Emirates Delight

Our flight was pleasant enough, up to the usual standard which I expect from Etihad. We actually ended up arriving 35 mis early. The passport control was a funny experience. After baggage reclaim, we made our way out, where we got a chauffeur taxi to our hotel in Yas Island about 30 mins away. As we arrived too early, we freshened up and left our bags with the concierge. We explored the nearby area, including the Yas Marina circuit, home of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Viceroy hotel and Hotel Precinct. Afterwards thanks to advice from our concierge, we then made our way for the big bus shuttle to Abu Dhabi, we had gotten a 2 for 1 offer through Etihad guest program. At the Sheikh Zayed "Grand" Mosque, we transferred onto the main big bus tour bus which brought us on a. 2.5 hrs tour of Abu Dhabi taking in picturesque views of the cities and various landmarks such as Abu Dhabi mall, Saadiyat Island, Iranian Markets, The Corniche, The Souk, Markaziyah park and gardens, public beach and heritage village. At the Marina mall, we decided to disembark and go to the Sky Tower and have lunch. The architecture of this building was unreal, as was the views from the Sky Tower. We ended up spending bout 2 hrs in the mall before getting the bus to complete the tour. On way back towards the Grand Mosque, we passed the world famous Emirates hotel. Lucky our tour bus arrived before our Yas Island shuttle. When we arrived back on the Yas island we passed Ferrari World, on our way to the hotel precinct. We finally checked into our room, which had a view of Viceroy and the Grand Prix. Once we got settled, changed into our swimsuits and went swimming in the outdoor pools. Which has views of the nearby Yas Island Gold Plaza, Yas Water park and Abu Dhabi skyline. After this swim, we went up for quick nap, how ever due to our jet lag, was a nice sleep!

              

The following morning after a slight lie in, we were down stairs for breakfast for 8.15 am. There was a fine spread available, one could eat and eat. We got collected for our Dubai tour from our hotel at 9 am, which we had booked thanks to advice from our concierge. Worked out a lot cheaper than the alternative. Also this was a more intimate affair with only 4 passengers including ourselves.

The drive from Abu Dhabi to Dubai took approx just over an hour thanks to the main motorway connecting both cities. Only way you know you're crossing a border is the slight differences on the road such as on the Abu Dhabi side, the lamps along the stretch of road as 6 shades where on Dubai side they have only 2 and the other big difference is there are trees until you hit the Dubai side when you suddenly see the desert again. Our first port of call was on one of the Palm Island Jumeirah where various celebrities have homes such as the Beckhams, and the world famous 7 star hotel - The Altantis. From palm island, we drove to the nearby Jumeriah public beach, where we got a great of Burj Al Arab, the world tallest hotel and one of the landmark buildings of Dubai. Lucky enough despite slight haze, we got to see the developing World Island. 

 

From Jumeriah, we drove to the  Dubai Mall, which is home to over 1,200 stores, Olympic sized ice rink, waterfall feature, largest suspended aquarium and the Dubai water fountain. The fountain daily at 1 pm has a water show which is an amazing sight. Also in this location, Burj Khalifa which is the  worldest tallest building. After spending time here for lunch, we departed at bout 2.30 and travelled to the Al Fahidi Fort which been converted into the Dubai museum. Also in this area, is the Dubai grand mosque. After passing several mosques including the blue tiled Iranian and  grand mosque with the city's tallest minaret, we got an Abra, a traditional wooden transport boat used to cross the Dubai creek from the Bur Dubai side to Deira side. Deira is home to the Iranian spice and gold Souks which both are definitely worth a visit. After our visit to The souks, we got the Apra back and then began the journey back to Abu Dhabi. We were back at our hotel about 6.30, although quite a long day, it was well worth it.

