Stepping Up

So I guess your wondering why Mehdi is rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous on board? Well he's finally done his business upgrade!

Here is is receiving his certificate on the proud day of his graduation.

Well done Sweet Pea..! xo

Mehdi and The Doctor

Here's Mehdi with 'The Doctor' on his flight from DXB-KUL. I think The Doc left the aircraft 1 helmet down!

Boxing Day

The next day, Mehdi's last :(..., the boys went fishing with Paul on his and Anna's boat, 'Mr Hooker'. While Mum, Jess, Ayden and I had breakfast in town and met the rest of the gang at the beach. By all reports it was a tough day at sea but they caught a couple of buckets of stripey tuna and Dad famously lost a yellow fin! We all met in the harbour for beer o'clock...

That night we went to Paul and Anna's for dinner, we had the tuna that Paul caught Christmas Eve, which by the way was delicious! Then we kicked Paul's butt in kelly pool! Another top day!

Christmas at ho ho Home..!

Mehdi and I are back in Dubai after an awsome christmas at the farm. I left Dubai on the 15th of Dec, a couple of days before Mehdi. He couldn't get his visa on time so he went to Belgium for three days. I arrived easrly on the morning of the 16th and spent two days with Mum and Dad. Mehdi arrived on the 18th and then Mum, Mehdi and I flew to Sydney on the 20th. (That's Mum and Mehdi above being disruptive passengers!) Dad stayed behind to meet the satelite guys and flew down on the 22nd directly to the farm. But Me and Mehdi and Mum took a little detour to Wyangala Dam to take a tour of the catchment area.
Pop gave Mehdi and the hire car a run for thier money, taking us on a few dodgy roads and over more than one crater sized pot hole. But we had a great time and the detour was well worth the little bit of extra time. Then it was just a quick drive down to Bermagui, and we were soon settled in to the great house that Dad and Jess had found. The next day we went straight out to the farm and we were just in time for the Christmas tree decorating. Pos and Pop had found a wattle branch as an Aussie Christmas tree for James and Will that turned out to be very authentic. Here's James putting some decorations on the tree.

The days went so quickly, Dad came down the day after we arrived and before we knew it, it was christmas eve. We sat out on the verandah at Grandma and Grandfather's. Pete found an old AB Paterson book and we took turns in reading, I think we gave Mehdi and Andy an education in Aussie culture but James and Will had the fat man on thier minds! Jess and Ayden arrived pretty late that night so they went straight to the Bermagui house. The next day I couldn't sleep and I was up so early waking everyone in the house up! We got to the farm at about 8:30 and were way too late! The kids had obviously been up opening presents for ages! Riley was already in the padock with his brand new dirt bike! Mehdi was jelous!

We opened some pressies and had an Aussie barbie breaky, Jessie and I to Ayden and Mehdi for a walk around the farm and it was already time for a glass of champagne (or a crownie).

I think it was time for lunch! Nearly everybody had some hand in lunch and it turned out to be a real feast!

After lunch we decided that we would go and see if the old track to the lake was still open, but we got a little lost and ended up at Dignans Creek instead...Mehdi jumped at the chance to get on Geoff's bike!

Me and Dad went on the quad, and everyone else got in Jess and Ayden's Hilux and Petes Rav4. On our way home Mehdi got a little lost and had a bit of a 'Wolf's Creek' moment but Ayden and I came to his rescue! and a good day was generaly had by all! the end.

Christmas Shopping

I just had to put this on the blog because I thought of Ayden as soon as I saw it!

Shame it weighs a HUGE 4kg- a bit too heavy to bring home...

Nagoya

This was my first Japanese flight since joining, so I was really exited to go with Mehdi. It's another long sector, about 10hrs.

Arriving at night time local made it easier to adjust. We went to bed pretty much as soon as we got in so we got up early the next morning ready to shop. It's winter there at the moment but the weather was nicer than expected. We ate so much food but Loved it! Here I am outside a small restaraunt in the main street. The other pic is of me and Mehdi on board.

Flying Together Again

Last month Mehdi and I had two great flights together! The 1st was Melbourne- Aukland (a 5 day trip) and right after that we had Nagoya (24hrs).
Melbourne-Aukland is a bit of a killer because the DXB-MEL sector is about 14hrs long, so when you arive in Melbourne your pretty killed! But we had heaps of fun. We flew with a great crew in ecconomy, so we had lots of fun down the back and kept each other awake (and alive!). Our first day in Melbourne was a bit hazy, we arrived early in the morning and decided not to sleep so that we could get a solid nights rest that night as we had to be up again early the next morning to go to Aukland. So we spent the day wandering around Melbourne like the walking dead. The beautiful weather and fresh air revived us a bit, so we found the energy to go to the Belgian Beer Bar for lunch. By the time we got back to the hotel at around 5:30pm we were ready for bed. Our collegues in the next room, who had just got in from Aukland had other ideas. They partied all night and were still partying when we left the room at 6:00am for our flight to Aukland. The weather in Aukland was a bit cooler than Melbourne but still sunny and fresh. We had a nice long walk around Aukland and Green Mussles from the Belgian Beer Bar, and we got back to our hotel ready for that elusive long nights sleep! We were up early the next morning and were on a mission! We did a bit of shopping and went to the local fish market where we got a great lunch of local oysters and fish. Then it was back to the hotel to get ready for our flight back to Melbourne. This is a picture of the Emirates sponsored America's Cup Yaught that was parked in the harbour near the fish market in Aukland.

