And the winner is...

Dubai!

Yes, I have accepted the role and this little blogger is off to the Middle East. I don't like to blog about work too much here, but there are exceptions!

Moving to another country is definately one of those!

I looked for work in Sydney, and to be honest there is not alot out there and those companies that were hiring were siting the economic crisis to slash salary expectations. The salaries on offer, I was getting five years ago. Not a great step if you have a mortgage and if I had a Sydney job, we probably would have had to sell the house and downsize.

However, there was never a choice, with the last of my Sydney offers fizzling out at the same time I got the Dubai offer and with nothing else, it was the choice to be made.

Having said that, I did want the Dubai role and we have been spared the choice of taking the exciting but scary move or staying safe in Sydney and slugging it out and making ends meet.

For all of us, the biggest issue is the moving away and creating distance with family and friends. We will be facebooking, blogging and skyping as much as possible, but the reality is is that you're half a world away.

We do get flights back as part of the package and we will be coming home for Christmas each year and perhaps depending on the cash, in the Dubai summer break which is in July / August. We will though be taking the opportunity to see the rest of the world, mainly Europe and I have a keen sense to see India as well, which is only 3hrs away.

The next step is the uprooting and moving... I will need to be in Dubai in February sometime and will be madly prepping the house for renting before I go. Then Niki & the girls will be following 2-3 mths afterwards depending on how quickly I can set up a house, car and the visa's come through.

All very exciting and its going to be a big change....

So, I have perhaps blogged my last rant about CityRail and the like, but Lime Kettles will continue and will "On Tour" so to speak, so you will be able to follow an odd Aussie bloke's journey into the Middle East.

Niki mentioned that she would like to set up a more family orientated blog as well... so will post a cross link when (if) that gets up.

Now... where did I put that Arabic phrase book....

My Birthday Wrap!

Well, yesterday was my birthday... and I am writing this post on my new toy! A laptop!!

From Dell, I got a Studio 15 laptop and its a very good machine. I am struggling to use Windows Vista, but I guess I will get there :)

My birthday itself has been good... Niki & I went to dinner last Saturday night in town and for my actually birthday, we went to the Malaya with the girls and my parents. Other than that, its been the same as any other days of the week with long breakfasts at the local cafe and not much in between! It will be a shame to finally go back to work... which I hopefully will be able to announce soon!

Bushwalking - Gladstone Lookout & Moya Point

Well, with the time on our hands, the kids on holidays and a desire to get out and see the area where we have lived for the past 11 years, we went on another bushwalk.

This time, we travelled up to Leura and using our Blue Mountains Bushwalking Guidebook, we parked at the Fairmont Resort and walked across the 14th tee (literally!) and dived into the bush.

2km later, we're standing on the top of the unfenced Gladstone Lookout and a massive drop below, but what a view!!

Then we pressed on a short distance to the other side of the bluff to Moya Point where we looked back onto Wentworth Falls.

We're going to do the Wentworth Falls walk soon, but its closed for upgrading until late October!

Pictures below!

The girls and I on the edge of Gladstone Lookout...

Me peering over the edge... very scary!

The view from Moya Point back towards Wentworth Falls

The girls having a rest at Moya Point!

Fathers Day Wrap - Spewing!

Well, the weekend started off well with dinner out on Friday night at Restaurant Como at Blaxland and then the Saturday was family day with afternoon tea with Niki's parents at her sisters and then dinner with my parents Saturday night... all was well.

Then at around midnight, Kate threw up in bed... sheets changed etc etc... then she threw up again. And again and again and again... between midnight and 4am, she threw up about 30 times. Nothing solid by that stage, but she was dry reeching very badly.

Then just as she settled down pre-dawn, little Brookie started as well... and by dawn, Niki was joining them! So Fathers Day morning found me in rubber gloves, sponges, buckets and cleaning up after them all.

I myself, solid as a rock, not even queezy!

Then we found out that all of Niki's sisters family was also ill and it turns out it stemmed from my brother in law's mother who had fallen ill on the Friday and we all caught it.

Then Niki's parents went down on Monday with it... and yet I am still fine... I even ordered myself a pizza for dinner on Sunday night as my Fathers Day lunch was cancelled and nobody other than the pets or I was hungry.