After a quick rest, we got drinks by the pool bar, were we relaxed before going for a walk around Yas island. About 10.30 we checked out of the hotel and got a taxi to the airport, which had been arranged by the concerige. Taxi only took 10 mins and cost about 20 dirham which is in stark contrast to the 100 we paid when we arrived. Make sure if getting a taxi, always get the metered ones. When we got to our check in desk, we found out that our flight had been delayed. We had dinner and explored the duty free before finally boarding at approx 2 am. We were shuttle bused out to our plane which was the blue moon rising, Manchester city football club plane. The journey itself was quite pleasant, and the staff, entertainment and food were great as always. We landed just before 8 am Irish time, where we were greeted by our parents, which was quite an emotional affair. 

From Reality to Holiday and Packing Mode

Monday May 20th, +Liam got a call from the Alfred centre to cancel his OPD appointment due to a mis-communication and the fact that his colonscopy hadn't been scheduled. So we decided to go into the city and whilst over chocolate at Theobroma Chocolate started discussing our plans for our stopover in Abu Dhabi. +I went to the Alfred myself early the next morning for my final check up which included an X-ray, consultant and physio. I was told that I had no restrictions and could finally start physiotherapy. It was great to get the all clear. Both Liam and myself spent the afternoon and evening catching up on our tv shows and watching Harry Potter. It is always nice to just sit back and relax.

Majority of that week for both of us was spent working, the most unusual place that Liam worked that week was at the MCG on Friday, which is the Melbourne Cricket Ground, for the Collinwood vs Sydney Swans AFL game, in various corporate boxes. With majority of the 60,000 strong crowd Collinwood fans, Liam was telling me, when they lose, they are sore losers.
We both went into city together, whilst I was waiting for Liam to finish work, typically my own shift got cancelled, like every Saturday, however we went for dinner on Elizabeth street in a place called Coneheads, with probably the best chips we have had since been in Melbourne. Thanks again for the advice girlies. Afterwards went into the Coles next door and got some ingredients for a veggie roast for Sunday dinner.

After Liam came home from his Sunday morning shift in Mr Hive in Crown Casino, we started preparing and cooking the roast, which we both agreed was probably one of the best home cooked meals we have had since been in Australia however realised how much we both missed our parents' "Sunday" roast dinners. That evening we went for a stroll along St Kilda.

Monday morning against all better judgement, we were up early and got 2 trams towards Vermont South, near the home of Ramsay Street, the main neighbourhood in Neighbours. When we arrived we were quite lucky to see some filming. The scene in question was between Brad and Joshua Willis, the new family on the street. We were also so lucky to get a photo with the Ramsay Street sign, only thanks to the security guard on set. After a while, we headed back to the tram and got it into the city, where we went for lunch in Wagamama in South bank followed by a coffee/hot chocolate in Lindt. That afternoon we got our accommodation and tour sorted for Abu Dhabi, thanks to the Etihad Guest program. After paying rent that evening, we went for a drink in Pint on Punt followed by a takeaway pizza from My Goodness pizza around the corner.

Lucky enough, somehow I managed to meet Liam after he finished his shift on Wednesday and before I headed for mine, and he told me all about the drama involving 3 fire engines that arrived at the Institute, where he was waitering at, during a graduation ceremony. It sounded quite hilarious, that everyone carried on eating and drinking away, not caring about the fire engines or fire men.

After Liam finished work on Friday, as it was only drizzling I met him in St. Kilda. However on route it started down pouring. We managed to get our few groceries before getting the 96 tram closer to the house. However, on route, a car swerved in front of the tram. Quick thinking by the tram driver, it was only a minor accident and the only casualty was the driver's car. After this, we swapped on to our next tram, as it was still pouring, it was the Legally Blonde one, ironically, we had just been talking about, going to see it. The downpour continued throughout the night in junction with thunder and lightning, which seemed to be just above all night.

