoh, just over one month into it now. Not much else to report on since the last post, other than work and work. Despite the long days, it's hard to actually get much done sometimes. I've had so many conversations where I'm sounding out words as single syllables, drawing pictures and gesturing, that I'm now looking for the international charades tournament to arrive in the UAE.

Funny thing; i was told how well i speak English by a Bangladeshi fella the other day. He was amazed how well i could speak this particular language and then asked me to say something to him Australian!! Strewth, dunno what he's flamin talkin about, found myself saying seeya soon after g'day and got out there quicker than i could down a schooey.

I was asked to play tennis by another Aussie last Thursday evening. He works for a 'rival' company, but i had called him when i heard he was in town. Good bloke. Turns out the tennis was against a couple of Kiwis, a Pom and a Scot. The Scot had never played tennis, one of the kiwis rolled his ankle entering the court, the other kiwi was in Al Ain to play rugby, but couldn't keep the ball in the fenced court and the Pom, was a pretty good player. So, it took all of 1 game for this to be all worked out, and once the first bead of sweat was raised, it was racquet's down and open the beers. These tasted great and we had some good laughs. The others had been in the UAE from 5 months to 12 years and each had some funny stories and experiences to share with me, more importantly, if it turns out we (the family and me) stay here longer, they have some good tips on dealing with the array of Ministries you need to deal with here.

Friday being the day off, i hooked up with the Emirates Natural History Group again. The hike this day was through a Wadi reserve at the rear of Jebel Hafeet. This area until only 5 years ago had been a farming area for local goat herders. Recognising the significance and scale of the area, the local ministry were in two minds. Build a golf course or fence the area for regeneration. The golfer in me immediately saw the potential to build a Tiger Woods Golf (the playstation game) styled course with elevated tees and hideously hard rough and OOB areas. But reality is, this is a really unspoilt beautiful area. given, the UAE doesn't have much of this, the right decision has been made to keep as a sanctuary with only limited foot traffic.

The recent rains over Xmas has seen an explosion of native plants taking a semi foot hold through the rocky and harsh conditions. The Wadi running through the middle of this huge valley, had several pockets of wild grasses and flowers in full bloom. There were several Ghaff trees maintaining there presence also. The Wadi is framed either side by massive jutting rock faces up to about 400metres high. It's easy to find lots of fossils and crystallised rocks through the areas also. Whilst the hike was hardly very demanding, physically speaking, it was again, good to get out and see more of areas that not many of the locals even know about. We had to 4x4 into the area, so this was kind of cool too.

I am now counting every day until i can get home to see the kids and FS. Should be home in Mid March, and i am hopeful that by then i will have some certainty as to what the long term holds, regarding a move to the UAE or not.