Fiona Ferrar

We both had a pretty crap night’s sleep, but still had to wake with the alarm at 3.30am for our early morning pickup to go chasing the sunrise in a hot air balloon! This wasn’t something that we had intended to do, but I had a lovely present from a friend with instructions to do something special with it, and Jody was keen as mustard so off we went.

The drive took about an hour, and then it was very exciting watching our balloon being inflated along with 3 others. Jody asked our pilot where he was from (expecting it to be South Africa), and he was from NZ, and from Hamilton of course – used to own a hot air balloon company there and is involved in the Flying High for Kids World Balloon Project in the off season. We got good instructions for how to get into the basket, and when it was time piled on in. There were 4 sections in the basket, and about 6 of us in each section. Jody did well getting in first as we were very close to the handler with the falcon who was joining us on the flight.

Neither of us had been up in a balloon before, and it was every bit as good as we had hoped. It was a bit windy, and conditions were perfect for us to fly across the whole of the conservation area. We did that at different heights, and could see different animals running around below us. The view of the sun coming up over the mountains in Oman was spectacular, and we got some great pics of a balloon eclipse as one of the other balloons was between us and the sun. The falcon was released to have a fly around, and then came back to the handler – Peter. Peter owns the falcon company, and explained to us how it came about that the falcons were part of the flight – sounds like just in the right place at the right time with the ruling Sheiks brother. There were falcons on the other 3 balloons as well, but they couldn’t be let off to fly at the same time as ‘they don’t like each other!’. Apparently in the wild falcons only fly for a few minutes each day. They are trained when really hungry, and don’t have a sense of bonding or loyalty with their handlers, they just respond to the fact that that person gives them the food. After returning to the Peter, he fed raw quail from his hand for the remainder of the flight.

The flight took an hour, and we travelled around 20kms. The landing was pretty interesting though – apparently when it is under 10kms, the basket will stay upright on landing. With the wind at 20kms today, that was pretty windy apparently. Our pilot did a great job, we bounced a couple of times and were pleased we had obeyed the instructions for how we should stand ie knees bent, pulling back on the handholds, but it was quite rough. Then we stayed upside down for a while until we all eventually managed to extricate ourselves. So we missed the sight of the other balloon that didn’t land as well and ended up draped over a fence, and nearly on a building.

Then we were taken to a camp and had breakfast which was just ok. I didn’t try the caviar, but the eggs and rice were quite nice. Then we were off in 1950’s jeeps for a wildlife safari. Our guide told us a bit about the plants in the area, and we saw quite a few onyx on the way. But this was pretty low key after the excitement of the ride. After that we were back in car on the way to the hotel – very surprised to realise that it was only 10am and were back at motel by 11.30.

So then it was packing time as we have an early flight in the morning. We managed to do that and then chilled out for several hours until it was time for the hotel shuttle to take us to the beach. That was a great decision. I tried out a step paddle board, and was surprised at how hard it was. With a normal paddle board you use all of your body to power it, and can stop and have a rest if you want. With the step paddle board, you only really used your legs, and had to step constantly. The handlebars were a bit wobbly, so it didn’t pay to stop. I didn’t quite last out the full 30 mins (actually quite a bit less….). I had a nice swim after that, and then we went for a walk along the lovely boardwalk. The whole beach area had a great boardwalk and heaps of eateries. It would be a great place to stay with family. They also did gourmet gelattos which we couldn’t go past.

After being at the beach for a couple of hours we caught the hotel shuttle back – it is very convenient having shuttles that go to the major places, and saves on taxi fares. The shuttle stopped at the Dubai Mall on the way back to the hotel, so we got off there and went to the restaurant that we had spied with a good view of the fountains. When we were seated I walked around the balcony a bit, and found that the next restaurant had an even better view. So we jumped ship and had a lovely meal at Todd English Food Hall. We watched 3 fountain shows which were pretty good, but it was a shame that in the 3 nights we had been watching, we only had one where we knew the song – Whitney Houston, I will always love you.

So then it was time for our final walk back to the hotel – we have gotten pretty good at finding out way back by now. So a pretty big day after getting up at 3.30 am. Early tomorrow as well – 5.30am so can catch our plane to Rome.Okumaya devam et