Whilst Liam was working at MEC, I noticed was browsing online, that the play Death of Peter Pan was on offer with Half tix for the final two nights. So I went in and bought two tickets for the closing night, which was the following night, as that nights performance was sold out. I also got tickets for a dinner show for Draculas Cabaret on Wednesday night. After Liam met me at Starbucks, we made our way for dinner, when we got side tracked by the Hollywood  sign at ACMI. Of course photos had to be taken. On our way to southbank, we spotted a crowd had gathered in Fed Sq, around a camp fire and didgeridoo playing. We quickly found out, it was the opening night of the Solstice celebration for the light in Winter and the helix tree. This involved, music, choir and the lighting of the helix tree. From here, we strolled along south bank to Merrywell for dinner and its Merry Hour special, a drink and burger for 15 dollars.

                 

                         
The highlight of Sunday was a late brunch followed by the play. We both agreed, that the play Death of Peter Pan was a lot more Humorous  than we expected. However, the final scene evoked the desired reaction from the audience by pulling at the heart strings. The cast and the play's production, we felt were outstanding.

As we had a Scoopon to use, we went for dinner to an Italian in South Yarra called Versachi. During dinner, which was yummy, we decided to go to the Elephant for the Neighbours Trivia Night, as we found out through facebook, we could get in for free, as we been there before and had a photo with Alan Fletcher aka Dr Karl. Like always, we had such a fun packed night, between the music, trivia and getting photos taken with Dr Karl, Liddy Kennedy and Stingray who was quite witty and cute.

Alan  Fletcher's band Waiting Room were brilliant as always. Jokingly Dr Karl gave us all his twitter name and said to tweet him if we enjoyed ourselves, if not say ye were at the Prince of Wales. Liam typically tweeted @doctorkk with a link to a Youtube video which he recorded during the band's set. The video in question was Susan's song and surprisingly enough Dr Karl actually replied.

@kickflips well done for coming to @neighboursnight and your vid of Susan song ain't 2 bad! Cheers. youtu.be/zeDoufQcM3U
— Alan Fletcher (@doctorkk) June 3, 2013

The next day, the big pack commenced and with most of it sorted, Liam decided we should go into town and go to Half Tix and get tickets Legally Blonde for that nights performance. As he owed me for the other tickets. We had great tickets in the stalls, a free drink at intermission and got to meet some of the main cast after show, who were lovely, also posing for photos and signing autographs. The show itself was exactly how  I pictured it, fabulously hilarious and pink!  

With all the packing sorted, and our last full day left in Melbourne, was time to do some last minute shopping and such before the night's festivities. I finally got my koala charm for my Pandora bracelet. We got a chance finally to go to Asian Beer Cafe and see what all the fuss was about. Was a great way to sit back and relax before Draculas Cabaret show. When we arrived a few of us were marched into this small dark room, and given a rundown of the entertainment and antics. From here, we were shown to the cocktail bar upstairs. Liam was telling his cocktail was quite strong not surprising when the barman was free pouring, the way he was. We then were hurriedly rushed onto the ghost train, which was a funny and spooky filled experience. After our departure off the train, it was a short trip down a few stairs, where we were greeted by our hosts, who seated us. The dinner and entertainment which followed were brilliant, everyone got involved , from the waitering staff to the singers on stage. To everyone in the audience surprise, a guy from Perth, proposed to his girlfriend with some help from Draculas. Lucky enough she said Yes. We both agreed, it was well worth it, and so much fun.
                              

After making sure everything was packed and sorted, we had a quick bite to eat before making the journey into the city. Lucky and by pure chance, we finally got to meet one of our cousins, who made the train from Swan Hill, which is over 4.5 hours away. It was great to finally get to meet Cathy and hear various family antidotes. But before we knew it, the time for all of us to depart came upon us. From Cathy to catch the V Line train back to Swan Hill and for us to get the Skybus to the Airport. Lucky enough, the Check in desk was open and didn't take us too long, or get thru Security and Customs. All that awaited us now was a 14 plus flight to Abu Dhabi.