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Greatest Adventure Yet....
  • Keith Eckersall
  • Jayne Eckersall
  • Keith Eckersall
  • Jayne Eckersall

Greatest Adventure Yet....

Een 56-daags avontuur van Keith & Jayne Meer informatie
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  • Greatest Adventure Yet....

    Another case for a holiday!!

    23 februari 2025, Australië ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    As we leave Melbourne, it is now 3 in 3 - 3 new cases🧳🎒🧳 in 3 new countries ( Singapore 🇸🇬 New Zealand 🇳🇿 Australia 🇦🇺). We bought another new case to replace the one broken on the Tranzalpine train. We left Melbourne in our 3rd and final hire car 🚗 to make our way to Adelaide along the Great Ocean Road. Ist stop on this next chapter is Phillip Island, a little holiday town, some 150 km from Melbourne. Arriving in Phillip Island, we were greeted with chocolates, wine, and a greeting card all in support of Jayne's birthday celebrations, after which we headed into town for brunch and to see the beach ⛱️ .
    After a chill out by the small pool on the holiday complex, we headed out to the end of the island to watch the sunset 🌇 near what is called the Nobbies, where we saw literally 100's of Kangaroos 🦘🦘🦘🦘    Meer informatie

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    No Cornetto 🇮🇹 in this Sorrento 🇦🇺

    24 februari 2025, Australië ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Last night, we eventually got to sleep despite the noise coming from a big flock of white cockatoos!! And it's raining 🌧 this morning, but it's still warm, so after breakfast on our shared verandah (walkway really - but we are the end room) outside our room, we packed the car 🚗 and made our way towards the main road (B420) off the island heading back in the direction of Melbourne, there is only 1 way in and the same way out here! Anyway, just a couple of hundred yards down the road was one of our friends last night - yes, a Kangaroo 🦘 had come to wave us off 😆
    After a bit of an uneventful drive, we arrived at our hotel 🏨 in Sorrento a couple of hours later.
    Unfortunately, our room wasn't ready, but the smiling desk clerk assured us we had been upgraded to a very (very) nice room on the top (4th) floor with a view of the sea 🌊. Sat having a coffee ☕️ we were given the key 🔑 to our room and went upstairs gull of intrigue and excitement.
    And, our upgrade didn't fail to disappoint, a corner room and corner balcony both offering 2 different views. Complimentary mini bar, chocolates 🍫 even the TV remote control is presented in a box.
    In the evening, we drove out to the Portsea Hotel a couple of miles down the road from our hotel on the recommendation of a lady we met in a shop. The views were lovely, as was the food and the sunset 🌇 (almost).
    When we got back to our hotel, it was all bits up and looked very inviting!!    Meer informatie

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    Happy Birthday to you 🎂

    25 februari 2025, Australië ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Happy birthday to you 🎶
    Happy birthday to you 🎶
    Happy birthday, dear Jayne 🎶
    Happy birthday to you 🎶

    After a 38 day build up during our travels, the big day is finally here.....
    It's Jayne's birthday. It's a rest and relaxation day for us both, starting with bucks fizz on the balcony watching the sun rise.
    Then it's downstairs for a leisurely breakfast and a single cup of coffee ☕️ .... with no refills 😥. After a little walk around the main street, it was back to the hotel and the Aurora Spa and Bathhouse for a nice relaxing couple of hours, having a massage 💆‍♀️ 💆‍♂️ and spa bathhouse ritual. Afterwards, Jayne carried on with her pamper day by going and having her nails 💅 done. Whilst I had a drive 🚗 up the road to the hotel, we had dinner at last night to take some more photos 📷 . Meeting back at the hotel, we had a lovely pizza 🍕 on our balcony moving around with the sunshine 🌞.

    Happy birthday, Jayne xx 🍾🥂    Meer informatie

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  • Greatest Adventure Yet....

