Te Arai Links
22.–24. mar., New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
I left Tauranga airport with my tail between my legs but also full of excitement and nervous energy as after leaving the airport in Auckland I was driving 2 hours north to Te Arai Links, the premier golf resort in New Zealand for 2 rounds before jetting back across the world.
The drive up was full of anticipation and a little bit of dread after my poor performance on tour but that all disappeared when i drove through the gates and got on property at Te Arai. This place really is something else.
After a quick bite of lunch in the awesome Rick's restaurant/clubhouse and a warm up on the top quality driving range I was feeling good and actually hitting the ball well, turns out staying up late, drinking way too many beers and being hungover is not the best thing for my golf game.. who knew?
I was scheduled to play with a much older American couple but when i got to the first tee on the North course I was told they had gone off early and that I had the place to myself and that I could tee off whenever I liked. I had a few practice putts on the firm fast greens and headed to the first tee. The location and quality of the course hit me on that first tee, it was late afternoon, there was no wind and the sun was shining - what more could you ask for.
Solid pars on the first 2 holes and a birdie on 3 meant I was off to a great start, which to my great surprise continued for the rest of the round, after a perfect drive on 9 to the crest of the hill and a crisp 5 wood down the hill to the heart of the green on the Par 5 meant I was starting to think I was in for a great round. After spending 30 mins in the halfway house just to give the couple in front even more space, it was out and into the second 9. I absolutely loved the loop of holes from 11 through to 15 through the clearing in the forest and it felt like I was the only person out on this incredible Top 100 in the world course on a perfect afternoon. After cresting the hill to the 16th tee, the final 3 holes take you back to the coast and home to the clubhouse and after a 3 putt par on the Par 5 18th I signed for an 81, my best round in 2 years - I was absolutely thrilled and the beer out on the deck watching the setting sun was just perfect. I rounded the night out with a great meal and a couple of cheeky glasses of Rose at the Ocean restaurant - an incredible first day.
Day two dawned early for an 8am tee time on the allegedly more beautiful south course, although after yesterday I'm not sure how that is possible. It was grey and rainy as we teed off on the first hole but the rain cleared up and we were off and running. There are quite a few more ocean side holes on the south course and the views are incredible, but the overcast rainy weather took a little of the shine of them for me compared to the day before. To my great surprise I was playing well for the second day in a row and some highlights were an excellent blind uphill approach to 10 feet on the 3rd, the drive and view on the 4th tee, a birdie on 5 and some great tee to green play all round the course - I didn't putt as well as the day before but carded another great score, with an 83 that I was so happy with. I also managed to tick off a 2026 golf goal and managed to play the round without a double bogey.
All in all an absolutely amazing 24 hours at Te Arai, my favourite golfing experience in NZ by some distance.
From Te Arai it was back down the motorway to meet up with Deanna to grab a few things out of storage for Joan and the girls followed by a great catch up Natalie, Andrew, Mehtap and Tara some of our nearest and dearest while we were in Maraetai, and then dinner a a couple of beers with two of my best mates Cat and Sven in Howick. Great times.
From here, rather than heading back to Saudi for a week as planned before heading off to Ireland for the school holidays I was on my way to Ireland via LA and Munich, to do a weeks work remotely before relaxing with the girls again. By the time I get back to work I will have flown right round the world, which is mental but had to be doneLæs mere
Back to NZ for some family time and some golf
12.–21. mar., New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
With the conflict between the USA and Iran escalating quickly, tensions were also high for me personally as I was starting to very concerned that my planned trip home to New Zealand wasn't going to happen due to airspace closures in the region.
I was heading home to spend a few days in Clive with Mum and Dad and to see the whanau, and I was also heading on tour with G.Smith Golf Tours again, and after some last minute flight rebooking out of Jeddah via Singapore I was finally on my way, and to be honest I was really glad to be getting out of the region due to the concerning escalation of the conflict.
I had an awesome few days back at home catching up with Mum and Dad and the rest of the whanau as well as getting some reps in an playing some golf with some of my oldest and dearest friends in Napier. We had a brilliant lunch up at the Puketapu pub again and it was so cool seeing all the kids especially and seeing how much everyone is growing up. Special mention also to it being the first time I got to meet my new wee nephew Reuben, which was really great. I don't get to spend much time at home at the moment with everything going on, so to get this quality time was so important to me and I loved it.
After my time at home it was time to hit the road again with the G.Smith Golf Tours crew with this year's tour heading to the Bay of Plenty. We drove up Wednesday afternoon and settled into a few beers that evening with a good part of the crew arriving that night. Next day we were off to Omokoroa Golf Club to meet the rest of the crew and to get the proceedings under way.
Choice of beds after Day 1 is based on the results form the day and I played pretty averagely at Omokoroa, which meant that my bed choice was fairly sparse by the time my turn rolled around. I chose a single bed in the gimp room in the party house, a decision that would prove not to be the best one I have ever made. Two nights of being part of the group who were last up, pulling stumps at 2-3am each night meant that my golf results in the 2026 tour not being great. We had an absolute screamer of a day on the Friday at Waihi with the same split format as last year, followed by an epic bus trip back to The Mount which culminated in me being almost the most hungover I've ever been at Ohope on Championship Saturday, getting smoked in my matches and losing a 4 man play off in bare feet to come dead last. I was gutted to come so far to play so badly but with self sabotage there is only one person to blame - ha ha.
This weekend is consistently my favourite of the year and it was so great seeing all the guys again and getting to know the rookies as well.Læs mere
A short trip out to Shebara
26. februar, Saudi-Arabien ⋅ 🌬 23 °C
Shebara is one of the resorts owned and operated by Red Sea Global that form part of the project I am part of. I took the 45 minute boat ride out to the island for a meeting with the GM and took a few snaps.
The resort is quite simply stunning, I had never seen anything quite like it
Not a bad work day.Læs mere
Back to work .... again
11. februar, Saudi-Arabien ⋅ 🌬 26 °C
Belfast for half term
5.–10. feb., Nordirland ⋅ 🌧 6 °C
After 6 months of relocating the girls to the other side of the world and dealing with everything that comes with that experience, I was heading back to Northern Ireland again in February to give Joan a much needed break during half term for the girls.
