In da Desert

Hi guys,

settling into the New Year here in Doha, although as we didn't have Christmas holidays it still feels like the same year!

Matija has settled back to kindy and has made plenty of friends, she's also been to one of the kids birthday parties so we're getting to know the team - there's Emma, currently best friend who is about the same age, family from Prague (dad is a theatre writer who is doing copywriting for Vodafone), William is an out-there American ginga whose mum works at the kindy, Tomaso (called Tomato) is from somewhere in the Middle East we suspect, Jayden has American and English parents, Sara had the birthday, her Dad is an English lawyer and they live in a compound, Paige has South African parents who live at the Pearl (flash new development) and Ares has a Greek mum and has the odd ear problem (same as Matija).

We went to one of the Friday brunches a couple of weeks ago, just to try it out. There was everything from Thai to Mexican and Indian food as well as a huge seafood buffet, beef, heaps of desserts. I was on the dry menu (driving) while Ande had bubbles with hers. There was face painting and videos for the kids as well as more food for them. Interesting day out, it wasn't cheap, but good for a oncer.

Ande has a few weeks off from presenting at the moment and is planning more programmes. There has been restructuring here and the guy she works with has taken on some more leadership work so it could mean more work for her. They're looking at getting someone else, but Ande needs that NOW rather than later. Still loving the work though and is doing more work with 4 Qatari co-presenters as part of their development, which has been great.

Had a great trip out in the desert on a peninsular to the north yesterday. It is a kind of national park. Three of Ande's colleagues had 4WD vehicles and we went touring and stopped for a picnic at a lovely beach up there. It started a little cool so we didn't take togs, although Matija stripped off and had a great time swimming. In most of the best spots the local Qataris set up camp over winter and head out for the weekends. They put a deposit in and GPS co-ordinates and are allowed to leave the camp there for 3 months. They have portable toilets, generators, spotlights, fridges, boats etc. Some have tv's and satellite dishes. When they pack up they have to take everything, if there is rubbish left behind they lose their deposit, about $3000. Pretty cool I thought.

Anyway the driving was mostly over rocky or hard-packed terrain, you didn't really need 4WD but good ground clearance was essential. In many places there were 3 or 4 options of tracks across open ground so you just went with the one that was least bumpy. The landscape was amazing and it was great to get out of Doha. The circular buildings you see could have been ancient fortifications but they were actually made for a film set, Transformers or something. There was also a fort made in the old style for a film. We pulled up and I leaped over the wall to have a look, someone who had been there before was trying to warn me, but when I walked around I spied a caretaker making a cup of tea. I silently sneaked back over the wall and went in through the gate like everyone else. It was kind of cool, way out in the desert, we would have taken more pics but the battery of the camera ran out.

Anyway we went to a nice gentle sandy beach at the top of the peninsular and had a lovely picnic and a swim for Matija between two local campsites. We also saw some pink flamingos which Matija managed to frighten off by yelling excitedly.

On the way back we passed quite a few salt flats. You have to stick to the tracks here because there is a crust of o.5 to 1 metre over the salty water and if you break through you may never get your vehicle out again!

The peninsular starts about 50mins north of us and there is a town there (around a gas plant) where you can get a coffee and some groceries. There's also a beach which would make a nice day trip. After that trip we're quite keen to upgrade the car to a 4wd so we can get out of town. It would also give us the chance to get to the Inland Sea over the sand dunes, something I'm very keen to do on the weekends.

In other news (sounds like a newsreader here) Matija has started doing gymnastics. They do stretches and running and forward and backward rolls, handstands, bar work and even start learning flickflacks at 3years old. All the other kids seem to be Middle Eastern (Egypt, Lebanon etc) and the instruction is in English and Arabic. A couple of young guys take it, they're quite strict but that won't do Matija any harm and she was really enjoying it and improving every time (although they keep having to tell her to keep her legs together!). It's also just down the road from our gym, so on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday Matija can go to gymnastics for an hour while Ande and I go to the gym and do our workouts.

We've also been up for a rooftop barbecue at one of the other apartments. There were prawns, beers, snarlers etc. It was also the coldest night yet so we were rugged up against the elements. Amazing to hear the call to prayer from the mosque towers at the same level as us!

All the best to everyone - hope you're all well and happy.

ps. Making good progress on the next book and the last one (Jonty and Choc) is due for release any time now. I'm waiting for a copy but delivery takes forever over here.