The Hole

Just so as this job would not be easy I have found the new pool is about 150mm deeper than the old one so now to dig. The big problem being that nothing mechanical can get to the back of our place so this required the use of a shovel and barrow. I had to remove about 2.5 cubic metres of dirt not to mention about a further 1.5 cubic metres of sand now nicely heaped on the deck. The excess dirt had to be taken out through the back of the deck and barrowed over the bank at the back of the section. It's now all done so the next stage is the installation of the new pool, watch this space. Whew!!

The Pool

Now that I am back in N.Z. the whip has been cracked and the project list rolled out. First up is the pool, the old one removed finally well and truely past it's use by date. Now you would think this would be easy, the shell came out without any real problems but the structure along with all the concrete was another issue. A lot of hard work and the much valued assistance of Mo saw the last remanants removed to Pete's bin at the front of the house. I am sure somebody owes me.

the Nephews

Sam and David spent some time down at the creek near the bach and came back with this eel, not sure what they intended to do with it, but they were certainly proud of their efforts, it appears this is a regular evening sport for them, I pity the eels with these guys on the job.

Saturday Night Whitianga

What else do you do on Saturday night at the beach after having tucked into a nice BBQ feed of fresh fish, steak and snarlers but relax with bro's and inlaws over a few bevvies, very cool.

Coastal Views

Just north of Whitianga and we are at Kuaotunu where we are able to launch the boat and head out for fishing, Snapper, diving for Scallop's and of course cray fish.

Whitianga

Bit of R & R at the beach rather a pleasant weekend with family at Whitianga with family, bit of fishing and golf, great view from our bach another pricelsss effort beyond the reach of Mastercard.

Home Again

Here we are home again our deck, grapes and sunny evenings watching the sun set, absolutley priceless, Mastercard can't beat this.!

Friends

Then home again and our friends in good old Putaruru, who would be without them, this occassion Bob's rolled over the half century.

And Finally London

Where would we be without spending a little time in the capital and catching up with family and friends. London is still the same noisy, busy and expensive but once again worth the visit.

Dublin

The start and finish of our Irish tour, the Guiness Brewery and other high lights were all enjoyable. The city had atmosphere and we were even privy to a march by a group of Sein Fein supporters, with band and loud hailers to address the crowds, interesting we thought all this stuff was pretty much all over but obviously not. Great pubs and good food at reasonable prices.

Waterford Crystal

Colleen and I took a tour through the Waterford Crystal factory obviously at Waterford. Rather amazing what they can do with glass (crystal). This guy was cutting the pattern into the bowl and we were surprised at just how quickly and accurately he was able to make the cuts for the pattern. The glass cutters are paid on the number of complete items they produce that are then able to be sold to the customer.

Lunch Break

Now where else would you stop for lunch when in Ireland particularly if you are like me and happen to enjoy the odd beer or two. You can be sure to be sure that you will find something to your taste I know I did. It was even better as we could sit outside and enjoy the day while the locals go about their business.

Little People

Colleen was on the look out hoping to trap one of the special Irish lads and bring us some good luck, she even had a green camouflage as well but they were staying hidden today. Better luck next time.

Irish Weather

Now who says it always rain in Ireland. We were blessed with a week of beautiful sunny days, crisp in the morning but warm during the day. This is one of many castles / forts that dot the Irish country side, unfortunately I can't remember what it was called.

And now to Ireland

After a quick stop over in London to catch up with family and friends it was on to Dublin and the Irish leg of our travels. At this time I wasn't feeling too flash some bug I caught the last day in Egypt. This was rather annoying especially after being so careful for all those months away. But anyway it wasn't going to stop us enjoying ourselves and after collecting our rental car we were off heading towards Galway. We had one rule stay off the motorways and use the minor roads where ever possible and stop where ever we wanted. So the first stop a Distillery. Cool after a tour and some tasting of the local whisky we were now fortified against the cool air, although it was fine and sunny a bonus for Ireland we were told. It was back on the road.

Abu Simbel

This is was rather impressive as this whole temple had been moved from below the water line of Lake Nasser by UNICEF before the lake covered it forever. It was obviously a huge task as the whole temple is massive a goes 58 metres back inside the mountain.

Our Cruise Boat

This is our cruise boat, really just a large barge that is four stories high, three decks are accomodation and the top deck is where the pool and outdoor dining and bar are located. The cabins were small but comfortable. The lower deck was where the dining room was, the food was of a good standard and offered resonable variety. Overall we were very happy.