After picking the girls up from school and dropping Joan off to the airport for her long weekend away in London .... eventually, after a flat tyre drama in Dungannon, we made the short drive into Shaws Bridge in Belfast and checked into our favourite "fancy" hotel again for 3 days of awesome fun in Belfast ... or so we thought.
The first evening was fairly uneventful, we had a lovely dinner in the hotel restaurant, watched some Six Nations rugby and then went for a great swim before heading to bed. That night poor old Scarlett was hit with a nasty gastro bug and the poor pet spent the whole night getting up and down spewing. The next morning she was no better, so Frankie and I had a lazy day in the hotel room while Scarlett tried to catch up on some sleep. Scarlett perked up in the evening so we had a quick dinner in the hotel bar then went back to the room for the night.
The next day everyone was feeling great so after breakfast we jumped in the car and headed to W5 - an amazing science and technology museum/activity centre in Belfast. We had a brilliant day exploring, the girls completed the scavenger hunt and we managed to put in a few hours there no problem at all. Everyone was hungry so we went for some awesome pizza at Little Wing, but Frankie started crying saying that the hot smell in there was making her feel funny, I never thought anything of it, but given what had happened over the previous 24 hours I should have. Halfway home Frankie erupted and power chucked all through the back of the car, turns out the stomach bug that Scarlett had was contagious. Another quiet afternoon and night was spent in the hotel room, while poor old Frankie worked through the bug - she crashed early so Scarlett and I had room service for dinner and had another early night.
The next morning all the patients has recovered so we had a nice breakfast, and another swim before heading back out to the airport to pick Mum up.
Another new tradition that is forming is that Frankie likes to do Daddy's make up on the last night before I head home, so after she had done that, I put the girls to bed, kissed them good night and got a couple of hours sleep before another extremely early bus to Dublin airport and my flight back to work.Læs mere
Back to work again
3. januar, Saudi-Arabien ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C
Christmas in Mullaghmeen
24. dec. 2025–2. jan. 2026, Nordirland ⋅ ☀️ 7 °C
After an unbelievable few days in Lapland we headed back to Mullaghmeen via Gatwick for Christmas. Easyjet get a lot of stick from people but one of their awesome pilots invited the girls into the cockpit as we were getting off the plan in Belfast, which was a thrill for them and for us as well.
Getting home on Xmas Eve meant that things were going to be a little hectic as we waited for our new best mate Santa to arrive. But after a few hours we got our little ladies into their jammies and we left out the drinks and snacks for Santa and his reindeer and got ready for Xmas Day.
We had a lovely chilled Xmas Day with everyone and an amazing, massive feed for Xmas dinner - Xmas in Mullaghmeen is so different to at home but something about it being cold and wintery just makes it feel really different, maybe more stereotypically christmassy I dont know but its always an amazing day full of food, drinks, family and good times no matter which side of the world we spend it on.
Having my birthday on Boxing Day means its always a pretty low key affair, but I always manage to get spoiled and treated by Joan and the girls which was lovely, nothing particularly memorable about turning 48 in itself, but the girls and I had a great afternoon out and about exploring some playgrounds and lakeside jettys before the cold got the better of us and we retreated. Joan and I managed a couple of delicious pints in Charlies that night which was awesome. Another successful birthday in the books.
The rest of the trip was made up of a bus trip up to Ravenhill to see Enniskillen win the Junior Cup, followed by a night in a "fancy" hotel with the girls, our little tradition whenever I'm home, and another amazing visit to SHB Hair and Beauty in Clogher with Scarlett and Frankie for some daddy daughter pampering.
New Years Eve holds a special place in Joan's heart at the house and we spent a lovely chilled one with Amy, Linda, Joan and the girls drinking Aperol and watching Jools Holland, as is tradition in the Beatty house.
Not long after that I was back on the big bird and heading back to site via Jeddah for another 6 week stint before getting back to see everyone in February for half term.
These shorter, more frequent visits since Joan and the girls have been in Ireland are a game changer and make being here so much easier and more manageable.Læs mere
Magical Lapland - Day 3
22.–23. dec. 2025, Finland ⋅ 🌫 -16 °C
After the pure, joy, exhilaration and wonder of Day 1 we had a slightly later start to Day 2, but there was one goal and one goal only for today .. .finding Santa
The day started off at Santa's post office deep in the woods, where we met Snowy Bowie, Wendy Wood and Speedy Sam, three of Santa's finest elves who helped us along the way and pointed us in the direction of Santa's workshop.
We were treated to a top notch show in Santa's post office where all the letters that boys and girls write from all over the world arrive before they make their way to Santa, Trixie the elf explained how everything works and Frankie even helped Trixie move some of the letters from the mail boxes to the final post boxes for delivery to Santa himself. Trixie even found the letter than one of the girls in our group had sent Santa weeks before and read it out to everybody which blew the wee girls mind.
After some quick goodbyes to the Elves we we were off again to our next adventure where we trekked through the woods for a couple of minutes before we reached a lovely little campfire where we roasted marshmallows and drank lovely warm berry juice. The girls scrambled over a great little obstacle course under the watchful eye of the elves again before we headed back to the restaurant for a quick bite of lunch - no sign of the big man just yet but we were getting closer .....
After lunch we got bussed back to another group of waiting snowmobiles pulling sleds decked out with fur blankets. Joan, Granny Linda, Scarlett and Frankie all got into the waiting sleds and we made our way up a tree lined laneway through towering snow laden pines and past frozen stream, we climbed higher and higher as the cold air nipped at our noses and eventually got to the top and stopped underneath a beautiful mountain home where we sat around a lovely warm fire for a few minutes before we were called up to the house by some of the elves, could this be it? had we finally found the man himself?
