Our Desert Conquer Continues

Above - An Emirate wedding ceremony (blokes only), traditional dress, drumming, sword and rifle displays. This was in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Above - What a pathetic site. We've only just arrived here at the Sharjah airport for the measly 1 hour flight to Bahrain, but we already look like we've done the Sydney to Heathrow express.


Above - NS at the club house of the Abu Dhabi Golf Club; impressive club and course.

Above - Studies have revealed that smoking a single sheesha pipe is the equivalent of smoking 70 cigarettes. Try telling that to this young gal as she celebrates her 18th birthday at the Um Ul Quain water park.

Above - First day of school, nervous?

Above - B1 nursing B4...too cute.

Above - No, the TeleTubbies did not come to the UAE. This lady was wearing the latest in Muslim swimming fashion at the water park in Um Ul Quain.

Above - The Oyoun Village Golf Team; LtoR: NS, Mitch, Dave, Jeff, Bob, Russ, Stu & Chandra.

Above - Dining at the HRC in Bahrain with the Keast's and Holmes'.

Above - Driving the roads here it is not uncommon to find yourself in a sand storm.

Above - B1 can't even eat his lunch without the village girls thronging to see what he is up to.

Above - "That's right baby...feel the camera...be the camera...yeah, that's it!"

Above - Having been here so long, we feel comfortable at the public stonings of infidels and other criminals...you know the ones, like the guy who gave another motorist the finger for cutting him off. Wind those arms up boys.

Above - Lunching Lebanese style. Business and pleasure, lunch with Imad and Gary.

Above - B4 sand hoping at Fujairah's Sandy Beach.

Above - NS and FS at the HRC.

Above - B3 collecting shells at Sandy Beach.

Above - B2 and mate Zano with their new pet, an injured baby sparrow. Unsure who would keep the pet, they went halves.

Above - B4, even block building here means incorporating the Burj Dubai (world's tallest building located in Dubai).

Above - While the night was still a little in control at the Al Ain Spring Ball, we dined with Mick and Karla.

Above - Then the music started, and '2 Can Fran' kicked-in to mode and it was 'murder on the dance floor'.

Above - Heeeello Laaadies...Karen, Marie, FS and Gill.

Well we're still here and despite the title, we probably haven't conquered the desert just yet, but certainly things have been going well and we continue to have a lot of fun. Again, it has been a fair slog between posts, let's just put that down to being so flat out?

The boys (B1 & B2) completed their rugby season tour of Bahrain's Kingdom to take on the mighty red and whites. We all ended up travelling over to make a little holiday of it. The club chartered a plane to take us the 1 hour flight from Sharjah airport into Manama, the capital of Bahrain. We were lucky to make it in the end, with B2 coming down with a bad bug the night before, but true to family form, shook it off just as we boarded.

The weekend itself was great fun, 130 or so club members from our little community making the trip, we booked an entire hotel and the canary yellow (not Australian gold) uniforms and supporters outfits dominated the tournament ground. B1 playing in the under 11s got a rude shock when they ran onto the pitch to see a very different team to the guys they played a few months earlier. Turns out that Bahrain were struggling for numbers and most of their team were under 13s and 14s. There is a considerable difference in size between these age gaps and our boys got truly slapped. Unfortunately B1's season ended in a neck brace after a rogue elbow to the neck caused some major spasms. Of course Fran was completely calm and nonchalant about the incident and sees no reason why they can't play next season too. For clarification i have derived that interpretation from her hysterical screams and questioning of B1, "did you enjoy your last game?!" B2 on the other hand ran-amukthrough the opposition, sealing Al Ain's only 2 wins from the tournament. There were no signs of the lurgy that had plagued him the day before and all was good. The second day of competition was cancelled (it was about 40c the first day and hotter the second), so we adjourned to the Bahrain Water Park..awesome fun. Summary of Bahrain is that i was expecting (not sure why) that this would be the tropical island of the Middle East. Reality is that it is actually very ordinary and reminded me of what the moon might look like. It was very interesting to see quite a few Saudi's and other 'local' men walking with a beer or even in the bars of the city. There is a bridge connecting Bahrain to the coast of Saudi Arabia and it would seem Bahrain is to the Saudi Arab as the Gold Coast is to nubiles during schoolies.