    🎶We are sailing ⛴️🐬🎶

    26 februari 2025, Australië ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Another beautiful sunrise 🌅 as we wake up to say goodbye to this fabulous hotel and its friendly staff, and we make our way across the waters of Port Phillip Bay to our next stop, Geelong. We checked in for the 12:00 ferry at 11:30, only to be told to come back at 12:45 as there was only the one ferry ⛴️ operating today. Still, it gave us a chance to look around the lovely little town of Sorrento......again!
    At 1:00 p.m., we set off towards Queensferry and soon after accompanied by two dolphins 🐬 🐬 swimming alongside the ferry. When I say they weren't there for long, I mean I didn't have time to get Jayne and my camera 😪 Just 45 minutes later, we are waiting to drive off and continue on our 35-kilometre journey. At least the ferry delay has meant our room at the Rydges in Geelong is ready for us. Cases unloaded, and we went out to see what Geelong has to offer. We headed down to the Promenade and came across groups of wooden figures, a carousel 🎠 , a pier that looked shut, and a couple of cafe bars. So after supporting the local economy, we had a drink and a big pile of wedges as a light bite!! As the tour guide does mention; as I found out later, Geelong is good for hot air balloon rides, and it doesn't mention anything else. But we are only here, for 1 night.
    Footnote: 3 days after leaving Melbourne, we are still only a 59-minute drive or 73 kilometres away.    Meer informatie

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    The Great Ocean Road

    27 februari 2025, Australië ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    The Great Ocean Road isn't really that great when the weather is against you with low cloud and the occasional rain. In some parts of this journey, we didn't know if we were driving through a rain forest or driving through a forest in the rain???
    This journey wasn't what either of us was expecting, and the clue isn't in the name as we didn't see the Great Ocean that many times as we were drove up windy mountain roads and down again. It was getting that bad that talks of abandonment were broached, but fortunately, as we reached the Twelve Apostles, the sun came out. Driving the Great Ocean Road did make a long day even longer, and I'm sure it would have been far more enjoyable in the sunshine 🌞
    After checking in to our motel for our overnight stay, we headed out to the nearest place to eat, which turned out to be the oldest licenced hotel in Victoria dating back to 1844. Still it served drinks and food and also the clientele made both Jayne and myself look thin!!. But the food was good and plenty of it, some so that one local couldn't finish the salad that came with his meal!! 🤣    Meer informatie

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    A result from a joke...😆

    28 februari 2025, Australië ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    After breakfast and check out, we had a little walk around Port Fairy, which turns out to be quite bigger than first thought. After dropping a fairly innocuous (but in my opinion) witty comment about eucalyptus spray attracting koala bears 🐨, we are soon driving up to Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve in search of Koala bears, wallabies and emu's. Unfortunately, we didn't see any wallabies or emu's, but we did see a wild koala bear asleep in a tree very near the car park. After leaving the park, we drove back through Port Fairy and onto Mount Gambia about a 2 hour drive away and through a time zone. Apparently, there is a 1/2 hour difference between the state of Victoria and New South Wales. Arriving at our accommodation for the night, we were both blown away. It's a large (massive) house with a shared kitchen and dining room and billiard 🎱 table in the attic. We even have our own small lounge to enjoy our complimentary Delgattie Shiraz. We were advised that most guests tsfke breakfast at the hotel a few yards away but under the same ownership. After booking our breakfast we also decided to eat there later that night. Walking 🚶‍♂️ into town, I came across the sink hole 🕳 and quite a few nice shops. I also claimed my 2nd first later in the evening when I elected to go for the oysters for a starter.Meer informatie