The elves asked us to sing a Christmas song outside the front door, which we eagerly did - after a minute or so the doors opened and we were lead inside by another elf and up to a beautiful dark timer clad room where we were told we had indeed found Santa and we had to wait here for him - so exciting. Then from out of nowhere the book case swung open and an unmistakable Ho Ho Ho was heard from down the stairs... Scarlett and Frankie, is that you? we heard - the girls have never moved so fast - we made our way down the stairs and there he was ... the man himself, Santa - the look on the girls faces was absolutely incredible and something I will never forget. We sat for a while with Santa as he talked to the girls asking them all about what they had been up to and asking them whether they had been good all year - he then reached into his bookshelf and pulled out the two letters that the girls had written to him a couple of weeks before - again the jaws hit the floor. Santa gave the girls both lovely gifts, which turned out to be exactly what they had asked for !! and after we said our goodbyes we went back up the stairs and we were gone - minds well and truly blown all round. It was incredibly well done.
Just when we thought all the fun was over, we were in the bus again and off to our final stop of the day - for some reindeer sledding. We climbed into our sleds again wrapped up tight with furs and skins to keep us warm as the reindeer walked calmly and majestically through the forest again taking us on a sunset tour of their homes - the crunch of snow beneath hooves and the gentle creaking of the sleds was the perfect way to round off the most incredible 2 days we have had with our girls.
Early nights for everyone were on the cards after the 2 days we had just had. Back on the bus in the morning and back to the airport for our flight back to London.
We went to Lapland with Canterbury Travel and I cant say enough about them and how brilliantly every aspect of the trip was done. It was a real treat to get to do this and we feel very lucky to have been able to do this for the girls.Læs mere
Magical Lapland - Day 1 & 2
20.–22. dec. 2025, Finland ⋅ ☁️ -1 °C
After a brilliant night in London we were up bright and early and down to the airport for our flight to Lapland. We checked in and excitement levels were building already as loads of other families all heading away for the same reason checked in and got ready to board. After a 3 hour flight full of Xmas cheer and music we landed in Kittila in Finland. This was the first time the girls had seen proper snow and there was plenty of it here, we had to stop then eating the snow in the car park of the airport, but we eventually got on our bus and headed for our resort. We were staying in an awesome little traditional log cabin , complete with its own loft sleeping area and sauna, this was fairy tale stuff.
The next morning we had a hearty breakfast in the brilliant restaurant not far from our cabin, to fuel up and start the journey looking for Santa and all his elves. The first stop on the journey was the Elves village where we got to see all the elves workshops and wee houses and play some fun games with the kids. Frankie not being a morning person was not overly impressed with the first stop on teh tour, but boy did things change from there.
Next stop was Mrs Clause's bakery where we net Noisy Nod and Mrs Clause - the girls sat in wonder as the elves and Santa's wife told them all about the sugar cookies they make and Noisy Nod got the crowd making music with the pots and pans lining the walls of the bakery. We decorated cookies and Frankie even made sure that Mrs Clause has a gluten free cookie for Granny Linda. It was just perfect to get everyone in the Christmas spirit.
We all got back on the bus and were off to our next activity - the one I had been looking forward to the most, the husky sledding. After a quick H&S introduction it quickly became clear that rather than riding along on a sled pulled by the huskies we would be driving the sleds ourselves, which I was thrilled about. Scarlett and I were on one sled out front and Joan, Granny Linda and Frankie were on the other one. We hurtled off through the forest on this sled with the cold wind whistling past us, the excited barks of the huskies filling the forest and the sound of the sleds being pulled is something I will never forget. It was a proper thrill. When we got to the end of the run we spent a few minutes with the huskies before heading into one of the tents for some warm berry juice beside the fire before a hearty feed for lunch.
Our last stop of the day was back next to Santa's bakery for a blast on some snowmobiles. The adults all got into groups and headed up the ski slope with a guide for a quick trip up the hill as the early afternoon mid winter light was fading. All the while the kids were well looked after by the elves while we were assured they would get their turn and boy did they get their turn. Just around the corner there were a couple of smaller snowmobiles tethered to a stake by a long rope, so the girls took turns going on the snowmobile, by themselves, tearing around the wee loop track - at first they were a bit hesitant but once they got the hang of how the machines worked, there was no stopping them. The look of pure joy and exhilaration on their faces was priceless. Just when we thought we were done we then headed up the hill for a bit of tobogganing to round out an absolutely epic day.
No sign of the big man Santa just yet but we were on his trail and we would surely find him tomorrow,
We ate in the little restaurant again that night and whispers started to circulate that the Northern Lights had been out that night - now this trip was 100% about the girls and making memories with them, but the northern lights was something Joan and I had always wanted to see and we talked about the fact that if we managed to see them while we were in Lapland, it would be the icing on the cake. We headed back to the cabin after not being able to see them outside the restaurant and by the time we got home the lights were out and were absolutely spectacular. We spent the next hour outside in the cold in absolute awe of one of the most visually spectacular things we had ever seen. We got to see the lights dancing across the sky and while the colours are not as vivid as the photos show, they were certainly there. We got hundreds of photos and could not have hoped for a better end to what was easily the best day on holidays we have ever had.
Simply incredible.Læs mere
A night in London before the big trip
19.–20. dec. 2025, England ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C
After months and months or planning and anticipation the big Christmas trip was finally upon us - I packed my bags and headed for London via Jeddah to meet Joan, the girls and Granny Linda. The flight from Jeddah was handy enough into Gatwick but it was packed to the rafters so not the most comfortable flight of all time but it didn't matter one bit.
The cold London air was a shock to the system initially but after a few hours the crew arrived from Belfast and the fun really began. We got settled into the hotel and then headed down to the Gatwick train station and boarded the train heading for Regent Street and Hamley's, the word famous toy shop.
Joan and I had been looking forward to this part of the trip for ages, Regent Street is beautiful at Christmas and we couldn't wait to show the girls how a massive city like London really comes alive at this time of year. We took the girls on the tube for the first time and when we got up onto Oxford Street and took the left turn down Regent Street our jaws hit the floor. Regent Street at Christmas was everything we hoped it would be, the decorations and lights were amazing and the girls couldn't believe their eyes.
We detoured slightly and took the girls down Carnaby Street, which they didn't seem to enjoy as much as Joan and I did before looping back to Hamley's, the main event of the night. The girls reactions to seeing Hamleys was everything we had hoped they would be over the previous months of planning and we spent the next couple of hours exploring each of the levels, playing with all the toys the girls could manage, and racking their brains trying to pick the one toy we said we would buy then as an early Xmas present. Frankie eventually settled on a Gabbys Dollhouse toy phone and Scarlett picked a Labubu, her latest toy obsession. We eventually made our way back to Victoria Station and the hotel at the airport and we all crashed after a magical evening in the big city.
