Monday
Set off from Manchester at 8am to fly to Abu Dhabi, an 8 hour flight. We arrived about 8pm local time and after a fast taxi ride into the city along six lane highways, checked into the Jumeriah hotel, very impressive fabby dabby lobby with massive windows looking out onto the city and coastline all round. We dropped our bags and went back to the lobby to get a taxi to a restaurant. Our taxi driver, Oliver, did not seem to know where we were going even though we had said the Havana restaurant, near the Marina mall. She got quite cross with us and kept muttering , I think wanting us to get out of her taxi but when we didn’t, turned round in a car park and drove round until she found the right place to drop us, grumbling all the while. We had a kebab type meal and watched some of the people around us, obviously a locals place with couples sharing a hookah and drinking soft drinks. Back to the hotel and headed to bed for some sleep.

Tuesday
We had decided to get a big bus ride round the city to view the sights. The city is very modern and clean with large open roads, lots of coastline and still lots of building going on, including the Biryani, a massive new block of apartments and shops near our hotel. We travelled through the city with many impressive modern skyscrapers and out to the Grand Mosque, an impressive, massive white building set to show off the immense power and wealth of the culture and religion. We had to go in at Mens and Womens entrances and the women had to put on robes with a hood to cover their heads. They were rather unflattering grey or brown polyester, hot, clingy garments. We then walked across acres of white marble and at the entrance to the mosque had to take off our shoes. They were telling us about the fantastic chandeliers, 10 feet across and the hand made carpet which took 10 years to weave and many facts about the building of it. After lunch in the cafe, which was selling camel milk ice cream, we carried on with the bus tour, past many fabulous modern buildings until we got to the old souk where we got off the bus. We discovered that they had knocked the old souk down a few years ago and built a new mall to replace it. What a disappointment, another generic shopping mall so we caught the next bus and on with the journey. We came back down to the waterfront and had a sail for three quarters of an hour on an old wooden dhow in the Arabian Gulf. Back to the hotel for a quick wash and brush up and then out for dinner.

Wednesday
Early start, meeting in the hotel lobby at 5.30 for a taxi to the airport. Feeling good that we have had some sleep and ready for a 14 hour flight on to Sydney. Fully expecting to have a 7 hour day and then a 7 hour night on the aircraft but there seemed to be no desire to sleep so watched another film or two and ate another meal or two. Landing at Sydney 6 am on Thursday.