Our Cruise Boat

Fatima and Abdul

Fancy dress night while on our Nile Cruise. Each night was a different theme night, this one we combined with a birthday for one of the guys in our party, a fun night night but quite.

The Pyramids

This is what we came to see, awesome to think these are around 4 thousand years old this is really spectacular and along with the Sphinx it was a memorable day.

Novel Transport

I have heard of Police on horses and in cars even in helicopters and planes and boats but camels this is new. What was even more interesting was that because I took his photo he wanted a little monetary compensation, I didn't oblige which didn't please him but never mind.

Armed Guard

It was a little disconcerting but these guys armed with there AK47's were posted at all the entrances to the Hotel Conrad in Cairo and along with other guys manning xray machines as you came inside. Everybody along with your bags were screened as you entered. Not something we would expect at home but we did feel a bit safer at least.

Steptow

We saw this old guy and his donkey cart from our Hotel in Cairo, he was going through the rubbish bins out the back and taking all the plastic, I guess for recycling.

Bread Any One??

This guy was spotted in Cairo doing his bread delivery going at pace through busy streets.

Taller?

Something is not right here, I haven't got any taller but I can now touch the top of the door jam. It seems that they must be shorter here, Wilf who is about 6' 4'' has to duck to get in the place, interesting.

New Friends

Doc Martin and Nurse Karen. Karen is working here in the education field and Doc Martin believe or not is a Nuclear Physicist who used to work in the UK. Now semi retired he was one of our main men on apartment set ups taking care of plumbing and gas. A good team man.

Kitchen Joinery

Well this is something different, it might look flash but then think again. The carcass is made from a light metal framing pop riveted together. The panels are all sheet metal 2mm thick with an adheasive wood grain film applied. The doors are also metal framed with metal panels and the same wood grain film applied. Needless to say it is all rather filmsy, however the bench tops are some sort of stone similar to marble, the only solid part of the entire kitchen. Notice the hot water cylinder on the wall, these are dotted all over the villa, they do not have a central large cylinder but about 6 of these depending on how many bathrooms the place has, strange? However in saying that they do look quite nice in an odd sort of way.

Where's the Copper??

Believe it or not! This is the laundry for a brand new 4 bedroom Villa in Al Ain. That's the washing machine waiting to be unpacked and connected to the tap on the wall. The drain is onto the ground. Real tidy at least you don't need to worry about floods. The only thing missing is the Copper and wash board, I thought this type of installation went out 40 years ago.

Al Ain Fort

One of the many historic sites in the Al Ain area, this fort is currently under going restoration, but is still quite an impressive structure. Unfortunately we were unable to go inside for a look. It is right in the middle of the city, near a Mosque next to a Wadi adjacent to a car park.

GR5 now 3

Now we are three, Martin and John left for NZ today and the arms of loved ones, and no doubt the icy embrace of a cutting Southerly howling in across Cook Strait, to greet them as they alight from the plane in Wellington. 45 degrees it won't be, good luck guys. It was a sad drive back from Dubai, my work, pool and drinking buddies actually on the way home. What to do? Some how I don't think Alvin will be the same, nice guy and all, but there's not the history.

Smoking!!

John enjoying a wee puff on the Sheesa Pipe and brewing up a storm. He was as bit seedy later - not sure if it was something he ate or if it was too much to drink .... or the smoke.

Where'd he go?

John had heard that there were Minataur beatles to be found under hedges! All he found was two empty water bottles and an empty fag pack. Better luck next time John.

Where's Wally?

Well Julia and Colleen may not have found Wally but they seem to think they have found his Office, being a Friday nobody was home.

Fishing anybody?

We visited Sohar on the Oman coast and John decided he would like to go fishing in this traditional fishing boat. It's made from palm leaves tied together. I don't know how sea worthy it is but John wouldn't wait for the tide to come in so we didn't find out, something to do with reading a library book, so he said.

Jebel Hafeet

Mt (Jabel) Hafeet rises out of the desert floor and rises about 1350' pretty well straight up, giving spectacular views of Al Ain and the surrounding desert, from grasslands, green parks to rocky ridges and red sand desert expanses.

Desert Oasis

Just a little green spot in the middle of Al Ain, a local Oasis next to a wadi.