Conscious that the weather is really starting to warm up here again, we wanted to get into the outdoor living/activities as much as possible before literally shutting the hatches. One of our weekend trips saw us heading to the emirate of Um Ul Quain. With all the oil money floating around here in the UAE, there is just still so much contrast between Duabi and Abu Dhabi as compared to the other emirates. Ul Um Qain has little to no landscaping (always a good benchmark), there are unfinished roads and rubbish everywhere. It might be one of those emirates that'll do their 'thing' over the next 10 years. None the less, the Aqua Adventure Park there was really good, lovely park like grounds to sprawl out your stuff and some awesome rides with next to no queues at all, but hands down, the best thing were the other people at the park, particularly our Indian friends. In all my years of surfing, beaching, taking kids to water parks, swimming carnivals etc, I've seen maybe 10 or 15 swimming rescues. The life guards at this place should be paid a fortune, there was a total of 6 people in the park that day that could actually swim or at least tread water and make it to the edge, those six all travelled to the park that day in our car and include B4.

While FS ad i and the two bubs were setting up our gear, we had B1&2 race back with exasperated reports like, "dad, you should have seen this Indian guy, he dropped down the penny drop slide and didn't come up, the life guards had to jump in and rescue him!" or "mum, you should've seen this other Indian guy in the wave pool, he was stuck up-side-down under his tube and the lifeguards had to jump in and save him!" Dismissive of these exaggerated accounts, FS and i headed with the bubs to the smaller pools. On the way we saw about 10 rescues and through out the day we all saw about 400 (really) and i even dragged a few water spluttering, but happy to be alive Indians out of the knee deep bub pools, bottom of the slides and of course the beach/wave pool area. Without wanting to sound callous at all (it was one of those, had t be there type situations), we often found ourselves (the 6 of us), sitting on a bench next to the penny drop slide, having a drink and chuckle at the Indian nationals dropping into the small but deep pool at the end of the slide, sinking to the bottom or flapping their arms madly as is trying to fly. The Life guards were great and whilst the seriousness of pulling the drownees out of trouble was not lost on them, they would most times exaggerate the save or their dives into the water...sorry, but it became very funny. FS asked one of the guys we pulled from the water why he went in if he couldn't swim. Simply his answer with head wobble and all was that, "someone will save me".

Another weekend, we went back to Sandy Beach, camping with a bunch of friends. Again, the snorking was awesome around Snoopy Island, the bbqing was great fun and a couple of beers around the fire was magic, but the temps were starting to get too hot, and whilst the bus load of German tourists (mostly heavily over-weight and a generation or two older than us), seemed to love burning themselves to the point of blisters, we were struggling when it came time to trek the sand from camp to water. It was a great way to meet people though, stopping under people's shade tents for respite on the feet.

After assisting on a volunteer basis at the local school, FS was approached to head the special individual learning needs department. Unable to commit to a full time post, she is working part-time, but i guess like any teaching position, especially when starting a unit from scratch for a school, her hours have been pretty huge. Even so, FS is really enjoying the challenge and the results and feedback have been very encouraging for her. Of course this meant that B4 would have to start kindy 2.5 days a week. He was able to demonstrate his ability to place 4 pens in his nose (learnt last summer here during FS's home schooling), although his unbelievable appetite could mean increased fees for everyone next term to cover food supplies. In the short time she has been tackling the job, FS has now already established a satellite class for the special needs children.

We had a good laugh, after her first day, when FS came home saying i had to provide a letter of no-objection for her to work. The next day she went for her local driver's license (about 8 months over due) and again needed a letter from the husband saying that she had my permission to obtain a driver's license and to drive by-herself. Ohh yehh, i had some fun with the first few drafts of those letters..."yes, FS has my permission to work, on the basis it does not interfere with her ironing,cleaning and cooking, although i suspect that she may regret losing three coffee mornings with the girls"....or...,"she is able to drive but i take no responsibility for the carnage caused", FS pretended to laugh along with me?

The Al Ain Spring Ball was held just last week and oh, what a night. A formal evening that proved that just because you dress people up, a free bar will always get them going and kicking off the heals. All the crew from our little village went, baby sitters were arranged to stay till late and a couple of 'on the table dances and singing' by some notorious offenders (reminds me of a wedding back in December 1997 and several RSL nights out) led the way. For us, the dance floor was on fire during the Grease Mega Mix and a rendition of the Oils' 'US Forces and Ganggajang's, 'This is Australia'.