Happy to report, that the girls are now ginger but have recovered and the worst of it only lasted during the Sunday... so we'll try to do our Fathers Day plans next weekend.

Spewing!

Castaway Island Holiday!

Well, it was a great week. We came, we lazed, we lounged and we ate and drank. None of us wore shoes whilst we were there and "evening wear" was shorts and t-shirts and swimmers.

The weather was great, sunny in the mornings, very hot by midday and then cooling down through the afternoon so that come by dinner time, it was very comfortable to eat outside.

Castaway Island was brilliant in the sense that there were only 60 odd bures but about 130 staff on the island at any one time. There are 160 employees in all, but they have a 12 days on, 3 days off rotation. This meant that there were no hassles, always someone within "bula!" distance to talk to and the whole vibe of the place was peaceful.

Speaking of the staff, they were excellent - always relaxed, happy to chat, enthused that you were having a good time and all in all, I think the most hospitable people we have met.

Food was excellent... we took on the meal plan which meant we only had to pay extra for alcohol and drinks for the kids outside of fruit juice. The breakfasts, lunches and the dinners were therefore simply walk in, find a table, order or go to the buffet and then sign off that you were there and your drinks and go... it was very well organised, and the food itself was fantastically presented and tasted great - particularly the seafood.

For the girls, they had a great time and because it was a family orientated resort, the girls developed good friendships with the other resort kids and for a change the bulk of the kids were 6-12yr old girls rather than the usual 13-14yr old boys reeking havoc that we have struck of late. On top of that, the island staff ran a Kids Club which meant that there were plenty of scheduled activities during the days and at night all the kids were kept busy whilst adults could have dinner to themselves between 6:30 and 9:00pm.

So while we dined in the restaurant, the kids went to bonfires, played games, learnt Fijian dances etc.

And plenty of activities for everyone too... we had free use of snorkel gear, kayaks and catamarans. We also got a free tour of the reef via a glass bottom boat - which Brookie loved - on the Thursday Kate and I went Parasailing. Kate went tandem with one of her island friends, so it was great that she did this without me. It was a big deal for her.

The bure's were great. They were airy and air conditioned and right on the water.

I am rambling a bit... can't say enough of the place and we'll definitely be going back.

Our welcome to the island... this was taken as our launch hit the beach. No wharf on Castaway, you literally hit the sand!

Our island bure... from the front.

The view from the bure's verandah. Spectacular!

Yours truly working hard! ;)

Brooke and Kate in the water out the front of our bure...

Sunset off the balcony of the islands restaurant...

Kate and Brooke (who at this stage had their hair braided) at the Kids Klub with one of the staff Alesi.

The girls got to perform at the "Lovo Night" which was the night of Fijian dancing and food... The staff put on a cocktail party complete with Kava for the adults and then the kids who had rehearsed all day were part of the show of traditional dancing and singing.

Here we are on that same day watching Kime prepare the "lovo" which is an underground earthen pit of hot rocks and banana leaves where the food is cooked all day. There was enough food here to feed the entire island!

Kate coming into land during her parasail... she is the front set of legs!

Me being kitted up to go parasailing. The very technical instructions were "sit down and dont pull the ropes until you come into land".

This shot is special because it was taken on the launch back to the cruise ship to take us home. Aseri here was the leader of the Kids Klub and she was on board to take the tickets and first Brooke and then Kate started to cry because they were going home. Soon Aseri was crying as well and you know the kids have had a good time when they burst into emotion as you pull away....

Bula Vinaka!

We're back! After a long trip home, we have made it... a fuller post will probably arrive tomorrow, but currently I am sorting through 225 photos and am in too relaxed a mood to be getting back into anything technical like blogging! lol!

Spent 8 nights away, most of it drinking or sleeping (can I do both at once!?) and have discovered a new found passion for the Tropical Splice cocktail...

Castaway Island is the best resort I have ever been and I highly recommend it!

Pics et al to follow soonish...

Into the Vault

This one is going straight into the vault for the girls' 21st birthdays...

Kate & Brooke do a rendition of the Go-Go's 1980's hit "Our Lips Are Sealed"...

They're actually doing this song for the school choir... you know you're old when the one hit wonders of your youth become the respectful choir songs of your children!

