Hamburg - 29th to 30th of June 2011

A speedy 2 hour train north west to Hamburg. More of a stopover on our way to meet friends in Dusseldorf, we had an afternoon to walk around the city, through the town square and along the canals, and up the top of Michaeliskirche (St Michael's Church) for a lookout across the city). With one of the biggest shipyards in Europe, it is perhaps not surprising that it also has one of the biggest red light districts. A miserable night weatherwise, we found a cool little bar to shelter from the rain, a nice change from the endless sun in Dubai!

Berlin - 27th to 29th of June 2011

Arriving in Germany after a mental busy weekend in the UK, we couldn't do anything before a quick snooze at the hotel! Having heard they were almost must-dos in Berlin, we wandered over to Alexanderplatz mid afternoon for the start of a bike tour of the major sights of Berlin.

Checkpoint Charlie

Berlin Wall (or what's left of it)

Holocaust Memorial, still creating controversy today.

Brandenburg Gate

After all that cycling, thankfully the tour took in more culture, an awesome beer garden in the middle of a giant city park.

Final stop as the sun was going down, the Reichstag, seat of the German parliament.

Having ticked off most of the sights on the bike tour, we spent the following day going to the few remaining highlights and revisting a couple of sights in more detail. Namely the Jewish Museum the SS Museum and some of the remaining sections of the wall.

A pretty huge night out followed. We went out on a organised pub crawl with a bunch of 18 year olds, we figured it might be fun, and it kinda was. Met a few nice people and got showed a few "different" bars around a small part of the city. All topped off by an awesome Doner Kebab - Germany has a huge Turkish population and so Berlin in particular has a reputation for great Kebabs. We had our share on this holiday, but for some reason at 3am they are just so good!

Weekend in the UK - 24th to 27th of June 2011

We were lucky enough to be invited to the wedding of our good friends in Dubai, held back in the UK. We arrived at Heathrow on Friday morning and went our seperate ways - Ange into London to spend the day catching up with Nicola, and Warren down to Sussex to play a round of golf. We caught up later that night back in London with the old crew of London friends.

Up early on Saturday morning to head out to Somerset for the wedding, about an hour and a half Southwest on the train and another 30 minutes by cab to the venue. We were staying on site in an awesome old manor, so got dolled up and walked to the top of the drive to the private chapel for the ceremony.

Back to the manor for the reception, bubbly, croquet, and dancing.

Up early on Sunday to make our way back to London for an afternoon in the sun. We went back to one of our favourite pubs with a great beer garden, more time to catch up with friends about the latest goings on in London.

Too many early mornings in a row, but we had a flight to catch so were up early on Monday and out to Heathrow for the flight onto Germany...

Yas Island (Abu Dhabi) - 22nd and 23rd of April 2011

A blast down Sheik Zayad road to Yas Island, about 45 minutes south of Dubai and almost to Abu Dhabi. Yas Island is a development project that (although still WIP) has hotels, hosts the Abu Dhabi F1 grand prix, and most importantly has an amazing golf course.

Planned as a golf weekend, we met three of Warren's workmates (plus one of their girlfriends) at the golf course for lunch on Friday, after which we played a round of golf while the girls sunned themselves back at the hotel.

A dip and a great dinner back at the hotel, we then played another round on Saturday afternoon before hitting the road back north to Dubai.

Beirut - 16th to 19th of February 2011

Straight back from New Zealand, a re-pack, and Warren was off to Beirut for skiing weekend with the boys. Beirut is a 3 hour flight north from Dubai, and the ski field about 1.5 hours up the mountain from there. Day 1 was rediculous, too much snow to do anything, blizzard conditions and only the baby slope to keep us occupied. But that meant days 2 and 3 were amazing skiing, lots of snow and not too many people since it wasn't the weekend. Day 4 was a bit of a write-off, the snow too slushy and the people too pushy. Overall a great weekend and definitely worth the trip, surprisingly good skiing, and a decent sized area that kept us busy for a good three days.

New Zealand trip home - 2nd to 15th of February 2011

Not sure if we really needed to do this blog since we saw basically everyone we know on this trip, but here are some of our pics from our trip back to New Zealand in February. Ultimately 10 awesome days with friends and family!

Muscat (Oman) - 31 December 2010 to 2 January 2011

A long weekend and some visitors (Warren's folks) in town, good enough reason for a roadie to Oman! Jumped in the car for 5 hours or so across desert, through the border crossing and down the coast to Muscat. Time for a stroll around the lovely Muscat harbour and lively market before a night of cards and wine waiting for the clocks to tick over to 2011. A drive around to the old part of Muscat for a walk around the bay and past the Ruler's Palace. Hitting the road again further east, to the most eastern point of the Arabian Peninsula. We stayed at a fun little camp in the desert, just down the road from one of the best turtle nesting spots in the world.

Camera's weren't allowed (so the photos are stolen from the net), but we were essentially guided down onto the beach with about 20 others, to watch some old gal lay her eggs (roughly looking like shelled hard boiled eggs). The guides also found a few little hatchlings for us to watch trying to make their way down to the sea. A fantastic taste of nature.

Unfortunately we had a big drive back to Dubai via Muscat - plenty of time to admire the scenery!

Fun times in Dubai - December 2010 to January 2011

We were lucky enough for Warren's parents to come for a nice long visit over the new year period, so a great opportunities to have more fun times in Dubai and do the touristy things. Here are some of the highlights:


Hanging at the Marina (our part of town) and the nearby beach:

Spending time in and around the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, and the view from the top:

At the many hotels overlooking the other iconic Dubai building - the Burj Al Arab:

Evening dune bashing and dinner at desert camp:

Day trip down to Abu Dhabi (about an hour or so down the highway) to see the Grand Mosque and the Emirates Palace Hotel.