Last bit of news for this blog relates to a 4th birthday party that B3 recently attended for a classmate. The same kid attended his birthday a few months earlier here at our house. At B4's party we had a few games, some party pies dipped in sauce, pass the parcel and i think a coffee for the parents that stayed, a fairly normal party by most standards. For this little girls party however, we suspected some 'one-upmanship might take place, i mean that chocolate cake that FS cooked was pretty good. So last night i was dropping FS B3 and B4 to the party. B1&2 and a mate were in the car too, as we were heading to the movies. Sure enough, it turns out the little girl is a sheika, related to one of the head shieks of the UAE! We passed the armed guards at the front of their palace and all our jaws hit the ground, bang. On the front lawns on the palace grounds were - a 3 storey high inflattable slide, a jumping castle the size of an olympic pool, a reverse bungy ride, a band, an MC for the party, a fully set-up Baskin Robbins icecream stall, face paiting, a fully set-up Macca's stall for the kids, a fully catered silver service buffet for the parenst that stayed (only females were allowed it turned out), magic shows, small ferris wheel, Ferry Floss stall and whle all the time i thought we were killing it in our new 4x4, it faded to insigficance to the stretch hummer and BMW's, Lamborguinis etc in the driveway...so, yeah B3&4 had a bit of fun.

Looking ahead, we're off to Greece next month and then back to OZ for a couple of weeks also, we can't wait for either of course and whilst the obvious things like friends and family we can't wait to see, we all have our favourite foods from home we are starving for...me, sculling fresh full-cream milk from the container, the boys, burgers and chips from Waves near our house, FS, Thai takeaway and all of us combined, pies and sausage rolls from the UpperCrust...mmmm, meeeeaat pie!

kef Halak?...How are you?

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.

"Ozzy should use my training wheels"

Above - B2 with a re-set arm and his Doctor. Photos of the injury are also posted on B2's official 'Crusty Demons' website.

Above - With the Dubai Desert Classic and Abu Dhabi Masters about to tee-off, Poppy J, B1, B2 and NS got in a little practise.

Above - Lulu Island off Abu Dhabi.

Above - Taking 'High-Tea' at Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi.

STOP PRESS!! Due to an unfortunate accident, the Crusty Demon's of Dirt (motocross riders) have had to cancel their world tour after star rider, B2, came off during training, severely breaking his arm in two places. Specialist flown in from around the world believe it will be at least 6 weeks until B2 is able to return to his bike, or until 'safety officer mum' has finished building the roll cage, harness and airbag system around his bike. The incident marred an otherwise event-less day for the Saunders in Al Ain. With all the Village kids in attendance, B2 was attempting to do a high speed skid down the main road of the village circuit. Using a borrowed bike, B2 was blissfully unaware that the bike's handbrakes were positioned opposite to his own. As he reached maximum speed and in front of about 20 other kids, he slammed on the back-hand-brake...or so he thought. Instead, the front brakes engaged, hurtling B2 over the handle bars like a human canon ball and the rest, as they say is history.

Taking a more somber position, the breaks (both of his right forearm bones) were quite serious, with his arm dangling 30 degrees in the wrong direction. We were lucky enough that one of our neighbours is a doctor and was of great assistance travelling to the hospital with us and calling the best orthopedic surgeon on the way himself. A few days later now, and B2 has had his arm re-set and sports a cast from shoulder to fingers. When he's not giving his own version of events, he's busy finding people to sign his cast, before offering them his own left-handed autograph. In fact all of the attention has led B1 to consider a stunt with more dire consequences..and therefore more attention?

B3 had the best take on events, when later that evening he suggested that, "B2 should use my training wheels...i never fall off with them".

In other news, Fran's oldies stopped in for a week where we basically saw and did everything that was closed during my oldies visit last November, including a round of golf where Poppy J was beaten by his S-I-L, not that we're bragging. The weather has been really cold of the last fortnight (amazing how cold 20-25C feels after 45-50C temps). We have even had a bit of rain for the last few days, although this is kind of like a mirage...you see it out the window, run outside to feel the rain, and it's not there?

Not much in the way of cultural or adventure type news this blog, so just a shorty.

Does Santa come to the U.A.E?

Above - Yes, i guess Santa does know where the UAE is. Mrs Claus was able to confuse Santa somehow about how many gifts he could fit into his sleigh. Convinced that it would be a reasonable amount, Santa was most surprised when he saw the huge pile to be distributed to villa 148 only. At least the kids left a cold beer and shortbread biccy out for him and some carrots and water for the 'reincamels'.


Above - Chillin in the desert after another evening of 'sundowners' and dune bashing.

Above - Chillin this time in the natural spring waters of Jebel Haffet.

Above - Nan and Pop came to visit and loved the Dhow rides on Dubai creek. Pop particularly was enthralled with the craftmanship that goes into the boats.

Above - Just like Aussie's fibbing about their pet kangaroos and koalas at home. We were able to convince Nan that we had to take the Camel to go shopping. Nan and FS head to town for a coffee.

Above - Nan and NS at Fossil Valley. No this place was not named after the visit of Nan and Pop.