Dancing in Kuala Lumpur

Rather than retelling the stories I have heard from the girls this morning, pics are probably the best way to go...

So here is their KL trip!! The premise of the trip was this: A cultural exchange between Australia and Malaysia meant that there were opportunities for dancers to go to Kuala Lumpur to perform as part of "Australia Week". They were performing at Shopping Centres mainly, the water theme park show was cancelled during the trip but was replaced with two shows at The Pavilion which apparently is a massive (12 stories) shopping centre that has only been open for a short time. The troupe from Westside Performing Arts had the honour of being the first performers to be on stage at The Pavilion. In between, the girls got to see the sites, experience a new culture and be tourists themselves. They have had a wonderful time and I am so glad we took the chance to send Kate for the dancing and Brooke for the fun of it.

Here's just some of the over 200 pics and vids!

Group shot at Sydney Airport. The team looking all red in their uniforms.

Niki was amazed that everywhere they went locals wanted to have their photo taken with the girls. Kate & Brooke and the other young ones were particularly in demand.

Kate & Brooke out the front of a mosque on day 1 during their city tour.

Niki and the girls get a shot of themselves in front of the Petronas Towers... they didnt get a chance to go up during the trip.

Group shot before the first show. Kate is front row right with flag, Brooke is the munchkin standing with the bigger girls.

Now Brooke wasn't actually a part of the show. Niki brought her along just for the experience. But she was made very much a part of the group and did appear on stage at a couple of shows at the smaller centres. Here, she gets some of that experience with having to carry the flags ;)
Kate backstage for Show 1 pumped and ready to go!

And here is Brooke in an impromptu performance on stage... she came out with the singers at the begininning holding the flag... she didn't have a costume, so they snagged an Aussie t-shirt! No rehearsal, out you go!

After the first show... the stuffed Koala mascot and the girls pose for photos. This became a normal thing and soon locals were getting their kids into the shots as well.

The Pavilion. Niki takes a shot from one of the balconies down to where the girls would dance. That grey area is sponsored by Hewlett Packard and the dancers, and in particular the singers had to work HP into the lyrics... even the lead singer had to sing with a HP portable in his hands! You have to be good to the sponsors!! In addition, The Pavilion was a huge space and the crowds were around the balconies in big numbers.


On stage during the Pavilion shows... Kate is on the left



The opening number of the Pavilion show... Kate is in the 2nd row from the right in the foreground in blue...



The later show again at the Pavilion... Kate is on the left in the front. She gets a bit obscured at times by the pole though.

Afterwards the crowds once again wanted their shots with the little girls being in big demand. Here Kate poses with one of her fans ;)

Brookie also had her fans! This guy was just one of many people who found Brooke adorable... she was apparently a bit taken back by all the attention, but soon was lapping it up!

This is a sample of what the crowds were like after a show... heaps of people, lots of cameras. Niki was amazed at that. In addition, KL is a city of extremely friendly and tolerant people. There are Indians, Malays and Chinese with all their differing religions and degrees of belief. There are full on Buddist and Hindu monks and Islamic people in full Muslim dress (note the woman in the bhurka (sp?) in this shot) all the way through to people of those faiths who have a more western lifestyle. The point is that all these people of races and religions mix freely and mix well. There is something that can be said about Australia in that...

Of course after the shows there were the parties! The Pavilion in particular put on KFC and Pizza for the kids. People from the management came down and thanked the girls for their shows and were very happy with the result. I am sure HP was happy too! ;)
And of course, the mums who went as well! Niki had a great time and enjoyed herself too!

And in between the shows, there was the shopping... KL is filled with massive shopping centres so they were put to good use. Here are the girls as they're about to hit the tiles so to speak!

In addition to the shopping, the girls got to see some of the more historical sites... Here they're at the Batu Caves which is a series of caves atop a large set of stairs and there is a temple inside.

A closer look at the statue and the imposing stair case!


The temple inside the caves... one of the people was singing their prayers. Very peaceful.

And what trip to SE Asia would be complete without some snakes! The look on Kate's face is priceless!


The motto the girls adopted was "try something different for Daddy"... well they did!


And some Monkey business!