Early start tomorrow for the main event of this trip - the journey to Lapland to find Santa !!!!!Læs mere
Back to work
4. november 2025, Saudi-Arabien ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C
Back to work and the countdown to Xmas begins
Halloween in Ireland
28. okt.–3. nov. 2025, Nordirland ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C
Halloween has been Scarlett’s absolute favourite times of the year since she has known what it was properly – starting out 3 years early when Joan was informed she would be dressing up as a Mummy, because she was her mummy and I was instructed I would be a pumpkin – ha ha. Since then we have been the Addams Family and Ghostbusters while the girls were space kitties one year as well. This year was no different and details of our Halloween outfits were issued early this year by Scarlett and Frankie. Scarlett was going as Clawdeen Wolf from Monster High, I was going as Draculaura’s Dad from Monster High, and then Mummy and Frankie would be witches – sorted.
I boarded my flight and headed to Ireland again with no real idea what I was dressing up as but that was all part of the craic.
Halloween in Ireland is something else, it is a full noise celebration with events all through the week culminating in parades and fireworks on the 31st itself – no surprise really seeing as Ireland is where Halloween originated … who knew? Certainly not me.
We had a brilliant week going to all sorts of Halloween events, the girls having new spooky outfits for each any every different place we went to. The highlights being the event organized by an amazing organization that has been looking out for and helping support Linda since Ernie’s passing out at the Lisbellaw Petting Zoo where we had an awesome night of slime making with an actual real life wizard, a spooky walk through the farm to the pumpkin patch and then rounding out the night carving our very own Halloween pumpkins and having a zombie disco – great craic.
Outside of the Halloween festivities the girls and I also had a really special daddy and daughters evening out where we went to the amazing Shauna at SHB Hair Nails and Beauty in Clogher for some Japanese head spa therapy for the girls and some general pampering. This was such a brilliant evening getting to spend time with them doing something they absolutely love, made all the better by Shauna and how brilliant she was with both of the girls. We will certainly be back to SH - they rock, and I cant recommend them highly enough
The main event of this trip though was heading up to Derry on the 31st for the huge Halloween celebrations that happen there every year. We all got our costume son a jumped in the car for the quick blast up the road. This trip was also extra cool because we were also meeting up with our friends Mark and Bridie and their two great kids Sienna and Caden in Derry. Mark is from Limavady and they just happened to be at home on a big holiday while we were all there too so that was great. Got some interesting looks rocking up to Starbucks just outside the city in our full get ups but hey its Halloween, I'm sure they’ve seen it all before.
The afternoon and evening in the walled city was so cool, loads of different activations, music and street performance all round the city centre with every single person, man woman or child, regardless of age we came across dressed up – so cool, and something you would just never see in NZ. We walked along the walls of the old city, stopped for a customary Guinness for us and bag of bacon fries and some orange juice for the kids. We rounded out the evening in the amazing Guildhall in the city centre watching a mini concert by a Zombie choir under the most incredible looking moon inside the place – hard to describe and do justice but hopefully the photo explains it better than I can.
The girls and I rounded out this trip back with ice cream and a visit to the cow shed at Tickety Moo. The girls were absolutely fascinated by the feeding shed, how the cows are lived and especially the back scratching machines for the cows, well Scarlett was at least – Frankies favourite part was squealing and pointing out everytime one of the cows took a wee or poohed on the floor – sums them up perfectly, ha ha.
No trip back to see everyone is complete without out traditional stay overnight in a “fancy” hotewol as the girls call it. We were booked into The Manor House and the girls were suitably impressed when we pulled up at the hotel that looked like a castle according to them. We swam in the pool, ate a lovely dinner in the cellar bar, had a few more pints of Guinness and just soaked up our last night together for another wee while. The next morning we dropped the girls off at school and then I was on a bus and on my way back to Saudi for one final push work wise before the end of the year and a well earned Christmas breakLæs mere
Black River hike
17. oktober 2025, Saudi-Arabien ⋅ ☀️ 36 °C
Our project is located on an amazing bit of the Saudi Arabian coast, so naturally the coastline, islands and sea are a big part of what we are doing here. A part that often gets overlooked though is the fact that we are also really close to a vast desert area which and what are effectively the foothills for the massive mountain ranges to the north of us.
Akun is the land based adventure activity part of Red Sea Global and they run regular weekly adventures now that the weather is starting to cool down a bit and spending time outside is actually enjoyable.
We went with Akun to a local area called the Black River for an early morning hike with Ala our awesome guide. The landscape here seems very barren and featureless and in many ways, the absolute polar opposite of the landscape in New Zealand or Ireland, which is why I find it mesmerising and just as beautiful, in a strange way.
Black River was about 25 mins drive from the site and once we arrived in darkness we started the scramble up the rocks and through the gulleys and rock formations. As it started to get light we were getting near the top of the range and as the sun started peaking out from behind the mountains to the east we stopped for a while to take it all in. It was such an awesome place and I loved how isolated we felt.
After enjoying the views for a bit longer we started to make our way down again through a different set of valleys and dried up ancient waterways, stopping along the way to see loads of different plants and trees with Ala emplaning what the local tries use them for. After dodging a handful of scorpion and snake nests we scrambled our way back down to the bottom and made our way back to site.
Given how beautiful the coast is, it is easy to forget how cool the mountains and dunes are as well – will definitely make an effort to do more of these as winter goes onLæs mere
Shura Links - my new home course
10. oktober 2025, Saudi-Arabien ⋅ 🌬 31 °C
The project I am working on here in Saudi is delivering some truly mind blowing hotels and resorts, all of which are amazing but to be honest, probably way out of my price range and unfortunately things I will probably never get to experience.
There has always been one glimmer of hope however and that has been the development of Shura Links, Saudi Arabia’s first island golf course and a key part of the biggest project in this area, being Shura Island. Myself and the rest of the guys who regularly use the simulators onsite always held out hope that we may get access to the course as it opened but we were never sure that would be the case.