Above - After watching B1 go around on the rugby pitch, B2 seized his chance and was a standout for the Al Ain under 8's.

Above - B2 breaking away again.

Above - B1 running it up against the Dubai Exiles team during the Abu Dhabi International Rugby Tournament.

Above - B1 playing for the AAESS soccer team. They thought they were plaing for Argentinia. Indian twins Melvin and Kelvin were good players, but we just liked yelling out their names together.

Above - BBQ with some neighbours; Clive, Noriko, Marcia, FS and B3.

Above - B3 and Kindy pal, Lotte.

Above - B4 at Snoopy Island, Fujairah.

Above - Fishermen heading out on the Gulf of Oman sunrise, Fujairah.

Above - Snoopy Island and beach. The breakwall just needs a little right-hander peeling off it for this to be the most perfect place in the UAE.

Above - Heading out for a banana boat ride. NS, Russell, Jenae, B2 and FS. Hardly any of us could walk after this. The boat driver cranked the 230HP engines to full bore and went mad, gotta love the safety over here.

Above - Sunrise over our camp at Sandy Beach, Fujairah.

G'day, and a belated Merry Xmas to all. We sent a bunch of xmas cards to all, so we hope these arrived on time or at least at all. Looking back at the last blog, it seems so long ago, and so much has happened over the last few months. We've had more rugby tournaments for the kids, a couple of birthdays, a visit from Nan and Pop, the kids were kicked out of school, we bought a new car, being camping again, had another local Muslim custom of Eid Al Adha (different to the last of Eid Al Fater), Xmas has been and gone, today is new year's eve and soon FS's oldies will arrive. Amougst all of this, we've almost finilised the residency visas for FS and the boys and yes...i've been doing a little bit of work too.

Next week will mark 1 year since i moved here; it's hard to believe that a simple 1 week assignment, turned into a 3month gig and then somehow, into establishing a business here and staying for this long. I never thought we'd stay longer than a year, and despite there being no guarentees in this part of the world we think we'll give it another year. Our logic...we've been through the hardest parts of dealing with all the beauracracies and paper work and other barriers, so let's hang around and enjoy another year, en shala.

So anyway, the summary for the last 3 months goes something like this - B1 and B2 got stuck right into their rugby and for a few weeks we were travelling every weekend to parts of the country to play 5 games a day type tournaments. Unfortunatly, the under 12's got a hiding in every match, coming up against much bigger and stronger teams. B2's team did really well, just missing the finals of a few occassions. The expat community is really very large when you consider the small % that would actually play in such tournments, yet the turnouts were massive.

B2 celebrated his 8th birthday during November. Convinced as we are that he has some perculiur ways about him, he was adamant that the only presents he wanted included a camel, a falcon and a few thousand dirhams...yeh right. A couple of turtles and and an aquarium later, we now have Jaws and Nipper as part of our travelling circus family.

We were all excited when nan and pop came to visit for a week. It was really nice to sit and catchup on all the family news and events from home; stuff that never really comes up in phone conversations or emails, like how i'm still their favourite child and the others were adopted anyway.

N and P were spewing that the week they chose to come, the pool was closed for maintenanace, the golf course was closed for upgrades and apparently during their cruise before coming here the entire country of Libya was closed for repairs also. Despite only being in town for a week, we managed to squeeze an enormous amount in. BBQs and drinks in the desert on sunset, dinners at the top of Jebel Hafeet, visits to the Gold Souk where P was chastised for not purchasing gold bars in N's honour, 4x4ing in Oman to see the fossil valley, wadi's (bullet casings found at one site left us looking into the mountains for rogue snippers) and more souks, there were camel rides and a visit to the Madinat resort in Dubai where a simple 'greasing' of the valet drivers hand opened up a world of exculsive resturants, arber rides and site tours normally reserved for the famous and good-looking, and of course time with the grandkids where our 'delightful' boys were able to demonstrate their familarity with N and P's company by rumbling, swearing and generally carrying on. We even let N and P have a day to themsleves to explore Al Ain in a taxi. They walked home from town, apparently too scared to experiance driving the streets of the UAE in a 1970's nissan with no seatbelts and Pakistan driver displaying the license of a red headed Scot's man??

Setting up a business here has been a huge challenge. It takes 2 days to register and obtain a business operating license in Australia. In the UAE, recent data from the Ministry of Commerce suggests that at best case it can be done in 68 days in the UAE. I took about 6 months, this includes opening a bank account (5 minutes anywhere else in the wolrd) 2 months here. I only received my visa card last week after opening the account in September. Consequently, starting a business here means my own and those of my family Visas needs to go through the company. A visa is the key to nearly everything here, without it, you may as well be from Mars. So understandbly, we were delighted when i recieved my visa in November (11 months after being here) and we have nearly crossed the line with FS and the boys now too. But not before the school insisted we remove the boys (B1,2 and 3) from school as they were not registered with the Ministry of Education etc etc. You can imagine the boys were devastated by this...not, but luckily we were able to manage a period of stay with the MoE, and look set to be right for the start of 2008 year, en shala.