Our trip to Dusseldorf

Mehdi and I just came back from our first flight together for AGES! We went to Dusseldorf in the south of Germany. Sami and Doro drove up for the night. We went straight into the city to find the biggest sauciest sausages available, it was a freezing cold day so a giant hot dog went down beautifully. We had a light dinner and a drink in the hotel and hit the sack pretty early coz we were all dead tired. We got up at a civil hour the next morning and had a buffet breakfast in the hotel. The time flew by and soon it was time to get ready and go. It was so great to see Sami and Doro, they really made an effort to come and see us! Here are some photo's of us just before we left.

It was Dad's birthday while we were away in Dussledorf, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY! We missed you but were glad to hear Jessie and Ayden made you a nice dinner!

Some days at the Beach

Mehdi and I recently had four days off together. We spent most of those days at the beach. Here's Mehdi sitting on the rock wall just near this little beach we found a few k's away from the Burj Al Arab.

This is me looking very squinty, you can see the Burj in the background, just.

Here's the Burj at sunset on a beautiful clear day.

Dubai Going Crazy

Buildings have been popping up like mushrooms aound here! These are some photo's we took of construction going on around the city.

This is the Burj Dubai getting closer to completion as construction goes on around the clock. It's scarily tall! When it's finished it will be the tallest building in the world. At the bottom (left of the tower) will be the worlds largest shopping mall.

This one is of some cranes working around the Burj Dubai.

This is the city scape at sunset, always growing out of the sand! If you look closely you can see all the cranes.

Mehdi looking smug in Malta

Here's Mehdi looking very smug, and for good reason! He's sitting at a Cafe in Malta... he's been getting all the good destinations, so he's been taking all the photos! But he's also done his share of rubbish, he's had three Dakas in as many months and some pretty awful night time turn arounds, so I guess he's paying his dues as well.

Here are some photo's Mehdi took around the island.

Mehdi had two days downroute so he got lots of time to look around and sample the local cuisine, namely Rabbit and Horse as well as lots of lamb and oily fish.... mmmm.....

Mehdi in Nice

Mehdi went to Nice last month and (our good friend and flatmate) Florent's parents took Mehdi on a tour of the city. He said it was a great 24hrs and a big thanks to Mr and Mrs Brousse for making him welcome. Also thanks to Macdonalds for the great breakfast of croissants (since when does Maccas serve french pastries for breakfast? Well, apparently in Nice, they do!) Here are some photo's of the lovely Nice;and flashy marina of a little town the French call MONACO!

Dubai Desert Challenge

Well, it's been a long time since Greece and a fair bit has been happening! We have been back to Liege at least twice, our plans for Christmas have been coming together, Sami and Doro have both passed thier exams at school and are going to spend 15 weeks in Australia at the beginning of next year, Mum and Dad have sold the house and are moving further north, and Mehdi and I are still here... We haven't been flying together very much lately, but we still manage to get our off days together. Here are some photo's I took at the Dubai Desert Challenge Rally start day in Jumeira.

This is the Dubai Civil Defence Corvette!?

Greece cont.

Sami and Doro buzzing along in one of the little buggies we hired to see the island.

The view from the road.

Mehdi and I at Paradise Beach, where we spent the day.

Doro looking beautidul and sunkissed at the verandah bar. A great place for a Martini Bianco (the only drinkable thing on the menu).

Greece

Mehdi managed to get a few days off before me so he flew to Brussels (via Vienna with Austrain Airlines) to spend a few extra days with his family and arrange our travel plans.

We really had no idea where we were going, so Sami and Mehdi headed down to the travel agent to find out what packages where available in the next couple of days. We ended up getting a great last minute deal on 7nights, 8days on a little island called Kos in the Aegean Sea.

A couple of days later I flew to Brussels (via Vienna) with Emirates, of course the Emirates flight was delayed and I missed my connection in Vienna. Luckily there was another flight leaving soon and it just meant a couple of hours delay. When I arrived in Brussels, a very exited Sami, Dorothee and Mehdi came to pick me up and told me the good news that we would be flying to Greece the next morning. I had just enough time to fit in choucroute at Mamy's and the next morning the four of us jumped on a plane to Kos!

"Hurry Up, Brooke!" this is Mehdi just after we arrived, keen to explore the resort.

A couple of photo's from the beach on the 1st day. (Sami and Doro above, and me).

These were taken in the little village, Kardamaina, about 5 minutes drive from our hotel.

Sami and Doro outside the marketplace in the capital city of Kos also called Kos.

The team in Kos.

Here's Doro and I with the faux 'Socrates Thinking Tree'.

The Sorates Thinking Tree is Kos's main attraction. This is where the father of modern medicine supposedly wrote the Hypocratic Oath. This is just some random tree that we thought was THE tree when a sign showing the direction of THE tree was pointing straight at the faux tree, if you get my drift. So we stood around snapping shots of the wrong tree while the other tourists thought we were idiots.

THE Tree and ruins.

This is where we ate lunch in Kos.