Home! The last shot... this is when they landed this morning after their overnight flight. Brooke slept, but Kate actually slept walked around the plane at around 4am and didn't rest after that... apparently she went all the way down to Business Class from the back of the plane!!

Updating...

Sorry for the lack of posts... with me being a bachelor this week and a few things going on in and around work, I have been not in the right headspace to be blogging this week...

But, Niki and the girls are now back, and I am currently sifting through the pile of photos and videos to upload.

In short, they've had a fantastic time, they're tired but very shopped and danced out.

They're all asleep at the moment, so that's given me a chance to log on and start a photo montage of their KL trip.

Update coming!

Weekend... Excited Girls!

The girls are excited… it’s the last weekend at home before the girls fly to Malaysia for their dance trip.  Its been a long time in the planning and we scraped the money together but they’re now down to just packing.

Kate and Brooke were counting down the days this morning and they’re doing the important things like picking which Nintendo games they want to take etc etc.  They both admitted to me this morning that they’re a little bit nervous about going to another country but they’re very keen.

Expect a lot of photos when they come back on Wednesday week… Lime Kettles will probably get a work out on the Blogger photo server. lol.

For myself, I will be heading to Brisbane with my mate Noyz for a bit of a “boys weekend”.  We’re planning a BBQ at my mates Gools’ place on the Saturday to meet his girlfriend and their new baby girl for the first time and the Saturday night will be a big’un.  Sunday will be recuperating and a quiet arvo in a bar (probably the Caxton Hotel) before going into the soccer to see Australia vs Iraq.  Depending on the result it could be a bit of a party atmosphere in BrisVegas Sunday night too…

But that’s all NEXT weekend… this weekend will be quiet and helping the girls get ready for their trip.

Happy School Morning

My work diary was free-ish this morning and Niki's Dad had to be at the hospital this morning at 7:30am for an Angiogram (sp?) as he's not doing too well with his heart at the moment.

Niki was taking him and had been in a lather about how to get the girls to school and I was only too happy to take the morning off work and take them to school.

Niki was gone before 7 and I got up (after only having gone to bed at 2am!) 20 minutes after her to find the girls in the lounge room watching cartoons. Their hair was done immaculately by Niki but they were in the pj's and when I came out Brooke was standing on the lounge! lol.

So, I played Mr Mum this morning and enjoyed it. Breakfast of toast and juice... a chat about school. Brooke was getting a birthday award today at the school assembly and then I had to shower and get ready for work.

Soon, it was me in my suit and tie, the girls in their uniforms trundling along to school. There were no fights about who was sitting in the front - Kate graciously let Brooke have the front seat - and we went to school.

The girls' school though is in two campuses and we went to the Primary first to drop off Kate. No drop and go for me, we parked got out and Kate was talking a million miles an hour about the various classrooms and which teacher resided in each room. Went down to her room and she showed me where she hung her bag and took me inside and showed me her desk and some of her artwork on the walls. Met her teacher as well.

Then we were suddenly inundated with other girls all of them hugging Kate and Brooke (this is the new custom apparently, everyone gives everyone else a sisterly hug) and then she was off with a quick kiss from me and Brooke & I went back to the car.

Drove the half-k to the Infants dept and again the same scene was repeated. Teacher in the class room, artwork on the wall, maths books on a desk proudly showing Brooke's name. Then there were more kids and hugs and Brooke was happy for me to go...

I ended up getting the 9:20 train from Glenbrook and it was a nice change of pace for a work day. Got into the office at 11ish... very civilised :)

Wet Weekend Wrap

Wet Weekends! According to the weather men, we had better get used to them.

Cricket was washed out despite the sunshine peeking out on Saturday afternoon, the ground was awash with water…

So instead, we played board games most of the weekend. I had bought Settlers of Catan when I went to Canberra a few weeks ago and I thought it would be good game to play with the girls. If you haven’t played it, it’s a board game in which you collect cards to trade in to build roads and settlements on the island of Catan. First to 10 points wins… game play is supposed to be 60mins. But 2 and a half hours later after 3 sittings, Kate eventually won and was very happy. Having said that though, everyone enjoyed it – even Niki who tends to shy away from my Tolkien-esque genre of games. So that gets added to the “play when the sky is pissing on us” list.

