July

Me at Noosa Beach, I can't beleive how warm it was! We miss aussie weather!

Even though we had so much to do we still made time for a walk on the beach.

Mehdi and I spent a couple of days on the Gold Coast and one night at June and Gordons place at Numinbah. We took the opportunity to catch up with everyone we could! We also went for lunch with Faye and Harley and Tony and Carol. This is a pic of Mehdi with Tony and Carol at Carolines House.

A beautiful Noosa sunset.

On one day we went for a drive to Monville, here's a pick of Mehdi at the Pennyfarthing Pub.

Jessie and Ayden.

Ellie and Josie.

Jessie and I (and Josie).

After flying back to Dubai and repacking our suitcases, we were heading for Australia. The weekend after we arrived was Aydens Birthday and Jess had arranged to hire a boat for the day. We had really nice weather. This is Dad driving.

A view of Berlin from the Berlin TV tower.

Another 300kms's and we were in Berlin. This is a pic of me at the old Allied Forces Checkpoint that was used during the time of the Berlin Wall, nicknamed Checkpoint Charlie.

We made our way back to Dubai via Wolfsburg (the home on VW), Berlin and Hamburg. This is a pic of Mehdi at the VW Autostadt and Factory. Wolfsburg is about a 500km drive from Belgium but it didn't take us too long on the Autobahn.

Mehdi and Mamy walking in Beaufays on a lovely sunny day.

Mehdi and I at Walibi.

In July, Mehdi and I were on leave for the WHOLE month! Although it felt like the shortest month of our lives, it was alot of fun. We started off in Belgium where we stayed for about 10 days. Unfortunately, Kilani was in Saudi, Cyrinne was in Tunisia, Wajdi was in Hungry, Ingrid was very busy and Sami was working but that left us lots of time to spend with Mamy and Mehdi's friends. Here we are at Walibi (a theme park).

Banneux

Banneux is the sight of well known miracle in Belgium, where Marriette Beco saw the Virgin Mary appear to her three times giving the same message every night. At the sight there is a water source, it is said that the water from that source is holy and has healing properties. You can see people there who have travelled long distances to take some water and pray to the Virgin Mary. Mamy often goes to Banneux to take some water for herself. Here we are collecting some water at the source; Doro and I.

Belgium in Spring

After we got back from Venice we still had a couple of days of holidays so we hopped over to Belgium for four days. They'll be getting sick of us soon! But we had a very nice time. These are some photos I took one night at Kilani's appartment.

Wajdi, Sami, Mehdi, Cyrinne and Kilani (from left).

Cyrinne, Wajdi, Sami and Mehdi (from left).

We were there over the weekend, and as Dorothee had the weekend off, we decided to go with Sami and Dorothee to an Amusement Park in the country side. It was a beautiful sunny day and the scenery was just as lovely. We were even able to wear short sleeves (a real treat in Belgium!).

Here we are at the lookout (I really like my new glasses).

Sami and Dorothee on the octopus ride. We made sure we did this one before lunch!

Mia Anniversare alla Venizia!

My Birthday in Venice!

Mehdi and I were at a bit of a loss as to what to do with our holiday this month, as the Carribean Islands were off our list due to Swine Flue and flights to Aus were overbooked. So we ended up in the City of Lovers- Venice. Since we were on a bit of a budget we decided to make it short and sugary, instead of long and, well... average. So we booked in at the Palace Bonvecchiatti for two nights. And sweet it was!

Mehdi on the Vaparetto (water bus), on our way to the hotel.

Me in the St Marcs Square (pigeon mecca!).

The Ponte di Rialto (Rialto Bridge). Legend has it that if two lovers kiss while passing under the brigde at sunset they will share life long happiness.

Gondolas on the Grand Canal.

A side 'street'.

Me at the Ponte di Rialto showing off two lovely birthday presents, sunglasses (from Mehdi) and pearl bracelet (from Mum and Dad).

Abu Dhabi

Today we went for a drive to the capital, Abu Dhabi.

We went to see a Big Boys Toys exhibition, but on the way to stopped off to see HH Sheikh Hamad Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan's private car collection that is open to the public as 'Emirates National Auto Museum'. It's very impressive, you can check out the official website at http://www.enam.ae/ver4 for a few quick facts about His Highness see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamad_bin_Hamdan_Al_Nahyan he is a very interesting guy!

Mehdi with the mother of all Landies! Take that Big Pineapple! (it's a cafe!!)

'What do you mean you can't make it a monster truck!?'

'Daddy, I want the BIG one.' The world smallest *!@?, I mean the worlds largest truck! It's custom built by dodge, inside the tray is an appartment and it tows HH's scale built globe shaped carravan into the desert, duh? You can see a ute parked under it and the original and toy size in front.

Belgiqia encore

Mehdi and I had a few days off at the end of April so we took the chance to go to Belgium.

Here is Mehdi at a tiny friterie in a little town that we stopped at AS SOON AS we crossed the belgian border.

Fritte-mayo, tre belge! As it was ANZAC day, I had to have a beer! -Bitburger, not excactly a Tooheys, but it was cold and fizzy.

Capetown

We also got to go to Capetown, which was so beautiful!
Much like myself (see above) lol, only kidding. This is me on the bus on the way to the hotel thinking about what I'm having for dinner!

The weather was perfect for sightseeing. We got to the hotel late in the afternoon and hurried to change and catch a taxi to the cable car at Table Mountain. We got there just in time to catch the last car, 6:30pm. The view from the mountain was breathtaking, you really get a sense of being at the end of the world.

The view of The Cape of Good Hope (the most southern tip of Africa, where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet) from the top of Table Mountain. The Great Ocean Road has nothing on this!

A view over Capetown.

The view down to Camps Bay (where we went for dinner).

The next day at the waterfront, where we had GREAT fish and chips.

We will definately be going back to Capetown!

Beijing 2009

Mehdi and I went to Beijing this month, which was a little cold but all sunny skies!
We hired a car (with driver) for the day went to the Forbidden City and Tianamen Square and the Great Wall.... Here are some pics of Lovers in Beijing xxx

Me in the car on the way to the Forbidden City

The outer walls and moat, we walked most of the perimiter.

Inside the forbidden city there were heaps of tourist groups but they seemed to be mostly regional. You can see them here wearing matching hats or jackets.

Me at the wal

Mehdi on Mongol Patrol

One last look at the wall.

Deutchland- Belgie

We just had five days off so we thought we head over to Europe. We flew into Dussledorf and drove down to Liege via Nurburg and Malmedi. Here is Mehdi at the Nurburg-ring race track (we went on a mission to get some stickers for Mehdi's car).

Here I am on some tiny country road close the the German-Belgian boundary, we almost got a little bit lost but due to my superior navigation skills we stayed mostly on the right track.

Mamy and I in a pizzeria in Mastricht just across the Dutch border.

Pizza Dough!!!

It was really great to catch up with everyone! It had been a while, hope to be back soon, as always the food was great but still no match for the company!!! xxx

Doro, Ingrid and I.

Cyrinne, Sam, Wajdi and Mehdi.

Rania and Us

Rania is here in Dubai doing some work experience for her degree. Last weekend we went to the beach together. Here we are!