So when we received confirmation that we would indeed have access to the course when it opened, and at reasonable green fee rates (for teh region), excitement levels were very high to get out there and play some actual, real life golf.
That day finally came on the 10th of October and I have been lucky enough to get out there more weekends than not since opening day.
The course itself is beautiful, fair and at the same time incredibly tricky around the greens – a true championship standard course. At the time of writing this (mid Jan 2026) I am yet to have a really great round there but after a confidence eviscerating, weeks long case of the shanks pre Xmas its finally starting to feel a bit more comfortable. Still plenty of work to do before March though and the next installment of the G.Smith Golf Tours in Tauranga.Læs mere
Back to work again
26. september 2025, Saudi-Arabien ⋅ 🌬 31 °C
Back to work - next trip back to NI for Halloween
Barcelona bound
25. september 2025, Spanien ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C
Tired, a little bit hungover and missing Joan and the girls already I jumped on a short flight to Barcelona, a city I had never been to but one I had to spend the next 12 hours in before my flight back to the middle east.
I had a couple of things that I wanted to tick of the list so not knowing how the public transport system worked or whether what I wanted to do was even going to be possible in the time I had, I checked my bag into left luggage and headed into the city to explore.
First stop was La Sagrada Familia, a church I had seen in pretty much everyone’s travel photos and one I was keen to check out. I popped out of the metro right next to the church, but unfortunately the whole site seemed to be a construction site so while I got a good look at the outside there was also a load of construction cranes and hoarding which I wasn’t expecting. I also didn’t realise you needed a ticket to get inside and unfortunately it was sold out for the day so I wandered off to find some much needed lunch and hydration as my hangover weirdly really kicked into gear for the next hour or two.
From there I got back on the metro and headed for the Camp Nou, the home of Barcelona FC. Thankfully I already knew the stadium itself was being rebuilt so a tour was not on the cards I did go into the museum and the incredibly impressive 3 level club shop. The museum was cool, with loads of cool memorabilia from all the most famous eras of arguably the biggest football club in the world. Seeing their 5x Champions League trophies and the dozens of other La Liga, Copa del Ray and other trophies. The club shop itself was overwhelming and after spending a bit of time in there and picking up a few souvenirs I moved on again.
Vinyl shopping is one of my favourite things to do anywhere I go so I headed for an area just off La Rambla with my sights set on some new albums for the collection. I found an awesome little shop called Revolver Records and spent the next hour digging through crates and crates of awesome records. I managed to pick up a few new additions and with the best intentions headed out to explore La Rambla. It was about this time I quickly realized I was absolutely done for the day, my feet were aching, I was knackered and I still had a long haul flight ahead of me so I slunk back to the Metro, headed for the airport and waited for my flight back to work. Another full on but awesome tripLæs mere
Ibiza innit
22.–24. sep. 2025, Spanien ⋅ 🌬 22 °C
I always thought the opportunity to go to Ibiza had passed us by, we are now well into our 40’s and the fear was always that we would be the sad old people at the back of the clubs reliving their youth while the young cool people were enjoying their actual youth. I was also worried that the island itself just wouldn’t be what we were interested in in terms of a few days away. Turns out I was wrong, on pretty much all counts.
The flight from Dublin was just as mental as I was expecting. As we sat at the departure gate the waiting passengers were a heady blend of hen parties, 40th birthday crews, hippies, a lot of people who I simply didn’t think looked like they would be on their way to Ibiza. This was a metaphor for the whole island. The flight itself was chaos with everyone hyped to be heading to Ibiza for a few days of debauchery.
We were staying in Playa d’en Bossa, not far from the airport in a fairly basic but perfectly functional apartment style room. We settled in and immediately got ready to head out as we had tickets to see David Guetta at Ushuaia that afternoon/evening. We had a few pre drinks in the apartment then started the short walk to Ushuaia stopping along the way for a couple more cocktails to wet the whistle. Ushuaia is a huge outdoor super club surrounded by apartments and hotel rooms that are also part of the same venue. Had a really fun evening watching the warm up DJs and people watching. Our fears that we would be the sad old people there was quickly extinguished – we were not even close to being the oldest people there – the day/evening club bringing out anyone and everyone, which was cool. David Guetta was the star of the show and the place was rammed by the time he came on. I’ve seen a few DJs in my time and this was much more of a full on stage and AV show than I had ever seen. If this place had a roof he would have blown it clean off – it was great fun. The gig finished around 11pm and after a long day of travel and a big day ahead the next day we made our way back via a few more bars and cocktails – first day was a huge success.
The next day was our first chance to get a look around Ibiza itself and we took the local bus to the old town and started exploring. The old town itself is down next to the harbour and is made up of lovely narrow, cobbled streets, vibrant food stalls, awesome restaurants and tiny little bars. We found an awesome little restaurant down one of the streets and parked up early afternoon and had a late lunch, and a few cheeky Roses and Aperols. The food was incredible and we left there with full bellies and started the journey back to our accommodation to get ready for a big night ahead.
The main reason we came to Ibiza was to go to the Kevin & Perry Experience at Amnesia that night. The movie is a classic and the soundtrack was a who’s who of late 90’s trance. Joan has always loved trance and had also always wanted to get to Ibiza, and especially Amnesia, after spending much of her youth in clubs across Northern Ireland so this was a bit of a pilgrimage. We hung out that evening at the apartment and eventually made our way to Amnesia, one of the OG Ibiza super clubs. To say it was a little overwhelming when we arrived was an understatement – I had never seen anything like this place in my life. Two enormous, 2 level rooms packed to the rafters with clubbers reliving their youth for this night and this music. We were amongst our own here and we were loving it. We had an absolutely brilliant night seeing some huge names from the past and after we ran out of steam we eventually made our way home at 7am the next morning.
