Another Busy Week...

Matt: It has been a week since I updated you all, but it has been a busy one. It started out with a walk for good. Naomi, Lucy and Myself decided to Walk the World!!, which is an event led by the UN's World Food Program to raise money to fight hunger. We were geared up to walk 5,10,15km.. but it turned out the walk was only 2.5km, but we did our bit and helped raise money and awareness and got a T-Shirt to prove it!! Photo's to Follow.

It was also my birthday on Thursday, so thank you for you all your birthday wishes. We had a party at Villa Moore-Wilson, which was great fun! Food, Drink, Fun, Friends, and stupid PlayStation games. It was a really great night and thanks to everyone that helped make it a special day.


























The rest of the weekend was taken up with another party, a Pool Party this time and then I spent the day sailing with friends on Saturday. Which was really nice. I meet some nice people at the Pool party, Claudia and Valerio, a nice Italian couple. Claudia came sailing with us, others were Ramie, Doina, Tim and Anna, Sadly I forgot the camera for the sailing trip so no photo's available.

The weekend was finished off perfectly by spending the evening with the lovely Naomi watching a DVD, The Constant Gardener, an interesting film directed by Fernando Meirelles, starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Wiesz. It's essentially a revenge story set against a background of politics, corporate curruption and pharmaceutical testing.

Motoring, The Dubai way

Matt: Spent Saturday motoring around in Dubai with Steve, James and Lindsey, we even traversed the M4, no road works or jams here though.


We spent the morning on Steve's Speed boat, was great fun. I tried my hand at Wake-boarding, which it has to be said I was rubbish at!



Lindsey had a great time when she took the wheel and drove us around, I didn't know you could rally in a speed boat!! :) I think James might have to start saving to buy Lindsey one of her own now!

We had with us some funky little fun camera's too one FishEye and the Other a MultiShot - Here are some of the results.. Pretty cool I reckon!

Buster..

Matt: Morning All, Well it's another bright sunny day here in the Middle-East it's 9am and it's already 32°C. I had a lovely email from my Nephew, Kalani, just the other day and he sent a photo too, so i thought I would share it with you all. Please excuse the food round his mouth, he takes after his Grandpa.

Musandam Camping

Matt: I'm back from the camping trip to the Musandam, which was great! We had lots of fun and there are a few funny stories too! A great Adventure, if not a little hot! The weather here is really hotting up, averaging 38 degrees daily now! Scorchio!!
Here are some pictures I promised.


The Ladies..





The Camp Site..

For the full compliment of Photographs Click Here.


Had a nice day yesterday, went shopping in Ikea AGAIN, Geez Naomi is a keener!! Then went and chilled on the beach for the afternoon, which was nice!
It didn't take to long to infiltrate the mind of my Roomie, she's a would be geek already! Proof?? Click Here

Right - I'm Off

Matt: Surprisingly I've been given the day off tomorrow, for no other reason that the whim of the boss, He said it's gonna be a busy week next week and we deserve a rest!!
So.. as luck should have it, some friends are heading out on a camping trip and have invited me along. Vanda and Säma have organised a trip to Musandam, The Musandam peninsula is an exclave region of Oman that is separated from the rest of the country by the United Arab Emirates. We're taking a boat to a beach which we should have completely to ourselves. I'll take photo's and post them upon our return.

See ya'll soon....

More Desert Fun

Matt: Got together with a few friends yesterday and we all went for a drive in the desert! Lindsay tried her hand at desert driving for the first time in her Pajero, she did brilliantly. Drove with a lot of confidence, spurred on by Naomi and Vander giving guidance. We had a lot of fun, 4 Pajero's and a Nissan Partol in the end, had a couple of "cars stuck in sand" issues, but that is all part of the fun.

James, Sämi and I climbed up large rock escarpment, whilst we waited for the other. Was good fun climbing around the rocks and taking photos. Speaking of which.. here are a few now..



Stuck on a steep dune...

On top of the world (Well small hillock really)

See the little dots in the middle? that's our convoy!

*cough* posers..*cough* did someone say Catalogue man??

Flip-flops!! Not the best climbing footwear!!

Sense of Scale!

Steve in the "go Anywhere" Nissan Patrol!

James and Sämi conquered the mountain!

May the 4th be with you

Matt: Sorry, Couldn't resist! Well the weekend is here again for us in foreign parts, which is great! Should be a good one.
On a slightly diverse note, I have been messing around again with some digital art, painting in photoshop. This piece, inspired by the desert and my photo collection, took about 6 hours start to finish, so thought you might like to see it.



















Sayyida Shamal

Busy Weekend

Matt: The weekend has come and gone once more, but I certainly made the most of this one.

Thursday Night: I went to James and Lindsay's for Dinner, we have Thai take-away with a few other friends, then we all went to Buddha Bar at the Grosvenor House Hotel in the Marina for a few drinks, then on to Double Decker a very British Style pub/club.
Friday: I already posted a few photo's from our trip to the Hatta Pools (see below), The we went out for Marie-Ann's birthday to Barasti.
Saturday: Went Sailing in the Morning with my friend Rami and a few others, then messed around on the beach and had some lunch, played a bit of Frisbee and went for a swim. Then went Snowboarding with Scott and Kelly, which was great, we were teaching ourselves to jump, hitting the ramps in the freestyle park, yes we all wiped-out a number of times, but its the only way to learn. In the evening Naomi and I went to meet Jo and crew at the Agency in the Madinat for a quiet few drinks... See? Pretty busy.. Need time off to recover... Nah!!! Of to the climbing wall tonight! :P you know me....

And here are a few photo's from Amanda's Leaving Do for you to browse through!
Click Here