Desert Driving

Now you think we would have learnt that sand and Toyota vans just don't go together. Well you're wrong I had already got the van stuck once a couple of days earlier and that took us twenty minutes to get it out. But on this day with a van load of fridges, tv's and washing machines we inspected the surface and decided it was safe to drive on, Ha! the end result was a lot of sweat and two hours later we got towed out. We have now learnt do not under any circumstances drive on the sand you will get stuck.

You want to What??

Seems it not as easy as one would expect to dispose of somebody here, although this was a grave yard it looked more like a bomb site or a cemetery out of a western movie, a few small headstones and no grass just sand and dust.

Dubai Shopping

Colleen still found time to shop, we found some Souq's and this little gem of Aladdins Cave with all sorts of stuff to interest just about everybody.

The Al Arab Burj

Dubai's famous seven star hotel reuptably the tallest hotel in the world and where Tiger Woods tee'd off from on the helicopter pad and a game of tennis was also played there. Unfortunately for us the day was not very clear temperature in the mid 40's and humidity in the region of 80 - 90%. It was not much fun being outside.

Dubai

This building (Tower) is still under construction and will on completion be reputedly the tallest structure in the world, unfortunately we didn't have any data to confirm this but it is never the less very impressive.

They do Care.

This is what a few Dirhams tip to the house keeping boy gets you, all cleverly made from two towels.

Cell Phone Tower

Perhaps they can take a leaf out of the UAE book and be creative like this for local cell phone towers, note the aerials poking out the top of the palm tree.

It Does Snow Here

We drove to Dubai on the weekend and Martin was going to go skiing, but he had to shelve idea as it was expensive and the queues were huge. This little ski field is situated in the Emirates Mall supposedly one of the biggest in the world.

Time Out

Martin and I spotted this guy the other day and just thought it was too good to miss. It was about 10am and he was having a wee kip just like all good road workers do. When he realised we had stopped to take a couple of photos he leaped out of his comfortable resting place looked quite concerned and got busy working again, we drove off laughing I think he was worried he was going to be in trouble for shirking.

Al Ain

Al Ain even the camels are different, Colleen took and real shine to this guy but he just wasn't interested. Anyway Al Ain is very different, a city of about 400 thousand close to the Oman border, quieter and less busy than Abu Dhabi and Doha although the driving is just as frantic. We have been busy setting up apartments for all the new comers arriving from N.Z, setting up furniture, making beds and hanging curtains, the apartments are all new and five star in comparison to Doha.

We have arrived!!

Look out Abu Dhabi we have arrived, firmly ensconced at the Novotel in the down town area or so we thought. We got time to enjoy just the one night and it's off to Al Ain for a few days to help out over there. Al Ain is 1.5hrs drive away, so we were told to pack up and go that our expertise was required there, so without the time to look around we were off.

Out we go!

Here we are at Doha International Airport, all set to fly to Abu Dhabi and the next phase of our adventures. These guys don't travel lightly and 200 kilograms of luggage has already been freighted ahead. Anyway they have managed to reduce the load to a bag each, Colleen and I still had 29 kilo's between us plus carry on bags. We flew Etihad Airlines (National Airline of the UEA), would say they are very good. Twenty five minute flight, nice!!

Last meal?

Well here we are in this quaint Arabic Restaurant down in the Souqs for our last night night out in Doha before we fly to Abu Dhabi in the morning. Note to self something more European in Cuisine may have been better. I tried a chicken dish call Madagog, sounded good but when delivered looked like baby food tasted like concrete and sat like concrete for two days. Some of the others were luckier and theirs was a little more conventional. All in all it was ok.

Quiz Night

Well it's Monday night and the GR 5 team are yet again at Rydges ensconsed at our usual table ready to take on the world and it's Quiz master. Tonight was going to be our swan song, our last attempt at glory in front of all other other expats (Poms). Well we started with a rush, 10 out of 10 and tied for first place, at the end of the second round still holding onto first place victory and a tab of 250 Riyals looking good. Oh no somebody forgot to tell us round three was stacked if you didn't come from the UK you were history. Needless to say with obscure questions relating to Soccer who would call that football and other unkown TV personalities we crashed and burned. Ho hum - al-hamdu l illah.

High Tea

Well insn't this just all very cosy, Colleen, Julia, Martin and me took time out to experience how the rich and famous enjoy their afternoons. A trip to the Ritz Carlton and high tea ordered, with scones, cucumber sandwiches and fresh berry's with whipped cream and rich chocolate sauce. Mmm very nice and all rather ponsy but worth it.