South African Vacation 2009 (Eventually)

It's high time that I start posting pictures from our vacation to South Africa in May / June...I know they are 3 months later so, sorry.

We flew on Emirates Airline directly to Cape Town where, after a HUGE mess up with the rental car, we finally went to Aunty Ann and Uncle Tony's Plumstead House. We spent the night there before going through to Scarbough the next day.

The drive to Scarbourgh was to say the least, Depressing. It brought back all the beauty of Cape Town that I had long forgotten, and an insane urge to pack up my life and move back down to Cape Town...then I lay down and the feeling passed...

After a good nights rest, we were ready to actually begin the vacation. What better way to introduce the children to the South African wildlife than a quick trip over the mountain to Boulders Beach and the Cape Town Penguin Breeding Program...

From Boulders it is just a Hop, Skip and a Jump over to Simon's Town Harbor...the home of

'Just Nuisance',

the Great Dane that was formally enlisted in the Royal Navy...see the following website for a full story...

http://www.simonstown.com/tourism/nuisance/nuisance.htm

The next day was a trip to Scratch patch which will follow on the next posting...

Well, after almost 8 years of doing Search & Rescue, they finally sent us on the HUET (Helicopter Underwater Escape Training) Course. As the name says, if we end up in the water, then escaping from the helicopter can be a little tricky. It was also an oppertunity to take my underwater camera for a proper test drive. Although the pictures are not too clear, I guess a small sacrifice is made for the ability to go underwater.

As in real life, there is alwas the possibilty that once in the water the helicopter will capsize. This changes everything when you are upside down...then, just to spice things up a little, they turn all the lights out...

Bell 412 EP Leaving Al Ain Base for the last time...

Having never posted a video clip on the website, I thought it was high time that I tried, seeing that I am about to leave on vacation. If this works, I might have some vacation videos to follow...

Chavez and his Best Friend

Here you see Chavez with Salem,his best friend...

Grandparents in the UAE...Again

As some of you may know, my parents finally came over to visit us on the way home from my sister in New Zealand. It was a much anticipated event by the children and they were very happy to see Granny and Grandpa arrive. At least this time we were a little more settled in here than the last time they were here.

The first trip to Dubai was to take them to see the Tallest Building in the World...the Burj Dubai, located on top of the Dubai Mall...the Largest shopping Mall in the World.Inside the Dubai Mall they have placed a relatively large Aquarium which we waited to go and see until the Grandparents were here. Impressive I admit but I must say I expected a little more.The second trip to Dubai took us to the 8th Man-Made wonder of the world...The Palm Island. Home to the Atlantis hotel, the Palm houses some of the most lucrative property in the UAE.We went to eat at a South African Steak House restaurant thing in the Mall of the Emirates. We had heard that they were a little expensive but decided to treat the grandparents to a meal...which they paid for...Take note of the price of the T-Bone Steak...current exchange rate is 2.85...this means that a small T-Bone steak with a little bit of Pap cost us R345.00 EACH.If that is not bad enough, the Wagyu Beef Steak comes in at a WOPPING 180 Dirhams...R513.00...
Abu Dhabi was also on our list of places to go, with the UAE Motor Vehicle Museum and the Emirates Palace Hotel at the top of the list.
4 Years ago we took the grandparents to the Motor Vehicle Museum only to get there and find it closed. For this reason we decided to take them back there again this trip. We packed the car for the day and started the 1 hour 30 minutes drive to the Car Museum in Abu Dhabi. When we arrived...IT WAS CLOSED...AGAIN. However, this time they did have the world largest caravan on display (Guinness Book of Records) which was rather interesting to see.After the disappointment of arriving at the CLOSED Car Museum we took the grandparents to the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi. This is the second 7 Star Hotel in the world. The only other 7 star hotel in the world is the Burj Al Arab in Dubai. The Emirates Palace Hotel play a part in the Jamie Foxx and Jeniffer Garner movie 'THE KINGDOM' (as the Palace of the Saudi Crown Prince).

Anyone want a Number plate?

I was going through a local Auto Trader magazine (like I normally do), and as usual I found the section in the magazine where they have unique number plates available for sale. As you will see from the picture below, some of the prices are amazingly high, but what caught my attention was the very first number plate on the very top left...please bear in mind that the current UAE Dirham - SA Rand exchange rate is 2.7

What makes you think that the people in this country have too much money?

21/09/2008

After the above post, I found out that the Number plate '1' was sold for 7 Million British Pounds...do a google search for the ' most expensive number plate ' and you will find the news article.

The New Car

WOW...I never realised how long it has been since I posted an entry on our site. JULY last year...WOW...sorry about that.

In October 2008 we managed to sell my old car and bought ourself a new car. After looked around substantially and test driving everything from the Honda to the Hummer, we finally settled on the 2008 Dodge Durango Limited Edition.

An amazing vehicle to say the least, the only drawback to having this vehicle is the Fuel Comsumption. With Luiza'a car running at 6 - 8 L/100km and your average 4X4 running at about 12 - 14 L/100km, you get my new Durango running at 18 - 24 L/100km.

Just to put that in perspective...to drive 100km it will cost me about R176.00 or 66 AED. A 100 Liter fuel tank would cost me R735.00 to fill up every 2 or 3 days. These figures are based on todays fuel prices. Luckily the price of fuel here is a lot cheaper than South Africa. It cost me 125 AED (R330.00) to fill my car up with 98 Octane fuel. 110 AED (R291.00) if I fill up with the cheapest 93 Octane fuel.

Anyway, you might be asking why the fuel consumption is so high...the answer is simple...The Dodge Durango runs on a 5.6L V8 HEMI engine. Bear in mind that most 4X4's only run with about a 3.5L or 3.8L engine, with the occassional 4X4 having about a 4.2L engine.

Anyway, enough talking...below are some pictures of our new 8-seater 2008 Crystal Pearl Black 2008 5.6L V8 HEMI Dodge Durango...

I will post another entry soon...

Cheers from Mike, Luiza, Chavez and Thorn