The Day Our Stuff Arrived

It was a beautiful thing to see the trucks arriving with our stuff on board .... 

We hadn't spied our stuff for TWELVE WEEKS so it was no wonder we were excited. 

We definitely had to celebrate! 

As much as this place already felt like home, it really did feel like home on Friday June 5 when our stuff rocked up. 

A visit to the local Zoo

Back in late 2011 I finally discovered a small privately run zoo around a 10 minute drive from our villa. It wasn't anything special but the girls (then aged two and seven) loved it. 

Fast forward three years and I took the girls back to the zoo last weekend. Once again it is about 10 minutes from our apartment, even though we live somewhere totally different from last time! 

We got there at opening time (9am before it got too hot) to discover it is now named the 'Emirates Zoo'. (I think previously it was called 'The Kids Park'.). It has a new entrance and a resort is now part of the new building work. ( I have absolutely no desire to stay there due to the stench which burns your nostrils. Lol) 

The cast has too gone up but nevertheless it's still relatively cheap. 

Once again the girls just loved it. And I must admit, I enjoyed it too. 

Quite a lot of the enclosures are cringeworthy, but it does look like they are trying to improve the animal's welfare in improving the displays. The new section is fantastic where you walk around in air conditioned comfort and view the animals through large windows. 

There are still lots of works being done at the zoo so I imagine on our next visit (which I told the girls will be when the weather cools down) it would have improved again. 

If Lily had her way it would be next week as the zoo has rabbits and clown fish! (She loves bunnies and Nemo!) and not only does the zoo have those, it also has chickens! and goats! and horses! and bullocks! and sheep! All these animals alongside ostriches and emus, camels and Tigers, lions and elephants plus a tone of other interesting and beautiful creatures. 

I must say, it did take me a couple of hours after leaving to get the smell of the zoo out of my nostrils. Lol. 

Dubai Mall

Dubai is about 120ks North of our abode. The road is wide (four to seven lanes each way) with a maximum speed for cars of 140ks.  ( This is why Dubai is around an hours drive. ) The Highway is also pretty much dead straight, with nothing to see except fences and sand.  

There's a section on the side of the road which is roughly three kilometres of billboards advertising the new 'Worlds' being built there ; Legoland and Smurfland, along with a few more. Amazing what they think of building out here! 

Dubai Mall was our destination on Friday. It was just as great as the first time we visited years ago.  Monet remembered a lot of the attractions within the Mall but Lily was seeing them with new eyes (she was two the last time we were there) ... 

The Candy Shop ... 

The Aquarium Wall ...

The Water Fountain ... 

The Ice Rink ...

And then finally outside in the 45° heat to see the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa ... 

Dubai Mall is just a place to see at least once in your lifetime. It maynot be everyone's cup of tea but it is worth a quick walk around if you ask me. 

As Abu Dhabi is now really coming into its own and having Yas Mall a simple ten minute drive from our place, there really is no need to go shopping up at Dubai Mall. Nevertheless it was great to have a wander around again. 

It certainly is a long way from Cairns Central. ;-P 

School Time

Sunday saw both girls start school. We have returned to the same school Monet was enrolled in when we were first here. Because she was an ex-student our application was excepted straight away which was of great relief to me. 

The girls are not officially enrolled. Their visas need to be finalised, they need their Emirati ID cards done and I need their old school in Australia to word a transfer paper differently to what they originally did. Hopefully all this is sorted in the next week or so. Once all paperwork is handed in, the girls are enrolled with the Adu Dhabi education department and we can carry on where we left off. So in the meanwhile the girls can go to school but are not formally enrolled. .... 

Monet has the same teacher she had in Grade One. A lot of her class mates are ones from our previous time here.  

Lily took it all in her stride in KG2 (equivalent to Prep). As much as she said she was scared she went in the classroom with her new teacher without hesitation. 

I did sit in the car once the girls were in school and have a bit of a sob. I felt terrible leaving them there but admired how brave they both were. 

The girls greeted me at the completion of the school day with big grins and both chatted non stop for an hour telling me about their day. They've both made friends which is a relief too. 

Fingers crossed that all paperwork is completed soon and we can get on with a bit of normality around here. 

Hypermarkets

I forgot that over here you have handfuls of supermarkets, (Spinney's, Waitrose, Abela and a few other companies) and then you have Hypermarkets. Massive supermarkets selling everything from shoes, souvenirs and suitcases thru to all your food. 

The aisles are massive. 

The choices can make your head spin. 

There's row after row of frozen goods and fruit and vegetables from every corner of the world (including both the UAE and Australia). All fruit and veggies are to be weighed and priced up at the department, just like moons ago in Oz. 

Someone scans your items and someone packs your items. 

It is only in certain supermarkets you can buy pork products, where you go thru glass doors reading 'no Muslims'. Mostly all 'pork products' are imported from Europe and the best bacon (like eva!) is from America. (It's because it is basically streaky bacon :: lol ). 

Going to a supermarket here is very time consuming. You can't just 'duck in' to a hypermarket for example because they seem like the size of a football field. (You're more likely to pop into a small supermarket for you basics) 

Girls and I are off to do a grocery shop today. Better get my walking shoes on. 

;-P

New Home

When we moved to Abu Dhabi in 2008, our villa was very different to any place we had lived in before. Not only was our villa ginormous for a two bedroom place, it also had an Arabian feel to it. The kitchen was made using dark timbers and green marble. Terracotta tones were in the bathrooms, the stairs outside and inside were marble. 

Fast forward seven years to now. 

Our apartment is very 'westernised'. We have lacquered floorboards in all rooms except wet areas, the bathrooms are modern, the wooden finishes on doors etc are birch coloured and our kitchen is spacious and white. It must be said that each bedroom (we have four, plus a 'maid's room') have their own ensuites (the girls are in heaven) and we have a guest powder room. Yes, we have six toilets for the four of us. 

We have a fabulous view from all windows. The windows out of the kitchen and the maid's room (which will eventually become my sewing room) face face roughly South-west. It looks dry, dusty and sandy. 

The view from our living area and all bedrooms face North-East. We can see through to Yas Island's Formula One track. ( we were fortunate enough the other night to hear Robbie Williams rehearsing from the stadium there from our balcony! ) 

With only the bear essentials, we are now waiting patiently for our goods to arrive from Cairns. They're still a good four weeks away but we are coping just fine. 

Driving

I drove again today. 

Left-hand drive. Automatic. 

Was kind of like riding a bike. You never forget. 

Glad that's out of the way now. Tick.