Goodbye

Sunday morning we said goodbye to the Watsons and caught the plane to Dubai.

Whilst Cameron and Matthew stayed at the hotel, I braved the highway and went to the Mall of the Emirates for an hour or so. After a wander around inside, I thought I would go back and see if Cam and Matt wanted afternoon tea. As I came in the carpark entrance, I thought it would be good to find the front door and go out that way. As the road out the front was even wider I asked a man directing the people to the taxis where to cross the road. He told me you weren't allowed to cross the road and I needed a taxi [also was asking where was my husband and why was I out by myself]. So I went back inside, all the way back to the carpark and found the crosswalk myself. Afternoon tea was at the hotel [alone] whilst I finished the blog and Matt and Cam watched the tv upstairs.

Going out to look for dinner tonight and then home on the plane in the morning. Holiday is finally over, back to reality.

Awesome Fishing Trip

Friday morning, it was again up at 5am for a walk along the beach, quick shower and breakfast before ensuring that the children were organised and the car packed. At 7.30, Lisa [a work friend of Rachel's] arrived and we were off.

We arrived at the marina and put sunscreen on whilst we waited for our boat driver.  [unbeknown to us, he was already on the boat but a quick phone call sorted that out and we were off on our adventure.

First stop was a bit of dolphin watching. We spotted a pod and followed them but they were a bit fast for the camera.

Next stop was fishing for bait. The boys did us proud [won't mention my efforts or the fact that I only succeeded in getting the line tangled and losing the sinker]. With 9 little fish, we set off to catch the big one.

                                       

Cameron did us proud. Lot of work though.

One big fish for dinner was enough, so we headed off to the reef, where the boys had another go at fishing.

Time was nearly up and we still wanted to do scuba diving so we left the fishing and headed closer in to a beautiful spot with a lovely reef. Had a fantastic time and really wished we had an underwater camera. Just beautiful.

It was all over too quickly and we headed back to the marina.

After a slight problem getting our car out [someone had parked in front of us] we went back home for a quiet afternoon. Maria came and helped Cameron fillet the fish and we had lovely fish and chips for tea. 

The Drive South

Friday morning I finally managed to make it out of bed at 6am to walk along the beach with Rachel. Beautiful beach and lots of people walking (we even found some sand dollars).

We spent the morning at home [had to try and catch up on some blogging and sorting out our day's itinery]. We finally decided on Bimmah Sinkhole and Wadi Shab. Mark picked Michael up from a sleepover and we went out to find a service station for petrol and some air to pump up the tyres. Boy, what a hard job that was. 2 faulty air pumps later and a quick lunch at McDonalds we finally found a pump that would work.

We headed south, stopping for the picture perfect views.

After an hour or so's drive, we reached the Bimmah Sinkhole. The sinkhole is a salt water pool which is said to connect to the ocean and was formed when a limestone cavern collapsed. It didn't look like much from the outside, but once we got close, it was gorgeous.

We walked down the stairs, laughing at the tree in the middle of the stairway, following the children who had already taken their shoes off and were heading for the water.

Whilst they swam in the pool Rachel and I stood in the shallow part and had a free fish foot treatment (when we stood still lots of tiny fish nibble at the skin on our feet. Very awesome).

Our next stop was Wadi Shab, a small gorge with pools that create a beautiful swimming area. If we were feeling energetic, we could have done a 2 hour hike and then swum through a key hole opening to get to another beautiful pool [but we didn't]

Matthew and Michael led the way across the river with Rachel and I following. I'm sure they took us the deepest way as many of the people crossing only seemed to be wet up to their knees and I was chest deep (and I'm not quite that short). I wouldn't let go of the camera though and stepped very carefully all the way across (I knew if I dropped the camera I may as well not come out because Cameron would kill me).

The view was worth it though, an oasis in the desert.

With a careful walk back and handing the camera back to Cameron as soon as I was able, we managed a quick play before driving home.

Another busy day (and up early Saturday as we had a boat trip organised for 8am and a 5.30am walk).

The Grand Mosque

Thursday morning we donned our head scarves and went off to visit the Grand Mosque (only open to non-Muslims until 11am).

The grounds were beautiful, so we were oohing and aahing before we'd even reached the actual buildings, and then the sights kept getting better and better.

The women's prayer hall can hold 650 worshippers and is smaller than the men's 

(which can hold 6000). The women have the choice whether to pray at home or at the mosque, whereas the men have to pray in a mosque. We found  a lovely guide to tell us all about the mosque and she even took our photo.

Then we went outside and around the corner to enter the men's prayer hall. 

The men's prayer hall is utterly magnificent. It has the 2nd largest handwoven one piece carpet in the world and the largest chandelier. 

The grounds around the mosque are equally as impressive and they are able to hold extra worshippers (in total the mosque can cater for 20 000).

After spending morning here we went back home for lunch then Mark and Cameron took the boys quad-biking on the sand dunes while Rachel and I had quiet time at home.

In the evening Rachel and I caught a taxi to the souk, where we admired all the fantastic items in the stores.

After a busy day, it was nice to crawl into bed.