On, On Into the New Year ...

G'day

Well, another year is down and another has begun.

Thanks to our friends Michael and Gayle Dougall from Mount Isa and local friends too numerous to mention, we had a great Christmas and New Year period wining, dining and socialising. As I say more often these days, "What else could one want in life but good food, good wine and good friends?" We have certainly been blessed with all three and have a few other creature comforts too.

Michael and Gayle have driven off to Muscat in Oman today and of course I'm at work for this and the next two weeks until our end of semester holidays begin. Since Michael and Gayle have been here we've been up to Jebal Hafit for lunch, tried out the fish night at the Al Ain Intercontinental's Wok Restaurant ... delightful. We've driven to Abu Dhabi and up along the UAE coast as far as Dibba returning via Mussafah Friday Markets (the Friday markets that are open every day!). Chris and I also attended the wedding of Oscar, one of my work colleagues which was a Philipino affair. Good to see someone else taking the road to matrimonial bliss.

Between us we've taken several hundred photographs of the elaborately decorated roundabouts in the UAE (mainly Al Ain) and streets, mosques, parks and gardens, events and friends etc. These will add to our fond memories of our time in the UAE when we are back in Alice Springs wondering why we ever returned. We're bound to wonder that given the cheap cost of living here compared with that in Australia and particularly Alice Springs.

As another year dawns, we look forward to continuing our journey in the UAE, holidaying in Europe during the mid-year break, and consolidating and preparing our financial and other affairs for our eventual return to Oz in mid-2008.

We hope this finds you and yours well and you follow our lead and get a blog so we can keep in touch more frequently and easily. M&G have now got their own blog and have promised to update it at least monthly. Time will tell. On Friday M&G will have flown out of Dubai and Graham and Anne of Bundaberg arrive for a few days on their return from visiting family in England.

Every best wish


Robin
for Robin and Christina