So far, so good!

Étienne:
When we left Armidale on 30 April, we traveled by train to Sydney. It took us 7 and a half hours. We liked the scenery. We stayed with our Godparents in Sydney and saw some lovely lorikeets. Caris loves them so much. Whilst we were in Australia we got to touch a joey (baby ‘roo), wild possum and an echida.

We then traveled on two trains to get to the airport. Each time we arrived at the station a train was just arriving that we could catch! We waited 3 hours at the airport. We got so tired but them we got on the ‘plane. Caris was sick soon after we took off and she and Mum were a bit of a mess but it was ok. I played computer games but then Mum and Dad said I had to sleep. We were 18 hours on the plane, including 1 hour at Bangkok. We got out for 30 minutes to run around and saw everyone wearing masks because of the swine flu!

When we got to Dubai we were very tired but we were met at the airport by Dad and Mum’s friend, Amanda. She is South African but lives in Dubai. It was VERY hot and humid. And they drive on the wrong side of the road here!

Caris:
Even though we were tired, it was only morning so we had to stay awake ALL day. We went to the beach and swam in the lovely Persian Gulf. It was soooo warm! I collected shells and got to pat a camel.

We also drove to a place where they have reclaimed sand from the sea and built a place that looks like a palm tree. Mum took a photo of a billboard photo of it! You can also see a photo of the gate (that we got to by driving through a tunnel under the sea). Amanda says that Sol Kerzner, who built Sun City in South Africa, helped build it.

In the evening I almost fell asleep in my lasagne!

The next day we drove to the Dubai Museum. There are so many giant buildings in Dubai, including the world’s tallest tower. We got to see lots of interesting things about the history of Dubai. I also got to have my hand ‘painted’ with a special sort of mud that has henna in which is a dye. The photos have gone up on our blog in the wrong order, but first the lady decorated me by squirting the mud stuff in beautiful designs. It is what they do to the ladies for a wedding. Then it had to dry for 15 minutes. When we washed off the mud, I had an orange pattern that will last for about 10 days!