Day 1 Dubai

After a smooth Emirates flight, even leaving Adelaide early, we touched down in Dubai for a top today of 28 degrees. Lovely. Was really cool watching the take off and landing with the camera view on your seat back TV, plus the pretty night sky in the aircraft had the promise of sweet dreams!

Straight to the apartment, huge 3 bedroom with kitchen & 3 bathrooms, just what we need, then our little Arab man picked us up in his Toyota 4 wheel drive to head straight for the desert. We knew we were in for some fun with the car kitted out with heavy duty roll bars. The 'dune bashing' was insane..but super fun. Full speed over the huge dunes, very scary angles, thought the car was going to roll. Had some excitement on the quad bikes. Chris and I taking a moderate pace, the boys zooming around. David bogged his and also came off. They had a ball, even managing lift off over the dunes. The sand is so fine and soft. Had a go at sand boarding. Lots of fun too...except the climb back up the dune..very exhausting. Lots of stunning views of the desert..we were about 95km from Dubai. After a quick camel ride (token really and nothing like our ride next to the pyramids in Cairo) it was back to Dubai.

Spent the afternoon enjoying all that Dubai Mall had to offer. Fountain show on the lake, massive waterfall inside the mall, huge aquarium wall complete with sharks, ice rink, a souk (loved the architecture even if it was recreated) and of course the odd shop or 200! Only in Dubai! Resting up now before tea then an early night to catch up with ourselves.