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    Car Trouble or not 🚗🤔

    1 maart 2025, Australië ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    After breakfast, we had a stroll around Mount Gambia before getting in the car for our drive to Robe and our final destination on the Great Ocean Road. First, though, we stopped a couple of kilometres outside of Mount Gambia to look at the Blue Lake, which sits in a dormant volcano 🌋 that lasted erupted sometime between 4,000 and 28,000 years ago. Its depth is estimated to be about 75 metres or 246 feet deep. Moving on from there, we drove directly to Robe and got caught in the Australian weekend traffic, which meant we hardly saw another car 🚗 during our 90-minute drive, we probably saw 50 cars! Arriving at our accommodation, we noticed a leak coming from underneath the car, so we called the roadside assistance. After waiting in the sunshine, having a brew ☕️ , taking photographs 📸 and reading my book 📖 he finally showed up about 2 hours later. He said it's just water 💧 from the air-conditioning unit. All cars do it, he said, ....... well, I'm sure my car has never done it, and we haven't noticed a puddle of water underneath the car all the rest of the week .... but hey, he's the expert!! So we finally got to look around, Robe, and there isn't a lot to it . Fortunately, for Jayne, there were clothes shops, so she did he bit to help the local economy. As most places were shut or shutting, our only option was to buy takeaway fish 🐟 and chips 🍟 and take them away across the road to a wine bar with a garden and caravan wine stall. 🍷🤔👍👍Meer informatie

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    No time for Keith......

    2 maart 2025, Australië ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Once again, we woke up to an overcast day, but no time to worry about that we had a 343 kilometre and 4 hour drive in front of us to get to Adelaide Airport as tomorrow we start the relaxing part of our holiday with 3 nights on Kangaroo Island. There was one stop I would have liked to have made, and that is Keith in South Australia and a slight (50 kilometre detour). Unfortunately, after stopping at the Big Lobster 🦞 for a photo 📸 stop (but not at the tractor 🚜 museum), we put ME into the Sat-nav, and being Keith, it managed to get confused 😕. From being a 30-minute detour, the sat-nav added another 3 hours onto our journey. So I never went to see me 😪
    After driving about 2 1/2 hours, in the Sunday traffic rush we came across our first town and an inviting cafe so we stopped for a coffee ☕️ and a breakfast wrap 😋 in a little seaside town called Meningie. After stopping for our break, the traffic seemed to really build up as we had a car 🚗 🚗 in front of us 😆. We finally arrived at Adelaide Airport 🛫, at check-in, they told us that the Avis car rental was about 100 metres away, so another result. After driving 🚗 1,362 kilometres or 851 miles from Melbourne to Phillip Island 🏝, upto Sorrento, a ferry ⛴️ crossing to Geelong then finally along the Great Ocean Road; which unfortunately wasn't that great, mainly due to the weather and probably our expectations we are now at Adelaide Airport, carless and relaxing with a beer 🍺 in the sunshine 🌞    Meer informatie

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    Another Airport stay courtesy of Qantas

    3 maart 2025, Australië ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Qantas, so unreliable you can rely on them. After getting well walking 🚶‍♂️ 🚶‍♀️ a couple of minutes from the hotel, we were checking our bags in and going through Security. Time for a coffee ☕️ and a breakfast pastry, we waited at Gate 50 for our flight ✈️ to Kingscote on Kangaroo Island. Half an hour before boarding, and our flight is cancelled. Qantas true to their word don't really care tell and tell us we are booked on the next available flight only 8 hours later but hey we will give you $30 each to buy food and non alcoholic drinks. But we won't tell you where from!! After playing the game, we finally get our $30 lunch and play the waiting game until 4:00 pm, and we can board our flight ✈️.
    At 16:37, we were rumbling down the runway in a small Dash 8-400. As soon as we were airborne, the air stewardess brought round water and snacks. As soon as they had finished, they were back collecting rubbish and saying fasten our seat belts. At 17:00, we were touching down at Kangaroo Island. We were met by Roger, a lovely guy from Peru who drove us the 1 hour back to the Sea Dragon accommodation complex. Driving past kangaroos, we arrived at reception where our bags carried on and were placed in our chalet. After a welcome drink and various formalities, we were taken yo our chalet, and wow, what a view.....we would have an unobstructed view straight down to the sea if it wasn't for a couple of kangaroos standing ant 30 feet from our verandah 🤣.
    Heading back to reception for our evening meal, which was lovely, we watched the waves crashing against the rocks, kangaroos eating, and the sun going down all at the same time.
    Before heading back yo our chalet, gazing at the stars and universe and creeping past a little wallaby.    Meer informatie

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    Making Light Work.

