V8s

Last Saturday Nick and I went to Yas Island in Abu Dhabi to attend the "Thunder from Down Under" - the V8 super car series from Oz (and NZ) had come to town (first leg of their series - with the second in Bahrain, and then back to Oz). I was a bit crook unfortunately - children are walking petri dishes, and Jaime had learned to share (her germs). Nevertheless, suitably chemically-enhanced, we trekked to Abu Dhabi to attend. Very small crowd unfortunately - had clearly not captured the imagination of the locals - but what a great day. The facility at Yas Island (where they hold the Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix) is amazing - wonderful track, wonderful seating with great views, great internal facilities including free water and snacks etc. A really fantastic day - thanks to Nick for organising. There were a number of different races throughout the day as well - most won by either Saudi or UAE princes - so the spectacle was great.

You can see the home straight below - apparently the 'air traffic control tower' at the end is a viewing facility just for the ruling family in Abu Dhabi and their guests. Love it.

Below is the Yas Hotel - a space age kind of structure, that sits right in the middle of the race track - you have to cross a bridge over the track to get to the Hotel. Right next door is the nearly-completed Ferrari theme park - going to have the fastest roller coaster in the world. The theme park has a massive red roof over the top of most of the attractions, which is the way that they will keep things cool enough in the summer months. Can't wait to go.

One of the highlights of the day was the pits walk - we got to walk along the pit lane, see all the cars, and all the drivers. Wonderful noises - clearly I retain my Greerton, Tauranga roots, because the sound of the V8s being revved gave me goose bumps. Below you can see the car of Jamie Whincup - great driver came from Ford to Holden at the end of last season (using his powers for good now, not evil).

I met some really nice people there.

And so did Nick.

And Jamie Whincup in the Holden beat the crap out of the Fords, and won both races. Quality will always win out.... And Shane Van Gisbergen (20 yr old Kiwi) got third.

What a fantastic day. Cannot wait to do it again next year,

International Day

The kids attended international day at school last week - where everyone wears their national costume. It's quite a big thing, with parades and stalls etc. Both kids were very excited this time about wearing the new costumes that Viv had got them (and using the pois she had made)! I tried to attach a video of Jaime's 'magnificent' poi skills, but it's large a file sorry - will work on that! Anyway, the kids were very proud to be in their new costumes, and really looked wonderful, as you can see.
Pois get tangled sometimes...

Two very proud children - the facial tattoos are still on, 3 days later...

A for effort here - Jaime swings pois hard!

Little friends from Jaime's class - Netherlands, South Africa, Denmark, India and NZ.

The parade

One of the teachers (a Kiwi guy) led a haka on stage. You can just see Jack on the right hand side of the picture getting into it.

Christmas Dubai-Style

OK - so this blog entry is about 6 weeks late. Sorry - been busy! Better late than never though. After considering a white christmas, we decided to have our first on away from NZ in Dubai. We went to Atlantis and stayed two nights for Christmas. The hotel was fully booked, so much for the recession. It was an amazing hotel. Below was the view from our hotel room. Looking down on one of the pools and back out along the Palm. The hotel is situated right at the end of the Palm.

Below you can see the train line that nobody uses because it doesn't join up with any other transport and is expensive. Looks good though.

Dressed to explore the waterpark with a beautiful christmas tree behind us. Shame Jaime was too short for most of the rides. We won't go back until she is the right height.

This is the kids adventure playground in the water. Loads of fun to be had if you are little.

Jack with his ring. You have to carry the floatation devices around all day which is annoying. Not very well designed the whole park. Beautiful but not just not well thought out.

Andrew on the leap of faith. Andrew and Nick went first with Bindi and I on camera duty.

Me on the leap of faith. I didn't chicken out like the girl on The Amazing Race. It was a great ride not scary at all and over very quick. You go through the shark tank but you have water splashing in you face and you can't see a thing and its over in about 15 secs. We wouldn't convince Jack to do it but next time I will make him.

Bindi and me happy to have taken the leap of faith and survived smiling.

Jaime in front of the hotel down on the beach. We took a little boat out on the morning of the 26th. It was hard work peddling the thing and we only lasted 20 mins before getting very bored. Plus I was grumpy at having to wear a life jacket. What part of "I can swim very well" didn't the silly lady get? For those of you who know me well I don't take instructions well.

All in all a fab holiday and it made christmas an amazing experience. Our friends (kiwi's) Nick Bindi and their two gorgeous girls Holly and Lucy joined us for christmas day and dinner it was lovely. Thanks guys.