With mixed emotions we packed our suitcases for the final time this holiday. After breakfast a final swim and another henna tattoo courtesy of the spa, we took a cab to the airport. At duty free we said goodbye to our remaining Dirham's and Dubai. Spending December in the southern hemisphere brought back childhood memories for Craig and I while the children loved the novelty of having a sunny Christmas. Seven hours later we were home, all looking forward to seei...

Our last official full day of holiday and for the first time in almost six weeks we decided to go shopping after a swim of course. Our concierge suggested the outlet mall instead of Dubai mall and off we went. Our taxi driver took us along the same route to the desert except in the middle of nowhere is a massive mall. This is located next to where Dubailand will be. So far the only part of Dubailand is the entrance which shows promise of something big to follow. ...

Destination Dubai. Our arrival at 5:15am was quite rude as we were all a bit like zombies, Craig and Zoe had not slept at all. Within minutes of arrival we realised that Dubai works to a different set of rules. A taxi for five is the same as a taxi for four only difference is two people have to share a seat belt. The airport is quite an impressive building and is spotlessly clean. Our lady taxi driver took us to our hotel in the early hours, all the night light...

Sunday we headed towards Rotarua taking the bomb very carefully on the winding wet roads. You can tell the Romans never invaded NZ, not a single straight road in sight. Our first coffee stop in the middle of nowhere was an English teashop/shrine to the English royal family. The landlady was dressed as if playing a role in Downton Abbby and had every kind of royal memorabilia on display including Charles and Diana mugs http://www.corogate.com . At the back of th...

After an early start in Brisbane we dropped off the car that had been a second home for almost four weeks and exactly four thousand kilometres. A three hour flight later we were in Auckland going through the most stringent customs we've ever encountered on any of our travels. My blood drained when the dog came and stopped at Aimee only for us to work out that she had a cereal bar in her backpack. Thankfully our hosts Kay and Derek came to meet us as we may not ...