The Sands of Dubai

Dubai, April 24 - Dubai was a planned 2 day lay over to break up the flight from Australia back to London and to provide us with a taste of the extravagance of this quickly developing city. But after almost 7 months of traveling we were getting exhausted and found our hearts were not into our visit here. On top of that, the new $250 dollar welcome charge in visa fees further cut into our enthusiasm and budget for Dubai. Thank you Mr. Harper.

Jeremaih Beach, Dubai

We landed in Dubai at 5:30am local time and it was already hot. A 30 minute taxi drive took us through the sprawling city of Dubai to our hotel. Along the way we saw the world's tallest building and the world's first 7 star hotel before arriving at our relatively modest hotel near the marina. At about the same price to just walk into the 7 star hotel we scored a 2 bedroom 3 bathroom suite next to the beach. Oddly our room was not ready at 7:00am in the morning so we headed to the beach. As usual the heat got to Aaron first and he jumped in the water clothes and all. After a nap in the hotel we all returned to the beach in the afternoon where we got to watch the rich play with their yachts and take turns paragliding from airplanes.

Camel Riding in Dubai

Our second day it was a choice of going shopping, downhill skiing, visiting Wild Wadi's water park, going shopping, checking out the old city, going shopping, or taking in a desert safari. The desert safari won out and after spending the morning at the beach it was off to the desert surrounding the city of Dubai. As a safari it was far from our African experience, instead it was a joy ride through the desert bashing over dunes in a Toyota Landcruiser. Niall enjoyed the thrill, Aaron got scared, Susan almost got sick, and I hoped Susan wouldn't kill me when we got out of the car. Luckily, the event also included some sand boarding, a short camel ride and dinner in a desert camp complete with traditional(?) dancing. The male dancers were impressive and reminiscent of the twirling dervishes in Turkey. As for the belly dancing it didn't even compare with what we had seen in Istanbul. The experience wasn't what was hoped for but showed us one facet of Dubai in the short time we had here.

Desert near Dubai

After our excursion out in the desert, Susan and I headed out for a stroll along the outdoor mall. At 10:30pm the heat of the day had dissipated and we found the restaurants and sidewalks were now full of people. Of all the places we had been in the last 7 months, we heard more different languages being spoken in these few blocks of Dubai than anywhere else. It had become obvious to us that just as in the past, the Middle East is still a crossroads of world trade and commerce and Dubai is a symbol of the riches that come with it. Our 2 days in Dubai showed us that we were really just visitors to this realm of riches and as we departed Dubai we knew our own riches of home were becoming that much closer.

For a few more pictures of Dubai, check out our web album.

Close Encounters of the Australian Kind

Pebbly Beach

Pebbly Beach, February 28 – After leaving the Blue Mountains we headed back to the coast and started heading south towards Victoria. Along the way we spent a few days enjoying the beaches and warm weather of the late Australian summer. For the first time in 48 years I got to celebrate my birthday camping and swimming at a beach. The boys enjoyed playing in the surf with Niall trying body surfing and thanks to a friendly Australian family who loaned us boogie board. Aaron had a much more simple approach to playing in the surf, he simply enjoyed being pounded and tossed about by the waves. As fun as all this was, Susan and I wanted to begin taking in some of the truly unique features of Australia, namely the animals. So far we had yet to see a kangaroo.

Wallaby - Jervis Bay

Further south along the coast were some national parks and the promise of seeing kangaroos. A short stop at the beaches of Jervis Bay gave us our first encounter with a wallaby, a kangaroo like animal but perhaps a little cuter. But it was Pebbly Beach that would be our main destination. There we were told kangaroos frequently visited the beach near the campground.

A couple pf "roos" at Pebbly Beach

Arriving at Pebbly Beach it wasn't long before we had our first encounter of the kangaroo kind. While setting up the tent a young male kangaroo joined us in our campsite. After calmly hopping into our campsite, we found ourselves looking eye to eye with him. The kangaroo stood there looking at us as if trying to introduce himself and with the help of the park ranger introductions were made and Niall was able to pet the kangaroo! This was the first of what would be many kangaroo encounters over the next few days. Later that evening we discovered over 30 kangaroos grazing near the beach. The next day hiking along a coastal trail we came across several other large groups of kangaroos. They seem to be everywhere and many with young joeys in their pouches. We were just enthralled watching them as they hopped around so gracefully and easily. They were such a different animal to anything we had seen before and we all just loved watching them.

Cooking on the "barbie"

At night it was the possums that joined us at the campsite. These are Australia's answer to a raccoon. About the same size as a raccoon these animals made a nightly patrol of the campsite scavenging for food and licking the barbecues clean. With their very dexterous paws and inquisitive eyes they seemed very cute but this was betrayed by their growling as they seem to argue with each other and fight over scraps of food. Needless to say we were not about to make them to welcome in our campsite and as in Canada took the usual precautions of storing our food in the trunk of the car.

Susan with one of the locals

At lunch the next day, the local population of parrots, lorikeets, and other colourful birds introduced themselves. These birds are also very habituated to campers and quickly invited themselves for lunch. Setting themselves up on the roof of the kitchen shelter they eyed our lunch and if we turned our backs on them they would swoop in and help themselves. If we left the kitchen shelter we ran the risk of being mobbed especially with other visitors encouraging this behaviour by feeding them. Aaron got a fright when a bird pitched unexpectedly on his shoulder and it wasn't long before a parrot took up residence on Susan's shoulder. It was all very comical and we all enjoyed the opportunity to see these very colourful birds up close.

Aaron checks out a kangaroo

It was a great couple of days watching wildlife at Pebbly Beach and we enjoyed seeing so many Australian animals for the first time and so close. Seeing these animals for real is just so different from what we had imagined. For us it was amazing and we wondered what the first Europeans to arrive in Australia must have thought.


For more of our pictures of our encounters at Pebbly Beach see our web album.