Our final day was a little more sedate after getting some much needed sleep and we made our way over to the other side of the island where we pitched up at the legendary Café Mambo and supped on a few restorational proseccos and bloody marys. We watched the sun set at Café Mambo and then made our way around the bay to an amazing Greek restaurant called Aragma where we had a Top 3 all time meal. An incredible way to round out our time in Ibiza
We flew out the next morning – Joany headed for Dublin and home to see the girls again, and I hopped on a flight to Barcelona where I had 12 hours or so to kill before my flight back to Doha.Læs mere
Family time
19.–22. sep. 2025, Nordirland ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C
After an unbelievable, super human effort from Joan and support from our nearest and dearest in Maraetai, the house was packed up and all our things were moved into storage. The house went onto the market and Joan, Scarlett and Frankie boarded the big bird and headed to Fort Worth for a week of destressing and family time before making the big jump to Fermanagh for a fresh start and some much needed time at home.
So after everyone had been in Fermanagh for about a month or so and started to settle into a new routine and surroundings for the girls, I boarded another flight and headed for Ireland. I landed early morning in Dublin and after a couple more hours sleep on the bus I arrived in Enniskillen and was greeted by Joan off the bus, which after the stress of the past 2 months it was so great to her smiling face again.
We headed straight to Dunnes for a feed and then went on to Ballinamallard to pick Frankie up from Nursery which was awesome. I entered the building and Frankie spotted me from across the other side, screamed and ran over to give me the biggest hug ever, it was lovely. We did the same thing for Scarlett when she finished school which was so awesome too. Nothing better than those first hugs when I get home.
We spend the next couple of days at playgrounds, eating ice cream, watching the girls gymnastics displays in Granny Linda’s front room and generally having the craic. We also were very lucky to all be in Enniskillen at the same time as Lisa so it was awesome to catch up with her, her folks, Dutchy, Sarah and the whole crew for some bowling and surprisingly good coffee at 9th Avenue.
No trip back to Enniskillen is complete without a trip to the rugby club so we spent a brilliant afternoon and evening up at the club watching the 1st XV beat Lurgan fairly convincingly, catching up with loads of old friends and sampling the Guinness and bacon fries. Great times.
Having missed Father’s Day in New Zealand this year I also got a very special belated Father’s Day breakfast in bed on Sunday, which after a couple of pints on Saturday was very welcome. We then rounded out Sunday at Lucy’s 5th birthday party with the Ferguson’s which was also great craic.
An action packed, but flying visit this time to see everyone, however the holiday wasn’t over just yet – Joan and I were off to fulfil a life time ambition for her the next day as we headed for Dublin airport and 3 nights in Ibiza reliving our youth …Læs mere
Back to site
11. juli 2025, Saudi-Arabien ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C
Back to site and another 2 months until I get to see everyone again in September in Ireland
Ka kite for now Maraetai
4.–10. jul. 2025, New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C
The last few days back in Maraetai were going to be busy but it is always so important for me to squeeze every last bit of time with the girls and activity out of these visits. We make another lunchtime visit to the awesome Ajisen Ramen in Botany, spent as much time at the beach as we could and hit all the local playgrounds despite the weather starting to get a bit dodgy by the end of the visit.
The undisputed highlight of this last few days at home was Frankie’s 4th birthday princess party which was at her daycare in Beachlands. Everybody got dressed up the nines for the royal occasion and we had an absolute blast. Taffy the fairy ran the show perfectly as always and all the kids had a brilliant time. It was so nice seeing Frankie with all her own friends at the party. We were always a bit worried about all Frankie’s friends being Scarlett’s friends and all their little brothers and sisters, but having her at Seema’s has meant she has a great little group of mates, who all came along to the party.
I also managed to squeeze in a catch up and a few low key drinks with some ex Stride colleagues in the city which was great – so awesome to see everyone especially on a school night – thanks to Geoff, Josh, Lu, Nicole, Fabio, Tim and Correen for making the effort.
My final day in Maraetai was a heavy one, we were in the process of getting work done to the house and getting it ready for sale, which I was fine with but it was a really weird feeling knowing that you once you leave the place that is your home, you wont ever be going back there and that it will soon become someone else’s home. This was our first home so we have never sold and moved on before.
The hardest was yet to come though as I put Bella into the car and headed down to the beach for what I knew was going to be the final time I got to walk her. We went down to Waiomanu beach, one around from the main beach at Maraetai and headed off on Bella’s favourite walk one last time – we stopped at all the usual spots, she checked the bins for chicken bones, sniffed every tree and weed on every second one as we ambled our way round to Magazine Bay and back. We certainly didn’t set any land speed records that morning but that didn’t matter at all. I spent the whole time remembering all the great times we had had with Bella and reminding myself that trying to relocate her to Ireland wasn’t going to be fair on her and that the incredibly hard decision we had made was the right one. Joan would get a few more precious weeks with Bella but this was it for me and it hit me hard. We got back to the car, got Bella back in and I just broke down and bawled for what felt like an hour. We had done this walk and journey hundreds of times over the last 10 years plus but this was it, the last one. I managed to compose myself and we headed home and I got packed up and ready to head to the airport again for another marathon journey back to site.
This was an amazing trip home and I loved every second of it, but this one hit different – things were about to change significantly all round, and while the thought of the changes was daunting it was also really exciting – the next chapter of our family life was about to start and we were ready for it.Læs mere
Quality time with the whanau
30. jun.–3. jul. 2025, New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C
The trip down to Hawkes Bay was really important to make sure that the girls had a chance to hang out with their cousins and especially Gran and Pop before relocating to Ireland for the next couple of years while I saw out the rest of my time in Saudi. We certainly hit the ground running and the next morning after we arrived we headed off to the National Aquarium with Gran, Pop and Audrey with us. The girls had an amazing time and really enjoyed being the big cousins with Audrey, which is a change for them as they are normally the young ones at all the meet ups. It was so cute watching the girls hold Audrey’s hand and explain everything they were seeing to her as we made our way around the aquarium. It was also awesome just seeing them tearing around the place and being amazed by the underwater tunnel and all the big rays and fish in the displays. A great morning out.
No trip to Hawkes Bay is complete without a marathon playground session at Cornwall Park in Hastings and this trip certainly didn’t disappoint – Liz bought Amber, Briar and Hazel and Scarlett and Frankie had the time of their lives running around the place, flying down the zip line, climbing up and over everything and being so brave and adventurous – I was blown away with how much more grown up Frankie is on this trip and she was flying around the playground, following her big sister and cousins and going everywhere they went, I was so proud of her and how much she is developing and maturing since starting at kindy full time, she is certainly not a baby any more and is blossoming into a super confident wee girl.
