Al Wakrah

We had only one full day in Doha and we were keen to spend some time poolside. Before that though, the boys have come to love breakfast buffets. They didn’t miss out!

We then made our way to the rooftop pool overlooking the city. It was nice to just sit and relax, read a few pages of a book and let the boys just muck around.

We had booked a half day tour in the afternoon/evening which included some pretty exciting sounding activities. We were all keen to get going. At 2pm we were collected from the hotel and began heading south from the city. Sarah asked a million questions of the driver, who patiently and competently answered each and every one. After an hour or so, we reached a compound where we were confronted with a mass of camels. Here we go…

One of the most bizarre experiences we’ve ever had was mounting and riding a camel. We were all shepherded to our beast and asked to hop on. After my camel stood up, I was a little concerned about how well Fred would hold on, but he managed it easily and we were soon on our way. We were led up a nearby sand dune where we had a great view out to the Persian Gulf. Campbell’s camel seemingly had the biggest hump to contend with and Cam needed to stretch himself out fully on his front to be able to hold the reigns.

With lots of laughter and a few shrieks, we made our way back down the hill. The camels slowly sat down, first leaning all the way forward and kneeling, holding that position for a seeming eternity before finally dropping their hind legs and allowing us to alight. We all need a cup of tea after that.

Back in the 4WD, we continued south and into the dunes. Our driver had let the air out of the tyres to allow for some serious dune bashing. Our first hair raiser was as we were heading along the spine of a dune with a severe drop to our left. Sure enough our driver suddenly pulled the steering wheel and we were almost vertical, with sand blasting all over the vehicle. Our stomachs were all still at the top of the dune, and visions of Fred’s vomit in Crete popped into our collective minds.

We continued to expertly navigate the dunes, picking a path, tearing down the side and then blasting up the next one. It was pretty cool.

After a time, we arrived at a dune that was ripe for sand boarding. A group was already there and we watched as they careened down the hill.

Campbell was keen to go, and he sat down on the board. He made it 3/4 of the way down before crashing to one side, getting a mouthful and eyeful of sand. He also tangled himself up with the board and grazed the back of his leg.

To his credit it wasn’t long before he had another go, this time with Tom, and again with Rowan. Fred and Tom paired up as well and Jack went again. Rowan needed to test himself standing up, calling on all his snowboarding experience of 25 years ago. It was a moderate success, however after the fifth time having to trudge back up the dune, his legs were absolutely spent. The boys had one more go each before we jumped back in the car.

It was nearly sunset as we arrived at the inland sea. It’s an impressive body of water that marks the border between Qatar and Saudi Arabia and empties into the Persian Gulf. The foot of the dunes meet the water and we happily cooled off in the crystal clear water. Jack felt a nip at his toes and we quickly discovered a host of crabs walking around us!

Sarah enjoyed the sunset over the dunes. It was our last evening overseas (apart from tomorrow evening when we depart for home) and we quietly reflected on our trip. Before the light completely disappeared, we hopped back into the car and made our way back through the desert towards the bright lights of Doha.

After returning home we showered and made our way back to the Souk for dinner. We found a table at Damasca, a Syrian inspired restaurant and ordered just about everything on the menu. The TV on the wall was showing the local football final and we were engrossed as it went to 13-12 penalty shootout.

We got a dinner and show as well, as the restaurant puts on a music and dance display. This progressed to two men having a sword fight right in front of us and one of the men making his way around the tables interacting with guests. The boys all had swords held to their throats… that’s one way to get them to eat their greens!

After a huge day, we all hit the pillow for our final time.Read more