Sunday was Niki’s mums 75^th birthday and we had nice weather to go to the Norman Lindsay Gallery café for lunch. It was very wet on the ground though so we had to dodge the puddles to get to the restaurant but it was a good lunch with a couple of bottles of wine. It was good for Beryl to be out and about after her layoff recently (for the record, Beryl left our place on Friday after about 2 weeks).

Then it was to be home to watch the cricket, but my mate Tommy rang who had a comedy gig at Springwood for both a lunch and a dinner session and had 3 hours to kill. So he came over and we played “Return of the Heroes” with the girls as well. That too went for about 2 hours but the girls did really well and were very much into it with Kate playing the lady spell slinger and Brookie taking the role of a lady Dwarf (no beard!). Tommy and I did comparatively shit house and the girls managed each to battle through their quests and then take on the “big baddie” at the end – a Demon. Unfortunately both the girls were killed with Kate going down first and then Brooke but they had good fun. With time running out and with both Tommy and I a million miles away from getting to the bad dude, we called it quits… the girls were very happy that they did so well so it was a good fun afternoon of rolling dice.

I'm Back! Holidays Were Great!!

Hello all! Am back from Bateau Bay on the NSW Central Coast and am happy to inform you all that we're tanned, relaxed and happy!

The week was perfect weather wise with no rain except a passing shower on our first day and to sum up, the daily itinerary went like this:

Morning: Wake up, walk to cafe, buy coffee and newspaper. Read said paper for an hour or so. Kids went to the morning craft session run by the kids club until about 11:30am. Kids then rode bikes with the other park kids. Lunch of sandwiches or hot chips.

Afternoon: Pool... swimming heaps until about 3pm, then down to beach for low tide for an hour or 2 and then back to pool for say another hour.

Evening: Usually the resort had some sort of event on for the kids - Karaoke, Disco, Movie Night etc. BBQ dinner or Niki would cook a nice meal and we'd go to the event and have fun. After that, kids were usually zonked and went to sleep easily while we had a drink or three on the verandah.

Thats it! 7 days of that! No driving, no hassles, no time pressures to be somewhere... I did get the odd work call, but I palmed most of that off to this week when I go back...

The girls get their first taste of the surf. This is the first time Brooke has been out past her ankles!
Wrestling in the pool... a daily event!

Rock climbing... looking for crabs!
Seaweed Girl!

Bubbles!

Niki and the girls before we headed out to the pool / beach!

Christmas Wrap...

Well, Christmas has been and gone for another year and I have to say it was one of the better ones. I think our approach to having one family get together on Christmas Day and one on Boxing Day worked very well. Our girls were much more relaxed, they got to spend time doing what they wanted rather than being ferried in a car and the days leading up to Christmas were much more relaxing than last year.

Christmas Day was spent at my sister in laws Lyn and all of Niki's family gathered for lunch. We had a hot lunch this year with baked potatoes, broccoli & cauliflowers and beans and carrots. Hot turkey and cold ham accompanied this and we basically stuffed ourselves. We even got a game of road cricket in and the girls swam in their new swimmers and using their new goggles & snorkels despite it being overcast and cool...

Before lunch however, the girls woke us up at a respectable time of 7am to open presents and the girls got what they have been asking for for weeks: Kate a PlayStation 2 with Singstar and Brooke got a Nintendo DS Lite with games.


There were other presents, but this was the main game for our girls and they were very excited.



Boxing Day was my family over to our place and we had a cold lunch after I had gone down to the Fishmarkets... I left the house at 5:15am to be there at 6 and I picked up about 3kg of prawns and 8 Balmain Bugs.... very yummy.

Funniest thing of course was my family all belting out songs on the Singstar... lets just say we all hum the national anthem!



All up a better Xmas than last year... to be able to spend each day at one place was much better rather than driving like a mad idiot!

Naval Gazing

Well, the election is over... I have been informed of who Amy Winehouse is (and I now dont care) and in the absence of any real political scandal I will take today to mull over what is happening in my world...

 

Well, for starters, work has been very busy.  I have been getting home very late at night the last couple of weeks with leaving the office at 6:30pm being "an early mark".  Got home after midnight the other night and last night was a 9:30pm home time... but once I reach this month end this week, the pace should slow down.

