Previously, on 'Daniel goes to Brisbane'

Well before I whack you with the 'I'm on leave again' stick, I feel a final recap needs to take place of my last Queensland adventure in April which is best summed up by these pictures and/or words:

SUNDAY FUN with NATHAN AND ALISSA!


ZARA TIME with BEN AND KIM!


TOYS'R'US SHENANIGANS with MACY AND AVA!

Tania gets all grown up!

Friday the 13th (of April) was the day of Tania and Paul's wedding. It was the reason I went on leave in the first place! And it didn't disappoint that's for sure. The ceremony, reception, company, food, drinks, cake... Tania you hit the nail on the head! I hear the honeymoon was a minor disaster but I will need to gather my details before reporting on that one. Something to do with getting bumped off a flight in Hong Kong and being stranded at an airport. Now where have I heard that story before......?


With one of my oldest friends Rochelle (our friendship is old, not Rochelle herself! and with the bride, Muriel.

I'm sorry, but could any one look hotter or more elegant eating cake on a stool?

Toto, we're not in Madagascar anymore!

People are always stopping me on the street asking me what the real theme of my blog is. "What's it all about?", they say. Without blinking I reply "the plight of wild animals in tiny cages in overheated zoos!" I mean it's pretty obvious isn't it?!

Here is photo record of my visit to the Dubai Zoo back in March - part of my birthday surprise from Nicole that hadn't yet made the pages of this here blog. I was so excited to go the zoo (the way a little kid gets excited about a new 50 Cent album) but it was a different story when we saw the saddest animals in the world :( captions not necessary, I feel...

Lightning Strikes Twice!

I think somewhere in the Vatican rule book it states that a miracle needs to happen twice for it to be certified as such. Well lock it in Eddie, by jingy it's happened! Another layover, another 45 quid! Can somebody stop this save-a-holic? No! Okay let's move on!

I had the pleasure catching up with my old housemate Rachel on this last trip to London, and we had dinner and drinks in a cool little pub in Hammersmith, about half way between the city and Heathrow where I stay with work. It was raining and miserable but as you can see by the end of the day the sun was out and the biggest rainbow I'd ever seen.

Just two more flights left - Karachi and Munich - before I take one last leave. Then it's TRAINING COLLEGE and the start of my new Dubai life!


Rachel and I at the Queen Adelade, and the view from the top of a red double decker bus!

The biggest rainbow... and flying over Venice.


...and for all the sports car enthusiasts out there, this baby was being loaded onto the aircraft as the crew were boarding. Nice!

No thanks, just having a look!

Borders. Marks and Spencer. Woolworths. HMV. Waterstones. WH Smith. John Lewis. The Perfume Shop.

What do these stores have in common apart from being among my favourite places to part with pounds in the UK?

If you guessed a) Daniel didn't part with ANY pounds in ANY of these stores on his latest UK layover, you'd be spot on!

In the latest miracle soon to be recognised by the Pope, I didn't spend any money on anything apart from basic food for the second layover in a row! Anyone who knows me well and guessing that would be most of my 170 odd weekly readers, it is a huge feat for this little spend-a-holic! They don't call me drowning-in-debt Daniel for nothing!

It was wet, windy and otherwise wonderful in Birmingham. Light passenger loads, my first time operating the business class galley, and an excellent change from Dubai's 40 degree, 100% sunshine policy!


Nothing like waiting another half an hour outside a dirty wet airport for the crew bus to lift one's business-battered spirits!

Looking and feeling like crap, especially compared to the beautiful Mariela from Bulgaria! And later...shopping (but spending nothing) with the incomparable Holly! My umbrella was no match for the British wind that day!

Whole green capsicum?

Let's look at the positives: I have now finished reserve for another seven months.
Let's look at the negatives: I have flown four, yes four, times in the last 35 days, which means plenty of time to galavant around, just no money in which to galavant in my usual OTT style...

The upshot of all this: Eight consecutive days off ending today resulting in the following musical montage. It's actually not musical as such. Maybe if you hum or whistle it could be. Or play the fiddle.


First stop: Dinner Club got off to a good start at Seville's Spanish restaurant at Wafi City. Crew get 50% off the bill which makes it even sweeter. Evidently I was the only one who really enjoyed my food. Here I am with Caio and Nicole. Lara, Ben and Kelly were also attendees...


Second stop: Dinner with the newest gang in town. My gang I mean there's three of us. More of a posse than a gang...and we don't carry knives on our person. This time Nicole, Marcos and I are at Sezzam in the Mall of the Emirates, overlooking the indoor ski slope. Yes it really exists!


Next on the agenda: Daniel gets a UAE driving license and then a few days later....

Daniel drives for the first time! Very scary and strange to drive in the left hand side of the car on the right hand side of the road but I am practising hard thanks to Marcos' and soon Nicole's vehicles and I'll be gunning it to training college in no time! Which brings me to my final photo:


Don't ask questions, just go with it. Dinner at a Lebanese restaurant in Dubai is many things. Cheap and tasty are but two of those things. The plate of raw uncut vegetables is another thing all together. Why? That's right, it's best not to ask...

Now, off to Birmingham!

Behind the secret door....

Next to the front door of our apartment is the door to the telephone and electrical room of our floor. We don't question it. It is what it is... or is it?

On many an occasion the door is left open by maintenance staff revealing what we all expect. A small room with electrical boxes and cupboards. But at the end of the room is ANOTHER door. A door that is NEVER open.

Then one day, just the other day, Franck, Jason and I were rather bored (I was on standby yet again) and we peeked inside to see that the mystery door was ajar! We couldn't let it go unnoticed, so here for your eyes only - behind the secret door....

Sweat Fest 2007

As I am on reserve this month, Emirates can screw me any which way they please and boy have they ever! Mumbai, Mumbai, Delhi, Mumbai in a ROW! All night flights one after the other. Can't believe I haven't been sick! Anyway, the upside is you find more joy and value in the moments you're NOT schlepping to the sub continent and back. The other night we (Nicole, Franck and myself) felt a visit to 360 was in order. 360 is my favourite club in Dubai, overlooking the Burj Al Arab. I hadn't been since my birthday so I felt it was high time for another look. What a difference a month or so can make. On my birthday it was about 16-18 degrees at night and were shivering; on this our most recent trip it was more like 32-34 degrees. SweatFest indeed!

So you know the days are now never below 35, and often catching 40-41... and it's only May! Scary!


Introducing Nicole's new hairstyle!

Franck gets pose-happy with Debs and then Nicole

Julian got just a bit sweaty in the mid thirty temps which led many to beg the question: just when does excessive sweat make a hot man not?... and the All Australian team photo for the night!

Phoenix. Ashes. Need I say more?

The Burj Dubai is on track to become the tallest man made structure on earth when it is completed at the end of next year. At present it sits at 120 storeys tall (already more floors than any other building in the world) and is just over half it's projected completed height of 800 plus metres! To give you an idea, the current tallest building in the world is the Taipei 101 which is massive as it is, and is a mere 555 metres in comparison. As Dubai is so flat, you can see the Burj more or less from everywhere in the city, just not from my bedroom window as they've begun work on Big Ben next door! Originality people! So here's a quick phone snap coming home from work the other day.

More info at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burj_Dubai