    4 maart 2025, Australië ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Had a lovely visit this morning from Mrs Kangaroo🦘 and her little one. Unfortunately, I had stopped filming 🎥 when the little one sauntered past our lodge door🚪.
    After breakfast, Jayne went honey 🍯 tasting whilst I went photographing kangaroos. After the honey tasting, we went on the walk 🚶‍♀️ 🚶‍♂️ to visit the Cape Willoughby lighthouse, which is the oldest one in South Australia 🇦🇺. After a brief history of the lighthouse and a look at the old, defunct light casing, we made our way up the 102 steps or 27 metres high tower. Afterwards, it was back to the Sea Dragon hotel for lunch.Meer informatie

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    Life's a Beach ⛱️

    4 maart 2025, Australië ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    After lunch was our very first chance on this holiday to get down on the beach ⛱️ and into the Southern Ocean 🌊 which is a marginal sea of the Indian Ocean.
    After spending a couple of hours down there, it was soon time to get out of the hot Australian sunshine 🌞 and begin the slow walk back up to our lodge, and get ready for the Kangaroo experience.
    Thomas, our guide for this event, encouraged us to get up close with the kangaroos (not too close as in touching distance, though). After walking us around, although to be fair it did seem that the kangaroos came to see us as we didn't have to walk very far, it was time for yet another delicious meal prepared by the on-site staff.    Meer informatie

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    Nature Tour part 1........

    5 maart 2025, Australië ⋅ 🌬 21 °C

    After our couple of hours on the beach yesterday we woke to find that we had been dinner for the sand flies. We also discovered last night that we had another full day tour today on the nature trail from 08:00 until 17:00.
    We gathered on another beautiful morning and got on the minibus and Adam our tour guide for the day outlined what he had planned for us and to be honest when we heard our anticipation mounted. On our way out we spotted a Wallaby who Adam reckoned was either blind or disorientated as normally these animals are not around as they are nocturnal. He managed to shoo the small animal off the road and into the bush where hopefully he wouldn't become the breakfast for the couple of eagles we saw further up the road. 90 minutes later we arrived at our 1st stop of the day a little place called Seddon and home to several Koala bears.
    After the Koalas we headed up to Karatta an area the was devastated during the 2019 Christmas bush fires 🔥 that lastedvover several weeks and killed an unknown number of wild animals, 32,000 farm and domestic animals and 2 people. They still have a number of trees on site that were damaged by the fires as the trees burned from the inside!!!
    After our break we headed out to Flinders Chase and the Remarkable Rocks 🪨. These unique shapes and formations are a testament to the forces of nature at work over millions of years.    Meer informatie

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    Nature Tour part 2

    5 maart 2025, Australië ⋅ 🌬 19 °C

    After the Remarkable Rocks, we drove further on to Admirals Arch, which is also home to
    Fur-seals that often play among the rocks. These dark brown seals feed at sea but return to land to rest and breed. In summer, each of the large males establishes a territory with a number of females. You can often see Fur-seal pups playing near the rock pools beneath the arch. After lunch, we drove over to Seal Bay and were able to go on the beach and up quite close to the endangered Australian seals, thanks to Adam. After spending quite some time on the beach observing the seals, it was time to go and head back to Sea Dragon for our evening meal, where we also saw a baby Kangaroo feeding off its mother.Meer informatie

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    Goodbye Tranquillity, G'day Crowds