 

Between now and Xmas, work will remain busy.  My new company doesnt have a massive fancy dress Xmas Party and instead has a big in house lunch on the last day before we break up (Dec 21).  Seafood, hot food and heaps of beer & wine is apprently the go... and whilst I was initially disappointed there was no major alcohol fueled shin-dig, I am warming to that idea... besides, I am only newish here and I wouldnt consider myself drinking buddies with anyone yet...

 

Having said that my ex-drinking buddies at my old work are planning for a night out, so I may have the best of both worlds!

 

Xmas aside, work will still be busy.  I will probably be in Melbourne for 2-3 days in mid-December.  With my company having most of its physical operations in Victoria, I do have to get down there fairly often.  So, I will probably be down there Dec 17-18 and perhaps 19.

 

Outside of work, we're having a Xmas BBQ this weekend with my mates and as an indication of how old we are, we're hiring a jumping castle for the kids.

 

Xmas itself we're determined to alter last years disaster in which we had lunch at my sisters in Ryde and then dinner at our place for Niki's family.  We're doing the Xmas Lunch and the Boxing Day Lunch this year.  We'll be hosting the Boxing Day affair, so that should be more relaxing.

 

But before Xmas, its my birthday in early December and I am really unsure what I want... both Dad and Niki have asked me and I have drawn a blank... must be getting old :)

 

On the gaming front, CanCon preparations on Australia Day are heating up and I have had a stack of new miniatures arrive to paint.  So much so, that my friend PianoDan is going to paint me up a Chaos team.  Its $300 but money well spent in my opinion.  (Check out a sample of his work here)

 

Oh and little Brookie finished her 1000 piece puzzle and we have mounted it on some timber board and intend to hang it on the wall in her bedroom... but no rest for the wicked, she's helping to do Kate's now too... so again, our dining table is awash with puzzle pieces!

Gold Coast - The Family Stuff

So after the massive day at Wet N Wild, we had dinner with Mum & Dad, my great Aunt & Uncle Gladys & Jack and my Pop.

(l-r) Gladys, Mum, Kate, Me, Pop, Dad, Jack, Brooke

Pop is 83 years old and still goes strong. He walks every day around the beach and we experienced that first hand when he turned up at the hotel at 5am Saturday and I took the girls along with Pop and Dad for his daily walk... bloody long way! When we got back at about 6:30am, the girls and I went back to bed for a good 2 hours!

Saturday was spent at the pool and at the beach. The weather was fantastic and we had a great day. Kate, buoyed by her time in the wave pool went out up to her chest in the waves with me and Brookie for the first time went beyond her ankles in the water. It was a great day:

Niki & The Girls at Greenmount

After the pool and beach, we went out for dinner to Felini's in the Mirage Resort complex with my Nan and my Aunt Jan... the girls were excited as we had booked a limo for the occasion. They were very excited as you can see:


The dinner itself was great. The waiter was a bit snooty - particularly as we had the "audacity" to bring children to a fancy restaurant, but the girls were impeccably well behaved.

Dinner @ Felini's

As you can see, Brookie was enjoying being at the head of the table!

Sunday we had lunch with my Nan again, but this time there were 16 of us all up as Nan's sister (Aunty Nancy - who's 87 and deaf as a post), Mum's cousins and Nan's neighbours and friends all piled into Oskars at Broadbeach.

The lunch was huge and desert was a Bomb Alaska (sp?). Nan seemed to have a good time, there were two red wine spills (none from Niki or the girls!), a girl in a skimpy bikini played badminton on the beach for a good 2 hours for entertainment and the food was excellent.

Nan & The Girls

Nan enjoys her Birthday cake / Bomb Alaska

And thats about it! We didnt eat much for dinner... the girls were hungry so we went out for pizza which went largely uneaten, we went back to the hotel, packed and then got up early Monday for the flight home.

We flew back on JetStar which I thought was very good. It makes you realise how tired the inside of a Qantas plane is in comparison to JetStar's relatively newer fitout. The only hiccup home was getting the car out of the Long Term Carpark at Sydney Airport after I had lost the ticket, but that was about it!

A very good weekend for the family!