We also managed another epic playground session at Anderson Park with Uncle Hud, Carys and Oti where the ziplines got a hammering and everyone had an absolute blast. Scarlett’s gymnastics and tumbling are certainly making her stronger and more capable around the playground and her skills even impressed her big cuzzie Carys which Scarlett was absolutely chuffed about.
A big highlight of the trip was getting everyone together for dinner at the Puketapu Hotel, all the kids had a blast hanging out, drinking juice and causing chaos and it was awesome to get a chance to hang out with Claire, Philip, Mike, Hudd, Taz, Mum and Dad. Was a shame Liz and Hazel and Chris Michelle and Dom couldn’t make it but we are getting so big as a group its hard to find a time that works for everyone and no one is sick.
We rounded out a brilliant trip home to the Bay with a morning at Pop’s museum, The Faraday Centre on our way out of town. Pop gave us the VIP guided tour and we got to see so many cool things like the Tesla Coil, the voice activated colour room, the mind bending mirrored tardis and all the cool old machinery including the printing press that Pop was working on at the time. Frankie was obsessed with the old washing mangle and just stood for ages winding bits of material through and back. We all had a blast and really enjoyed seeing Pops Museum.
This trip was really important to me as I wanted to make sure that the girls had a chance to spend quality time with Gran and Pop especially but also all their aunties, uncles and cousins before they headed across to Ireland for a while. This past year has reinforced to me that time spent with the people you love the most is absolutely priceless and I was so thankful we got to do this little mini break with the whanau.Læs mere
Back in Maraetai
26.–29. jun. 2025, New Zealand ⋅ 🌬 17 °C
After the journey from hell it was such a relief to land in Auckland and make my way home to Maraetai, where I had about 30 mins to get showered, changed and then I was out the door again to get down to Scarlett’s hangi lunch at Maraetai Beach School, which was so good after a couple of days in travel limbo eating crappy airline food. After picking Frankie up from kindy and lovely reunions with both of the girls we spent the next day relaxing and taking Bella on as many lovely beach walks as we could before we headed off on our now traditional staycation adventure at the Cordis in the city. It was yet another fantastic 24 hours at our favourite hotel in Auckland – lots of roof top pool swims, snail showers and the girls also discovered that they loved saunas too. We had our regular competition to see who could guess what colour the sky tower would be at night and gorged ourselves at the afternoon tea and canape buffets in the club lounge. The girls really enjoyed the library this time and Mum and Dad got to chill and enjoy a couple of cocktails. Breakfast the next morning is always much anticipated and the girls start planning what ice cream they are going to have and what they are going to dip in the chocolate fountain about a week before we get there. Another perfect break at our favourite hotewol (as Frankie calls it).
The next morning the girls and I packed ourselves into the ute and headed down the road to Hawkes Bay to see the whanau, while Joan jumped in her car and headed to Raglan for some sanctuary and a much needed break. This past 12 months has been incredibly stressful for Joan with me being away, Ernie passing away shortly after I left and then all the stresses that come with packing up the house and getting it ready to be sold before Joan and the girls relocate to Northern Ireland for a while. I will never know how Joan managed all of this by herself but she is an incredibly strong wonderful wife, mum and human being in general and we are so grateful for her being the rock in our lives. A few days of peace and quiet and being on her own schedule was very overdue and I was more than happy to have the girls all to myself for a few days so everyone was a winner.Læs mere
Travel chaos
24.–25. jun. 2025, Qatar ⋅ 🌬 41 °C
Everything was going smoothly, apart from my hangover, after leaving Malaga, until we got an announcement from the captain that Qatar had closed its airspace and we were being diverted to Istanbul. We all reached for our phones to see what was going on and it soon became clear that Iraq was launching missiles into Doha after Mr Trump's latest antics and were striking against a US Air Force base situated not far form Hamad airport. Diverting the flight instead of trying to land at an airport not far from where missiles were being fired into made sense to me, but my thoughts immediately turned to my connecting flights.
Because of my change of travel plans I needed to get to Doha then to Riyadh, check back into a flight to Doha and then go on to Auckland - complicated but necessary for this trip unfortunately. After 7 hours on the tarmac in Istanbul and not being able to get out of the plane we were on our way to Doha again. I had a decent layover in Doha anyway so I assumed I would still be able to get my flight to Riyadh and continue on my merry way .... WRONG
Hamad Airport is one of, if not the largest hubs in the middle east and when it works well, which it almost always does, its a joy to pass through. This was not one of those times - closing the Qatari airspace for 6-7 hours had enormous knock of effects for the tens of thousands of travellers who pass through there every day.
I am lucky to have lounge access at Doha but it was no good to me this time as the place was completely full and you couldn't get a seat anywhere - after hours and hours of no flight announcements it soon became clear that my flight to Riyadh wasn't happening so I was told I had to go and wait in the queue for the transfer desk to rearrange my flights. 9 hours later I was still in the same queue with no end in sight, my Riyadh flight had since left but there was no way I was going to be on it, so my luggage was on its way to Riyadh, but I wasn't.
Not to worry, my flight to Auckland left later that night so I just had to make sure I was on that, but because I hadn't made it to Riyadh to check into my next flights I was worried that my flights may have been cancelled. As I stood in this god forsaken queue with my phone battery on 5% I had the brainwave to call the only person I could think of that could help me ... Joan. Joan was a champion and called Qatar airways in Auckland who confirmed that because I didn't check in in Riyadh I was considered a no show so my Auckland flight was cancelled. I could have cried I was beyond tired at that stage after over 24 hours in the airport with no sleep and all I wanted to do was go home so I asked Joan to get me on any flight she could from wherever I needed to get to so I could get out of this place. I turned my phone off and told Joan I would turn it back on in an hour when hopefully I would get some good news. Like an idiot I stayed in this queue of the damned for another hour and didn't move at all so when Joan called me back and told me I was on an Emirates flight out of Dubai to Auckland the next morning and a flight to Dubai from Doha in 2 hours I have never been so happy in my life. I skipped out of the queue form hell and bolted for the gate for my escape from Hamad International Airport - I was asleep before we took off and had to be woken up by the stewardess in Dubai. I headed straight to a sleep pod and got 4 of the most needed hours sleep of my life before getting on that plane and finally heading for Auckland.