    6 maart 2025, Australië ⋅ 🌬 17 °C

    We woke up at 06:30 to a cloudy ⛅️ start to the day. It might have been worse if the sun was shining because this morning is when we are leaving this idyllic life caught in a time-warp where you are surrounded by animals, and there is a fabulous community spirit. At 08:40 our departure time, Adam arrives with our suitcases collected to drive 🚗 us to the airport 🛫. But first, we have a last circuit to see the kangaroos before hitting the usual Kangaroo Island traffic rush hour.
    By 12:00 midday we are in our hotel 🏨 for the next 2 nights in Adelaide. Soon, we are out in downtown Adelaide with all it's high rise buildings and people busy going to and from work or shopping. We also came across the Adelaide Pigs 🐖 Created by South African-born, Sydney-based sculptor Marguerite Derricourt, the four grunters, she says, were partly inspired by Pietro Tacca's 1612 fountain in Florence, Italy, that features the Il Porcellino (“piglet”) bronze sculpture of a boar. Street entertainment, part of the Adelaide Fringe Festival, and a giant pigeon before heading back to the Mayfair Hotel and its rooftop bar. 🍻    Meer informatie

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    A Walk in the Park 🚶‍♂️🚶‍♀️

    7 maart 2025, Australië ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Our first morning in Adelaide was carefully planned. We did as many outdoor things as possible due to having to check out at midday tomorrow from our hotel. So the first thing was to find where we were eating tonight. Checking out Adelaide Train Station, we soon found the restaurant around the side. We carried on walking 🚶‍♂️ 🚶‍♀️ along North Terrace past many grand buildings as we made our way to the 1855 Botanic Gardens. On route, we passed the "walk-in" War Memorial, then quickly looked in at the South Australia State Library, where the Mortlock Chamber is an excellent example of a late Victorian Library and is consistently voted among the most beautiful libraries in the world. Stopping off to pay our respects to Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) who was a Royal Navy officer, navigator and cartographer who led the first inshore circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then called New Holland. Before arriving at the Botanical Gardens, which were nice, but because we are now at the end of summer, it was very green with not much flower 🌼 🌸 🌻 🌹 🏵 colour.Meer informatie

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    Last night in Adelaide

    7 maart 2025, Australië ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    After the Botanic Gardens, we walked back towards the hotel, looking at the street art 🎨 and meeting a dog after my own heart ❤️ 📷.
    Later on, refreshed and freshened up we we went for our meal at an Italian restaurant ITL, where jayne had salmon and I chose the pizza 🍕 😋. After our meal, we went for drinks at the Sol Hotel Roof Top Bar and watched the sun setting on our last night in Australia 🇦🇺.Meer informatie

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    G'day from Adelaide & G'bye from us

    8 maart 2025, Australië ⋅ ☁️ 33 °C

    Very lazy morning for us, the first one for 7 weeks!! We spent the morning watching the news about the Cyclone Alfred 🌀🌫🌨☔️ making landfall on the Queensland coast, thinking it would just have been our kind of luck to be holidaying there!! After having brunch in a little cafe, we went to kill some time in the museum. Walking through the main shopping centre, we occasionally stopped to watch and listen to the street performers taking part in the Adelaide Festival. All finished off by a little retail therapy with a new hat for me and sunglasses 😎😎for us both. As the time went on, we were soon in the car 🚗 driving back to the airport for our overnight flight ✈️ to Dubai.Meer informatie

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    Northern Hemisphere Bound .... 🛩

