We were on a A380 and I for one was very disappointed. Although a fantastic peice of engineering and the onflight cameras , entertainment etc being first class. (the stairs at the back of the ground floor were unique!) The actual experience was poor. There are 2 flights a day from Sydney to Dubai via Emirates. They were both packed and boarding takes an age ....650 people would and consequently when you are onboard the service is noticably poorer. They whizz past you with the coffee and then you wait 20 mins if you want a drink.

Having said that the children were brilliantly behaved. 14 hour flight after a 7 hr car journey they were better behaved than the adults sat around us. The miserable journalist on his way to afghanistan sat next to me and moaned all the way .

Back to Dubai

Arriving back in dubai at 5:30 am it was 33 degrees and very busy at that time of the morning . We had to get from Terminal 3 to terminal 1 to catch the bus and despite doing this before the early morning and long flight plus everything that we had done in 6 bweeks meant that we were very disoreintated. There is a lot of building work going on for the metro so we caught a little 12 seater courtesy bus. There cant be just 1 can there and then the no 48 bus to the Hotel. We are finishing the holiday by staying 2 nights in our most expensive accomadation. Its another serviced apartment with two bedrooms huge kitchen two bathrooms and its all furnished to a high quality. Despite traveling overnight the boys although affected by the heat are full of beans and as they have been so well behaved they deserve a run around so its off to the pool to explore on the 8th floor while Angela rests.

We are off to find the brilliant Indian restaurant we visited 6 weeks ago. However everyone is tired and we have to drag poor joseph out. Our thinking is that if we goto sleep now our body clocks will be all over. We wait along time for our bus in 42 degrees heat and we get off at the spice souk and catch the water bus across the creek. We find the restaurant and have a lovely time. Everyone sparks up and we recount tales of our experiences.

Again we wait for the C19 bus and it takes an age. This time we are in an air conditioned enclosed bus shelter so its not to bad. The bus goes all over dubai on its way back and we mss our stop and despite getting off on the next one its a good mile and half back.

We havent the energy to make a drink. Beth and Joe are really tired and we all collapse into bed.

Isaac had a brilliant dream about playing with Rob's kids and some of his friends from school. It resolves around mattresses and dens and group hugs and secret doors. It sounds as if the big mess that took 4 of us an hour to tidy in Armidale was actually tremendous fun :-)

Jet lag effected us in a different way. Isaac and Patrick are both up at 5 but thankfully the others are still sleeping. Today we will go to the rooftop pool which is superb and has a great view of the airport and the emirati jets climbing steeply.

I don't know if its sand or smog but but visibility is not as good in July.It must be sand as all the cars are covered in it

Today I finished my first book on holiday Jarhead by Anthony Swofford. Its been compared to Catch 22 and it was a shocking read about modern war (Its almost 20 years though as it covered the 1st gulf war). I brought 8 books carried them round the world so I'm a bit disappointed to not have read them but it probably demonstrates how busy and active we have been with much to discuss ponder and take n during the 6 weeks we have been away. They take up one small suitcase which also contains towels and a steam iron both of which have not been required.

After the pool we are going to spend the last day at the beach we visited at night on our last visit. We know how to get there and it seems a better idea than spending it at a mall no matter how fantastic it is