Above - Yes!!, the all important answer to, "is there ride able surf in Dubai?". Occasionally, only though. May as well shut down your computer now, because this is the most important thing you'll read here.
Above - No, this is not a shot indicating that B4 has 'special needs' and wears a head guard to protect himself from damage. Rather, B4 really loves wearing B1's head gear and playing "Hugby" in the back yard.
Above - B1 churning up the sands in the desert.
Above - When not 'driving Ms Daisy' to the shops, B2 freelances as a quad bike racer, here taking the inside approach to a quick corner?
Above - Meanwhile, B3 nonchalantly sets a course record in the peewee 50 category track.
Above - Madam Butterfly, a picture of concentration steps to the blocks as the announcer calls Australia's representative for the AAESS triathlon.
Above - With my team mates in the AAESS triathlon being from NZ, i had to emphasise we were here to win, not just make up numbers.
Above - What do you get when you team an Aussie, a Scot and an NZer?...the AAESS 2nd place getters and a barrel of laughs to go with it.
Above - Good mates as well as brothers, B4 and B3.
Above - With some emails eluding to the fact that i appear to never be working, it was appropriate that i included a work shot...shame the dress-up place only had The Village people outfits.
Above - 'Brothers in Arms'
Above - Just over the border in Oman, a recent find was this oasis (in middle of photo), nestled amongst some spectacular mountain terrain.
Above - I made mention of it a year ago, another example of the simply brilliant falaj irrigation systems used in the regions crop growing.
Above - You'll notice by the people in the back-ground, that we were the only ones to dress up for the party. Check out the style though.
Above - NS takes changing channels on the TV pretty seriously 
Above - Come the spouse boxing matches, virtual games mirrored reality with FS KO'ing me in the 1st round!
Above - Poppy John timed his visit to see us after reviewing the Dubai Desert Classic schedule and was as stoked as the rest of us to follow the likes of Tiger Woods.
Above - After beating the Kingdom of Bahrain on home soil, B1 and B2 will be heading to the island nation to play the round 2 match up.
Above - Poppy John, and some aspiring golf pros at the Al Ain Golf Course. Like all the good books i read, this blog entry has plenty of glossy pictures, is able to be re-read a dozen times and keeps you right up to date with the important things in life...kind of like a Seinfeild episode, it is a blog about nothing.
From the emergency ward of the last blog, B2 now has his cast off and although it has been 3 weeks with it off, he still has about 10degrees left before he can straighten it out fully. FS is a bit worried, but i keep telling her that if he takes up cricket as a bowler he'll be sweet with the swing and like Murilee, won't get pulled up with a suspect bent arm action.
FS's oldies have been and gone, of course the extra help around the house was great, the kids remembered them and loved having them here, John's egg and bacon breakies were a treat and the 2 weeks they stayed with us must have saved me about $3grand in phone calls between FS and her mum. Whilst we were keen to have them stay an extra week or 2, they became suspect about our motives after finding a list of chores and work plan to be carried out during this period, especially as theirs were the only names on the list. They decided to leave.
The kids sporting calender has been consuming allot of our weekends, with Rugby and soccer tournaments, mixed results, but the exciting news on this front is that we are all heading off to Bahrain at the end of March for a few days so that B1 and B2 can play in a rugby tournament.
FS and i were recently invited to a wii party. Now most people will know that this 'wii' is in fact a type of interactive video game setup. For some reason, both FS and i have never heard of such a thing and funnily, both of us read the invite as WWII, then thinking this meant it was a world war 2 dress up party. Our theory of course was supported by the fact that the hosts are here training the local UAE army and we considered their passion of the military to extend to parties? So to try and take this to an informative view of Australia's role in WWII, we decided to dress as the 'Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels' (Papa New Guinea's native tribesmen who assist the Aussie troopers during WWII along the Kakoda Trail). Short of donning the loin clothes and bones through the nose we were informed what a wii actually is and decided to dress up anyway - only this time in some tight, white clothing and head and wrist bands. I'm happy to report that despite our social inadequacies, FS dominated the women's division, just getting pipped for a second placing, but i was indeed crowned wii men's champion.
At the risk that this blog is sounding more like a wrap-up by Mike Gibson and big Daryl Eastlakes on the Wide World of Sports; both FS and i recently took part in the Al Ain English Speaking School Triathlon. This was a teams event, the swimming length being 350m, the bike 11km and the run 5.5km...simple heh? Fran self nominated for the swim length, i was nominated by some mates to join them for the run length, still no problem right? In the month leading into the event, i was all but laid out with a bad flu and long hours at work were making this worse (yes i know, bring out the violins), but FS was confidently recalling to anyone who would listen about her under 12 heroics of winning a nipper race at North Narrabeen beach in a raging 10 foot swell (i became suss when i heard the size of the waves). The day before the big event, i was feeling slightly better (using the gauge of a walking corpse to a flem spitting Pakistani) and FS was still overly confident. I suggested FS try a few practise laps in our pool. You need to picture that the race pool is going to be 35m in length, our pool is 20metres. Panic on FS's behalf has now set in!!! On the first lap of our pool she has to stop 3 times, she says to adjust her goggles. The second lap her legs are starting to drop deeper and by the third lap she is taking in water and reaching for the side of the pool. It was lucky she didn't need resuscitation as myself and a group of others (who'd been subjected to her recalling of the under 12 nipper glory), were rolling in hysterics on the pool-side. FS didn't sleep well that night, and truth be known i was worried about my ability to get down stairs in the morning let alone run a race.
Race Day - I have to stress that like anything that happens in Al Ain, this event was pretty low key, relaxed and taken as more fun than anything else. But seriously, just between us, no matter what the event, everyone always wants to win or at least do well...admit it. Teamed with a couple of fit looking NZers, i was thinking this could be our day, I've got to put some pressure on the other teams prior to the start gun though...uh hu...the sports PE teacher from AAESS. If you're a PE teacher you'd want to be pretty fit and capable, so lets draw attention to the fact this guy has to be the favourite. Pressure is now off us and it's on their team. Anyway, the start gun goes off and so does FS, really digging deep, even ditching the goggles half way through lap 1, but finishing none the less and setting her team off to a good start. My team entered the run length in 4th position, by this stage the day had crept on, temps were now easily around 34c and really I've run out of excuses as to why i didn't make up the 1km deficit, but none the less finished the race with our team coming in 3rd position and FS's 2nd for the women's event. As for the PE teacher, yes his team won and he must have really felt the pressure and pushed himself too far as he crossed the line literally throwing up everywhere and unable to stand. Solid stuff!
In other news, i have found the first decent surf since being here. Stumbled across it quite by accident in the heart of Dubai on Jumeria Beach. Only coming in at about 2 foot, 3 foot on sets, a handful of guys were on it and having a ball. Looks most suited to a fish styled board as the waves looked a little fat and sectiony, but swell none the less and I'll be bringing back a board for sure.
We're all hanging out for June and July, for our planned holiday and return to OZ.