    8 maart 2025, Australië ⋅ 🌙 30 °C

    At the airport, we passed through check-in, security, and passport control remarkably quickly and easily. Right on time, we were being told to board our plane, and as we did, I couldn't help noticing the advert for my favourite Australian place - Kangaroo Island. As our Boeing 777-200 was only half full, we managed to queue jump and took off 🛫 a few minutes earlier than planned. In addition, Jayne and I had a full row of 4 seats 💺 all to ourselves, and so on this night flight managed to get a little sleep 😴 in between meals and the air turbulence ✈️ over Indonesia 🇮🇩. We landed 🛬 in Dubai at 05:18 some 13 hours after leaving Adelaide. As it was doubtful our room at the hotel would be available we slowly 🐌 made our wat through immigration and collected our bags before being shown to a nice posh "up-market" Toyota 🚘 to take us to Jumeirah Beach. Just 90 minutes after landing, we were being shown our room I'm the JA Ocean View Hotel and what a lovely room it is as well, due to a free upgrade we were given with a balcony overlooking the Ain Dubai; the world's tallest Observation Wheel at 250 metres high. From the far end of our balcony, we could see part of the famous Dubai Palm 🌴 and the Atlantis Hotel 🏨 there 😀 👍Meer informatie

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    Double Breakfast in Dubai

    9 maart 2025, Verenigde Arabische Emiraten ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    After a short rest and another breakfast; purely so I can take my medication 💊 of course, we detour go for a little walk 🚶‍♂️ 🚶‍♀️ around the bay. As it was a bit misty, we decided against going on the Ain Dubai; big wheel, maybe another day. We stopped for a coffee ☕️ and cake 🍰 (for Jayne), which the restaurant manager insisted on Jayne having before making our way back to the hotel 🏨, where Jayne was presented with another cake 🍰 by the hotel.Meer informatie

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    After dinner, stroll.

    9 maart 2025, Verenigde Arabische Emiraten ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    After dinner 🍽 in the hotel 🏨, we went for a walk 🚶‍♀️ 🚶‍♂️out. A little bit shocked as it is so commercialised around our hotel with numerous restaurants and perfume sellers. A total opposite to what we had experienced in our previous seven weeks. As we had been up for nearly 36 hours, we headed back towards the hotel, and our bed 🛌Meer informatie

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    Shopping Dubai way...

    10 maart 2025, Verenigde Arabische Emiraten ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    After a casual morning lazing around the pool, we took a taxi 🚕 (not a yellow one, a blue one as our hotel concierge said they were cheaper 😉). As we headed down the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard, driving past showrooms of all the top motor manufacturers; Lamborgini, Ferrari, Rolls Royce, Mercedes, BMW, KIA, to the 12 Billion dollar Downtown Dubai Complex. 30 minutes later, we are outside the Dubai Mall; with over 12 hundred shops, it's the largest shopping mall here. After devouring a quick Wagyu Beef Big Bun, we started our journey around this amazing complex. Arriving at Candylicious to buy sweets, which fortunately was directly opposite the Malls fish tank; one of the largest suspended aquariums on the planet! With over 140 species and 300+ majestic sharks and rays, all housed within a 10-million-litre tank.Meer informatie

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    Burj Khalifa & Fountains

    10 maart 2025, Verenigde Arabische Emiraten ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    After shopping 🛍 for all the necessities, we ventured outside to marvel at the world's tallest structure, the 830-metre high Burj Khalifa. We also managed to quickly photograph 📷 the extremely rare human unicorn 🦄 😀. After dusk, we went back outside to join thrones of people already gathered there to watch the choreographed Dubai Fountain ⛲️ show located in the 30-acre artificial Burj Khalifa Lake. Illuminated by 6,600 lights and 25 colored projectors, it is 275 m (902 ft) long and shoots water up to 500 ft (152.4 m) into the air accompanied by a range of classical to contemporary Arabic and world music. It was built at a cost of Dhs 800 million (£169 million). And is currently the world's largest choreographed fountain.Meer informatie

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    "Oh, It never RAIN'S 🌧 in Dubai" 🌂🌂

