Didn't We Have A Lovely Day The Day We Went to Tiwi !

Well - I finally managed to drag myself up off of my sick bed for a day trip out and it was a doozy I can tell you. We haven't had a day as lovely as that for a long time. So what did you do I hear you all asking dear readers ?!

Well, we left home at about 10.00am this morning, very civilized don't you think and we drove down towards Quriyat which is where James' road project begins and goes to lots for work and I have never been. It is about 50 mins from Muscat on a very pleasant mostly single carriageway tarmac road - no probs at all. From there we headed towards Tiwi, which is a fairly well reknowned Wadi in these here parts. This road is unmade - that it is very lumpy rock, loose dirt, mud and sand - a very interesting combination ! We drove on these "roads" for about half an hour being shaken to pieces and then we made it onto another tarmac road - phew. We then decided it was time for lunch so we stopped at a beach for some marathon stone throwing and a bit of lunch and it was lovely - look !



From there we drove on a bit for maybe 20 minutes or so - partly on real road an partly on hilly gravel ! We were looking for a sink hole, but unfortunately we never found it - still no mind. We made it to the wadi at Tiwi not really knowing what to expect and it was absolutely stunning - I have to say the last wadi we visited was rather underwhelming, so I wasn't expecting too much from this one, but it was beautiful - lots of lovely pools of water, little waterfalls, greenery and birdlife - gorgeous. Best of all, you can drive down the side of it and get out of the car for walking when it suits you - with most wadi's you drive to the mouth and then scramble across the rocks from there no good for littlies - but this one was perfect for families - just wonderful.



We had read in a book we have about a beach called "white beach" and had been looking for it on the way to Tiwi, but sadly had been unable to spot it - we decided to try again on the way back and lo and behold we found it and I'm so glad we did, it was fabulous - we went for a lovley swim and played in the sand a bit, the perfect antidote to a dusty drive.



Then it was back to Muscat for a evening of well deserved rest and relaxation - so be prepared all ye who visit - you will be subjected to a visit to Tiwi - be prepared to be juddered !

It was my Birthday on Wednesday and we had a very nice day indeed - unfortunately I was still feeling rather poorly so we didn't do that much, but James and Jacob brought me a cup of tea and presents in bed and Jacob bought me a very noisy musical card - we were all happy ! James had proposed to purchase me a piece of jewllery for my birthday, but at the last minute we both decided that an ipod would be much better ! So here my lovelies in all its fabulous glory is my 60GB video Ipod with a Bose speaker/docking station. I also have a nifty gadet in the car so that I can listen to the ipod via my radio - it's really great - sadly James has already had his Birthday present so he is going to have to wait until Christmas to get himself one - everybody say ahhhhhhh. Still I might let him borrow mine every now and then if he's good !



Thank you James and Jacob for a lovely Birthday - I had a fabby day and I loved my presies.

Lastly I just had to leave you with this picture of Jacob - he's such a cool dude these days it's scary. Ta ta all.

Wowzer Wowzer - lookey here

Well it was like this - a few days ago we happened to be a in a little diving shop we know and whilst James was looking for some strangely named piece of vital plastic equipment I noticed that they had a camera housing for underwater photography at a bargain price. So anyway we had a look and it turns out that the bargain price included the camera as well - not only that but as soon as we expressed an interest in it the shop owner dropped the price by 30OR - so anyway - we've now got an underwater camera and it's fab.

So then the other day whilst I was laying languishing on the sofa - oh yes - I've got yet another throat infection - James took Jacob to the pool and they had some fun with the camera. They took some really great photos and I thought I'd try to share a few of them with you.








Aren't they great - so you can expect multitudonous photos of fish from now on ! Nah - we won't bore you to tears with too much of that !

So this sore throat has been a real bummer I have to say. I went to see the Dr and she gave me a prescription for anti-biotics but suggest that I tried to manage it without - which I have been doing, very painfully - I think it is getting better but it has been a long hard road. It's a real shame that James has had two weeks off and I have been poorly for most of it - on the plus side he has been able to spend lots of time with Jacob and they have been having some fun - they've been swimming quite a bit, driving over the sand dunes - which Jacob loved and preparing for my Birthday which is tomorrow ! Jacob is not very good at keeping a secret so I have had to shut my ears a couple of times - still he can spill all the beans tomorrow and he can't wait. We are off to the Sultan centre this afternoon to get some seed trays so that I can plant the seeds that I got in the UK - I'm going to try and grow basil, rosemary and lavender - we shall see how it goes. I'm dying to get our garden looking nice - it's such a prison yard at the moment I need to get on with it - just got to kick this blasted sore throat first.

We are off out to dinner at Kargeens tomorrow night, which I'm looking forward to and we are also going to try and go and see Pirates of the Caribean 2 one evening and we are going to try and do a day trip to Tiwi, which is a lovely Wadi and should be a great day out. We had hoped to do a bit more exploring these two weeks, but that has had to be knocked on the head since I have been barely able to get out of bed. Poor James - I seem to have been nothing but sick this year !

Ta ta all

Home Again Home Again Jiggidy Jig

Well here we are back in Oman and safe and sound. The trip was just fine - not half as bad as I had anticipated apart from rather robust turbulence over Budapest - but still we are here and all is well. Looking forward to getting everything sorted and back to normal - big sigh and time for bed !

Night Night