You may remember the story about my car being over-run by beefed up Hummers and Range Rovers whilst travelling the highways. Well, my gaining the visa meant we could buy our own car here. Ahah!!, my chance to get some protection on the road and some style and extra grunt also. But what's this...FS decides she doesn't like the clour of her 2007 V6 Fuel injected, beefy- rear-ended Pajero she drives to her daily coffee and chats. No, she needs a more powerful and later model car that is coloured to match her new shoes. So yes folks, i am still risking life and limb everyday driving the shitty Lancer that requires Barny Rubble type motions to gain extra speed entering a round about to duel with the oversized SUVs boring down on me. FS in the meantime has upgraded to the Limited Edition 2008 Yank Tank Dodge Durango with a 5.7Litre Hemi V8 engine and personalised driver settings. I wonder if the visa means i can exercise the right to take an extra wife or two?

Just before Xmas, the Muslim culture celebrated Eid Al Adha. As all of the significant dates of the Muslim Culture are based around the moon, this is celebrated at different times throughout every year. Traditionally, Eid Al Adha, is celebrate 70 days after Eid Al Fater. A sheep or goat is sacrificed to signify the reinactment of Mohamoud's sacrifice of same when his son was born (this is my own very loose understanding of this event, not to be used as an exact interpretation in any major assignments or trivial pursuit questions please). This is also the time when so many muslims make their pilgramige to Meca (in Saudi Arabia). It is said that all Muslims should visit Meca at least once in their lifetime to ensure a good after-life. One thing for sure, on the official day of Eid Al Adha every ute, truck, boot and sunroof had a goat in it heading to a family feast.

We chose to go camping over this weekend over to the eastern seaboard of Fujairah. Camping on the beach just outside of Dibba, we were blown away by the absolutely amazing snorkeling over coral reefs and an island called Snoopy Island. Fair dinkum, the coral itself was really good, but the marine life was nothing short of fantastic. Small reef sharks, turtles, eels, urchins and the most amazingly coloured fish. The morning sunrises were wonderful...thanks to B4 for waking us to see these. We took a ride on a banana boat whilst away too. B3, our resident daredevil was with us as well as a couple of mates from New Zealand, heh bro, we went camping with. This was going to be fun, hopefully he would throw a few wild turns and send us catapulting into the sea a couple of times. Finally the boat cranks up, he's got two 115HP engines on the back, but surely he'll only use 1 of these? By the way, where is the spotter, i only see a driver? Before we know it, we are gripping the straps with every ounce of strength we have. Baiting the driver to go faster is FS waving her hand in the air like a cowgirl. B3 is hating it! The second engine kicks in, FS lowers her hand and grips the handles questioning her own wisdom at this previous baiting, B3 might be crying, i don't remember, check with him. First throw into the sea and B3 can't climb into the boat quick enough, leaving just 4 of us on the banana. The driver takes this as a challenge as he cranks the boat to full bore, he is not even watching to see if we fall off!!!, what the...now he's making a call on his mobile phone, probably telling his mates about these dam tourists he is using as shark burly. B3 is now smiling, looking back at our faces no doubt. None-the-less, we make it back to shore alive and to be honest stoked on such a thrill.

A week after Eid, is Xmas. We celebrated at home having the same ridiculously early start as every year (part of the fun), but with no family to go visit during the day, we are able to relax at home over a big cook-up breakfast and take a few cold beers with our neighbours (the christian ones that is). We had a great little party later that evening with all the expats living in our village and even a pop in by the big guy (santa) himself. Most of the expats have to work Xmas day here, as it is not recognised, but the kids are at least on school holidays for end of year break.

B1 celebrated his 11th birthday yesterday by having a few of his mates stay over and terrorise the village girls. And with that, we have pretty much brought you up to speed with our little adventure here. Wait a minute, i forgot to mention that FS and i celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary in December (yes, if you do the maths of 10 years marriage and an 11 year old son, you will realise we had an immaculate conception). Now some would go on to say you get less for murder...not me, i know how lucky i am, FS tells me everyday.

Happy New Year to all, we miss you all greatly, but hopefully the blogs will bridge the gap a little and we are planning a trip home to Oz in one way or another during 2008. See you then!