Wild wadi,dubia

Well we got up early and caught the beach bus that the hotel runs down to Jerimiah Beach but unlike the rest of the passengers we jumped on the no. 8A bus down to the jerimiah hotel and wild wadi.

Wild wadi is the most amazing water park with jumbo slides where you reach speeds that are totally scary (you think you are going to take off). There is a lagoon with a wave machine that is so real you need life jackets. The water slides that go round the edge of the park last for about 30 mins I kid you not. There's a children's area which is like an adventure playground but in water with a 500 gallon pot that tips and refills every 2 mins. It is this "attraction" that can rip off your costume or bikini but despite hanging about we saw no such action! Correction Angela and beth saw someone's bikini bottom came right off and they laughed at her white bum and tattooed eyebrows! The two best things were the two surf rides which were really hard and the family ride which housed all 6 of us in one big raft and then shot us up on a very wide waterslide. Great Fun.

Wadi world was not cheap. Its £40 each for the whole day and even Patrick was full price but it was definately the highlight of the trip so far and offset by Grandad's contribution. The park sits next to Burj Arab and Jerimiah Hotel both look the part ie 7 star hotels. To prove the point Gareth Barry was in the wave pool besides us with his young family. Some lads said "when are you signing for Liverpool" which he laughed off. Lets see what happens in the next few weeks. We put on 3 levels of factor 30 during the day and just avoided sunstroke but we were well baked in 45 degrees heat. We finished a very tiring day having a pizza meal deal for 81 dirhams to try and recover from the days expenditure.

Last Day in Dubai.

We had an early flight at 10am and the online check in wasnt working (more about that later） The previous night we had to pack after arriving home around 10pm. At about midnight I tried for an hour to check in but the hotel's internet was being hammered by kids on facebook! So I tried to do it with the notebook via wifi but it seemed to check us in but not quite so this meant we had to be at the airport 4 hrs before rather than 90 mins. Therefore as the hotel bus ran at 6 and 8 we opted for the 6 oclock one. Not a usual choice for those who know me.

Arriving at the airport at 6:30am was very pleasant especially after 4 hrs sleep. Dubai airport Terminal 3 is amazing. They have built it to take all the visitors they are going to attract in the coming years.

It now became obvious why online check in didnt work. We needed visa's to visit Australia. I just didnt think. I thought the red travel book thing would be sufficient especially as it was printed in the parent country. Anyway it took 25 mins to check in as the operator had to electronically request and receive our visa's. He said we were very lucky being from Britain.

So into terminal 3 departure lounge which is even more amazing and Emirates certainly flys every concievable major destination but catch this. 3 flights to melbourne from Dubai in 2 hrs Its 13,000 miles away. I've waited longer for buses in Padgate.

The long Flight part 1

This was the longest flight of our trip and we were very apprehensive but it was the start of the day and so apart from patrick catching some ZZZZ's for an hour everyone stayed up to watch movies , the Simpsons and music for 14 hrs. Mum and Dad caught an hour at best in between being interrupted by requests.

Joseph's confidence has increased. He now has no problem requesting waitress service for a soft drink and snacks or two!

We arrived at 6am in Melbourne where it was particulary chilly

Ours first day in Australia

Wowza! Its so exciting. We were scanned by thermal imagery to see if we had swine flu. Australia has been more effected than britain thus far. We were too early for our campervan so we had to wait for the office to open. When we called he said jump in a taxi its only 5km and wont be more than 25 dollars. 36 dollars and 1 hour later we finally arrived. Our poor sikh driver was expecting his normal fare into the center of Melbourne and instead he got the not so normal Hughes's

The campervan is huge by the way and we have to leave an even bigger deposit just in case we have an accident. Driving a motorhome is quite scary especially when you are jetlagged. We wanted to go somewhere local but the guy at apollo campervan recommended the Hume highway which was a good shout as it got us out of town fast and he mentioned a place on the murray river called yarrawonga. By this time all the children were asleep so they missed the van demo. Along the hume highway it shocked us to see the devastion of the bush fires. You could still smell them. Every tree was black along with the earth and it managed to cross even a three lane highway. We stopped in Seymour to pick up some provisions and generally the prices in Australia seemed very similar to the UK. One thing we immediately recognised is that alcohol is sectioned off and you have to go to a different Till. I think this is a good thing and must make it more difficult for kids to purchase. 2 hrs out we had to stop in a huge layby and slept for 2 hrs. I finished the trip off and we got to the campsite just in time for tea, a shower and a little explore

Second day in OZ

We woke up at 1:30pm , all the people in the campsite must thing we are right lazy sods. We decided to stay for a second night as we hadnt really explored Yarrawonga.

The campsite is on the edge of town directly on the murray river on the border to New south Wales. I ran to NSW tonight and its not as far away as it looks on the map!

Patrick spotted an hedgehog..... It was an ant eater. The fish the local kids were fishing for were yellowbelly and river bream.

At the fish and chip shop we could have Flake, Barramundi or Blue Sovereign with Chips. We have got to try that but not today as we had already shopped at safeway. We walked to town and noticed its really spread out, they have lots of space here. There are several impressive monuments to the Australian army. The place seems deserted. The house prices are very good value.

Back to our holiday home only to realise the sink drain is blocked. However as its winter and dark by 530pm its a job for tomorrow.

A word about the weather its glorious. Very dry (they are in the middle of a drought in Victoria) and the sky is huge unlike at home!

Yarrowonga has a high street about 1km long with bars shops restaurants, supermarkets and a Mackie D's (as sarah would say) where I hope to upload this tomorrow and find out if Everton and David Moyes has managed to pull off the impossible, beat Chelsea and win a 6 mth old bet for me.