    11 maart 2025, Verenigde Arabische Emiraten ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    "It Never Rains in Dubai" - well, all I can say is the Eckersall's have never been to Dubai !!🌧☂️☔️😅
    This morning was so overcast ☁️ it actually rained 🌧 fortunately not too hard but hard enough to send us both into the swimming pool where if we are going to wet wet?!!! It didn't bode well when the pool attendants started collecting all the mattresses from the unused sun beds on the terrace and covering the outdoor speakers with plastic covers. Eventually, around 1:00 p.m., the sun 🌞 finally showed its face 🌝, and everyone started applying sun cream. After dinner 🍽 in the evening, we walked along The Walk 🚶‍♀️ 🚶‍♂️and over the Bluewaters Pedestrian Bridge 🌉 back onto the Bluewaters Island that was all lit up and looking like the Sands Marina Bay Gardens in Singapore 🇸🇬. As we had walked over here the other day, the transformation at night really was phenomenal. There was live music underneath the illuminated Ain Dubai, there is a restaurant paying homage to Porshe cars with one car outside and two cars inside in glass boxes 📦. But to me the most amazing sight was the Dubai waterfront all lit up from the edges of the Palm 🌴 all the way around to the island 🏝 I was stood on, with just one exception the entrance or exit; depending on which way you are going, to the Persian Gulf, part of the Indian Ocean 🌊.Meer informatie

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    11

    A Palm 🌴 like no other ...

    12 maart 2025, Verenigde Arabische Emiraten ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    This morning started overcast ☁️ and a few minutes of what looked and felt like rain 🌧 but as everyone knows, it doesn't rain in Dubai🤔; and if it did never, two mornings in a row. But there again, the Eckersall's are here!! 😅
    After shower dodging, we took the tram and then monorail 🚝 and visited The Palm Jumeirah 🌴. It's purpose was to increase the coastline for tourists as Dubai is known for its sunny weather and beaches, but more than 72 km (45 miles) of coastline was needed to accommodate the goal of tripling the number of tourists to 15 million annually. The solution was to construct a massive island shaped like a palm tree, which, upon completion in 2006, would add 56 km (35 miles) to the coastline. The island is designed to be a city within itself, featuring shopping centres, restaurants, hotels, and residential properties. The island is built entirely from sand and rocks; no concrete or steel has been used during the construction process. This was done following the order of the Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Using 5.5 million cubic metres of rock brought from over 16 quarries in Dubai.
    94 million cubic metres of sand brought from deep sea beds 6 nautical miles from the coast of Dubai and 700 tons of limestone. The cost was in the region on 12 Billion US Dollars 💸 💸💸💸💰 - it might have been cheaper to invite the Eckersall's now and again to reduce the number of sunny days per year, thus keeping tourist numbers down! 🤔😅    Meer informatie

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    1

    A Tasty Fayre

    12 maart 2025, Verenigde Arabische Emiraten ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Back on the monorail 🚝 we carried on to the tip of the Palm 🌴 and the Atlantis Hotel 🏨 and feeling hungry headed straight to the restaurants and Chef 👨‍🍳 Gordon. The Bread Street Kitchen & Bar was very quiet, no shouting or swearing 🤬 not like a Gordon Ramsey Restaurant we see on TV at all 😁, but our waiter Manjula assured us he is a very nice person 😉. After fish 🐟 and chips 🍟 for Jayne and a lovely Super Food Salad 🥗 with chicken 🐔 for me (did I get that the correct way around? 🤣). After our lovely meal, we then shared an Apple Crumble with ice cream, which was just as tasty and lovely as our mains. To make our evening more delightful, the Maitre'D from Estonia 🇪🇪 even took Jayne's wine off our bill. Venturing from the tourist area into the hotel itself, the hotel was just as opulent as we had imagined, especially in the public areas on the hotel side of the aquarium through to the foyer and reception areas.
    Soon, it was time to catch the monorail 🚝 back to the mainland, jumping off halfway at Nakheel Mall for a quick browse, before getting back on the monorail and catching a tram; as we had kept our tram ticket from earlier, we only paid 1/2 price back to Jumeirah Beach Walk.    Meer informatie

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