Navigating our 7th Decade
One of the activities that has been on our bucket list for a long time now is picking olives in Calabria, Italy. Despite a few visits to Italy, we have never got the timing right as olive picking only starts late October and goes through until February, depending on the harvesting method that is being used. But this year we got our timing right and late October found us in …
The West Coast Flower Show Nature can be spectacular. Very often you have to get the timing right, but if you do, you are well rewarded. The West Coast National Park on the west coast of the southern tip of Africa is a case in point. Bordering the Atlantic ocean, this park is an easy 90 minute drive north of Cape Town. Every year, between July and October, if the …
An Eclectic Mix of Kangaroos, Wine Farms, Pubs & Bush The Hunter Valley is the oldest wine growing region in Australia, and as such, we had to go and check it out. Situated just 160km north of Sydney, it’s an easy drive or train ride to get there. However, since we have family in the area, we trained it from Sydney to Newcastle and then de-camped to Cessnock for a …
We have visited Kruger National Park, usually with foreign visitors in tow, on numerous occasions.For our foreign visitors, it is usually their only chance – ever – to see the big five in their natural habitats.That puts the pressure on us and usually means we tend to stay in the southern end of the park, rarely venturing north of Olifants Rest Camp and mostly only going as far up as …
Getting to Hatta Outdoor at Wadi Hub Hatta is about 135km from Dubai and it took us just over 90 mins of driving to get to the Wadi Hub on the outskirts of Hatta. Hatta is still part of the Dubai Emirate and the road between the two centres is superb. We had driven part of the same road about 7 years ago and were amazed at the transition. From …
It was an early start to the day. The alarm went off at 4.45am and we hauled our carcasses out of bed. We were being picked up at 5.15am outside our rented apartment in Dubai. We were off to participate in our first Dubai Run. The 2023 Dubai Fitness Challenge ran from 28th October to 26th November 2023. Launched in 2017, it is an initiative to raise awareness of fitness …
If you have a couple of hours free whilst in Dubai then do yourself a favour and see if there is camel racing happening at the Al Marmoom Camel Racing Track. The track is easily accessible from anywhere in Dubai and there is lots of parking available inside the venue. Once parked we had a short walk to the start of the 8km track. Yes, you read that right, 8 …
Up the coast from Dubai is Ras Al-Khaimah and about 35km by road beyond that is a bit of Oman known as the Musandam Governorate. The main port is Khasab, and that is where we headed after the normal border formalities Shortly after crossing the border into Oman, the landscape undergoes quite a dramatic change. From dead flat the topography suddenly changes into rocky mountains that rise up from the …
If you enjoy a fun night out and are in Dubai on just about any Monday night of the year, then you could do a lot worse than join @The.Dylan.Show at The Radisson Red for the best quiz in Dubai. Starting at 8pm in the courtyard (winter) or inside (summer), Dylan puts on a fun team quiz for all comers. You don’t need to book. Just show up with a …
The Abu Dhabi GP has, of late, been the last Formula 1 Grand Prix of the season. It takes place on the Yas Marina circuit which has been built on Yas Island which lies on the East Coast of Abu Dhabi. The first GP took place there in 2009 and it will be the last race of the season until at least 2030. This year (2023) we got the opportunity …