Dubai the City & the Freezing Ski Slopes
I Love it here SO clean and HOT.Dubai boasts the largest building in the world.Budget hotels provide an excellent service including full english breakfast.I have been here several times and is a brilliant place to visit.Taxis are relatively cheap and easily accessed =Shopping Malls are HUGE and a person could quite easily spend the day in them Lots of speciality shop One particular shop had life size metal figures of the Predator & Alien (reall life like & made entirely from scrap metal)& plenty of eateries.We visited a cinema to watch Harry Potter battle evil (good film) the cinemas are very comfortable and are also within the Mall. Most amazingly tho is the massive Ski slope in the Mall !! The ambient weather is kept to a very cold -6C !! Once inside for a brief moment you could be in the Alps !! It is compulsory to wear the warm clothes & shoes provided on entry People catch a ski lift to the slope top & Ski down Other activities include sled runs (Annie never knowing the pleasure of this treat went down the sled run twice!!) The staff were brilliant Ice sculptures magnificent and definitely a place NOT to be missed
Dubai
Currently sat in This fantastic Dubai airport Will be back here when we reach UH and settle in (probably Monday) stay tuned for some fantastic Dubai pictures
We are currently in Limbo awaiting our flight to Dubai & Blackpool
Today was our last full “tourist” day looking around Perth The weather was a perfect 25 C and BLUE skies.We took a ferry ride across Perth Water ( Im free coz of my retirement Annie had to pay FULL price !! she is costing me a fortune in fares !!) There is an excellent “light” show on in Perth Forrest Chase a HUGE Plastic shaped dome (s) that once inside incredible coloured lights are displayed purely by sun streaming thru the different coloured plastic domes.Perth central was filled with lots of tourist and music flowed thru the air courtesy of musical buskers (One in particular playing a Sitar making me want to break out into a Bollywood dance !! ) Perth is a vibrant city & well worth a visit ALL City transport is very regular and best of all FREE !!! NEXT…Dubai & UK for NEXT 3 months stay tuned
Last 3 Days in Perth FULL Blogs will return Monday next as we head for Blackpool UK
Its been great catching up with friends,work colleagues (and residents) and family ubai is our next stop for a few days then onto my home town of Blackpool where my mission is to try and visit ALL the pubs n clubs I frequented as a young bloke (should take weeks !!) It will be great meeting my HUGE family & friends Photos hopefully will be a plenty
My Small Tribute to the Men an Women of the Armed Forces
This is our last Sunday in Australia before departing for the Shores of England (Dear old Blighty) & my small tribute to those that have kept me a free thinking person,the choice to go where ever I like,living conditions that are the best in the world ( even though I have worked 50 yrs to get to this stage !!) Kings Park in Perth is a permanent reminder of those who have served & & fallen in order to achieve the conditions mentioned The tree lined Avenue leading up to the War Memorial ( Cenotaph) has HUGE Gum trees all along the road way & each tree is named after a service person A very fitting tribute to those “Lest we forget ” The Cenotaph & the Eternal burning flame bear tribute to those past & present Service men & women who helped forge our precious way of living
Perth as I see it
Its been great to catch up with family & friends as a Tourist !! Buses in central Perth are FREE and Tourist buses (Red/Blue & Yellow) circle the town every 10 mins.The town itself is rapidly growing and lots of giant cranes hover over the city.Our main central park (Kings Park) is magnificent The fallen soldiers memorial is a tribute to the War dead & I will hopefully do a special Blog as my tribute to those that fought to give me this brilliant way of life.The park is chocabloc full of birds & Flora (sadly no kangaroos!) The spiral viewing tower is awesome & I have scaled it many times in the past (emphasis being on the past !!) we ventured into Midland,saw a movie & bumped into old pals These blogs will be a little sparse due to us flying off to Dubai for a few days then onto England (But will return beginning of December with lots of pics as we travel on )
My Home Town Perth
The flight from Adelaide was smooth EXCEPT for the last 15 minutes !! the plane made such an acute turning I thought it was goin to flip over !!! The plane started to creak ,groan & vibrate BUT we landed OK We were met at the airport by my daughter Jayne & Grandson Will (my hes a big 2 yr old!!) Stopped for breakfast & we have an old camera we gave to Will He soon picked up on how to use it and he was off taking all sorts of Pics I like the one where he pointed at Thomas the Tank Engine said SMILE Thomas !! & clicked away ah the innocence of children !! We have settled into a nice apartment central Perth ,Yards away from the waters edge Car is hired also collected our flight tickets for Dubai & UK setting off 6am Thursday next Hopefully some great pics coming in future episodes !! Stay tuned
We are currently waiting for our flight to Perth in Adelaide Airport
This closes the chapter on our first trip around Oz.The bus will stay parked at Annies brothers house until mid March when we return. It has mainly (apart from accident) been a great almost 5 months We are still friendly with each other !! The sights we have seen are incredible.The people we have met have been fantastic, each with story to tell.The stay in Ironbank and seeing some of Annies family has been really good.A street away from our last hotel in Adelaide is China Town with HUGE concrete dog/lions guarding the entrance.It is mainly habited by a huge array of Chinese restaurants & almost anything can be bought within the areas confines The Chinese we met were very friendly and not a lot of them have a good command of English ( especially mine !!) The weekend took us to the Magnificent Xmas Pageant. Sadly we were supposed to meet up with other friends ( Heather et al) BUT time wouldnt allow us. I will strive to carry this blog on while in Perth & will definately do a Blog when in Dubai & UK (29/11) I am STILL loving retirement !! Bear with me until then
Marks & Wendys house & surrounding area where we stayed at Ironbank SA
Marks & Wendys property & surrounding area is a veritable treasure trove of Flora & Fauna. We had some rain & the country side just blossomed !! we will have some treasured memories of this place BUT we will return mid March as we continue our Australian adventure We will be home in Perth on Monday but will be in holiday mode and will grace this blog with hometown pics
Watch me play Didgeridoo
Geoffs Life After Work ! 