An absolute nightmare of a journey that I hope I never have to repeat again.Læs mere
Ogeous craic
20.–23. jun. 2025, Spanien ⋅ ☀️ 38 °C
2 ½ hours after setting off from Torrequebrada I arrived in the stunning Arcos de la Frontera area, the location for Hursty and Shemiah’s wedding. I was staying at the venue up in the very swanky villas next to the main house so after arriving I soon caught up with Dutchy, Cadden and Conks who had taken the very smart option of getting a private taxi from Seville while the rest of the crew battled across from Seville in what sounded like the bus journey from hell. It was so great seeing Dutchy and the rest of the Fermanagh crew again as they slowly filtered in from the bus. An amazing group of friends who I don’t keep in touch with anywhere near as regularly as I should. We spent the rest of the scorching hot afternoon around the pool drinking lovely cold beers and generally having the craic, again something I had no idea how much I had missed, Irish craic just hits different and I missed it so much.
Friday evening we all made our way into Arcos itself, which is a stunning old town, and one of the world renowned Pueblos Blancos, or white villages, perched high on top of a massive bluff overlooking the Andalusian plains full of olive groves, vast fields of blooming sun flowers and citrus orchards – it really was stunning. We spent the evening at the pre wedding dinner catching up with everyone, most of whom I hadn’t seen in years, and just enjoying everyone’s company again. We called it a night fairly sensibly around midnight but apparently the stragglers were out until very late, no point getting first night fever with the wedding the next day.
A leisurely start to Saturday for Dutchy and I as we enjoyed a cooked breakfast and a couple of celebratory glasses of Buckfast to mark the occasion. With the ceremony not starting until 5pm we spent another day lazing around the pool slowly getting through a few cold beers before it was time to get our glad rags on and head to the ceremony. The ceremony itself was amazing and made all the better by the fact that Shemiah’s brother was the celebrant. By this stage though it had to be at least 40 degrees so we were sweating the bit out. Shemiah looked incredible and Hursty actually scrubbed up really well too, definitely the first time I have seen him in a suit though – ha ha.
Following the ceremony we all went down to the main house for hands down the best pre dinner canapes I’ve ever had – I gorged myself on octopus, tacos, these amazing tempura anchovies and pretty much anything else I could get my hands on. The diner itself started at 10pm and the speeches followed before we all hit the dancefloor and I finally dragged myself to bed, as one of the early leavers at 3am – the Irish just do it differently and I was sorely out of practice – ha ha.
Sunday was the pool party day so just for a change we all sat round the pool in the scorching heat again and drank more cold beers and Prosecco to ward off the hangovers from the night before . The day after weddings are always my favourite days of wedding weekends, so much more relaxed and you actually get the chance to chat the bride and groom and just chill for a bit.
It was an absolutely amazing weekend celebrating the marriage of Hursty and Shemiah. I was so thrilled to be invited and so glad I could make it. It was a real shame that Joany couldn’t make it but timings just weren’t on our side for this one unfortunately. I have been to some great weddings over the years but I have to say that apart from our own, of course, this one was by some distance my favourite. Every single person I met over the weekend was lovely and they all felt like friends, even though I had never met them. Seeing the whole Fermanagh crew again especially Hursty, Pandy, Welty, Dutchy, Will and Noelle and the list just goes on and on, was a very needed bit of soul medicine after a testing last 12 months in Saudi away from the people I love the most. I left Arcos and headed for Malaga airport and a reunion in New Zealand with everyone, hung over to pieces but buzzing about the few days I spent in Spain, little did I know what an ordeal was lying ahead of me.Læs mere
Escape to the Costa del Sol
18.–20. jun. 2025, Spanien ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C
After another long 3 months on site the time has come again to get on the big bird and start the journey home to see Joan and the girls again - this time is slightly different though as I headed for Spain for Hursty and Shemiah’s wedding. Because of the flight times I was only able to get into Malaga 2 days before the wedding direct from Doha, so it would have been rude not to take the opportunity to play a bit of golf and relax for a couple of days. Given Saudi was really warming up a few degrees of respite was going to be amazing, but it was actually hotter in Spain than it was in Saudi when I left, couldn’t believe it – ha ha
After arriving at the hotel, a coupe of lovely ice cold San Miguel’s next to the beach and an amazing steak dinner I hit the pillow pretty exhausted. Next day I was up and at it relatively leisurely before heading out to Calanova Golf Club, for the first of two rounds I had booked through Golfmates Travel (who were excellent to deal with). Calanova was perched up on top of the hills over looking the coast and the course itself covered a huge amount of ground with massive elevation changes – was so glad of the cart I was in, no way you could walk this place. Golf was OK on day 1 and I played with an English couple from Bristol who were really nice. Great to be back on course after not playing any golf since Taupo earlier in the year. That night I wandered into Fuengirola a little bit more and came across a beautiful spanish restaurant in an old paved square with a lovely church in the middle of it where I treated myself to some incredible local seafood and a couple of glasses of Rose to finish the day off.
Day two started bright and early as I had a big day ahead. I had an early tee time at the beautiful Torrequebrada Golf Club, the couple I played with at Calanova had told me that Torrequebrada was on a different level to Calanova, and they weren’t wrong. I really enjoyed Calanova but Torrequebrada stacks up with the best courses I’ve played. The day was made even better by playing with a Danish legend called Kasper who was a member who looked after me and the other guy who played with us like we were long lost friends, not just 2 random golfers he only just met. Golf was pretty solid on this day and shot an 86 which I was very happy with given I had a few blow up holes along the way. After a great clubhouse lunch and an ice cold Cruzcampo I jumped in my hire car and started the next leg of the journey – 2 ½ hours inland to Arcos de la Fronterra and the main event of this part of the journey – the wedding.Læs mere