Al Ain

No not L. A. Al Ain.
Okay, I too, had to find an atlas and look it up. So for those without such a useful book (which as I remember was out of date almost as soon as it was published 😂)

Al Ain is the second city of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi being the first, the largest and the capital of both the emirate and the country.

For those interested, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) consists of 7 Emirates, amongst them Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Umm etc. Okay so you knew that, I won’t list them all then 😂.

Did you know the UAE is a member of the GCC (Arab Gulf

Co-operation centre) which includes Bahrain, Saudi, Kuwait etc. The etc again cause you know this and don’t want to be bored 😜.

Population of Abu Dhabi is (1.6million only), the largest of the emirates (by far, 87 340sq km) with 9% of worlds proven oil reserves and 4% of the worlds proven natural gas reserves. It is seriously wealthy (see my blogs, Abu Dhabi )

Oil was discovered in 1958 and the transformation of this area has been phenomenal (from rags to riches – a good read)

So if that isn’t a good enough reason to visit this part of the world, how about Etihad stops here on its way to Everywhere?

Better still, my dearest friends live here and I have not seen them for 16 years?

Well that’s why Al Ain ❤️

That’s where
Abu Dhabi houses and main road 1961
Tracks approaching Abu Dhabi 1954
The other reason
Friends

Park along the sea….

….leave the car and see where the path leads.

Which is exactly what I did one Sunday morning with some friends.   We ambled along the pathway, together with so many other people, ambling along the pathway.

Well that is not strictly true 😀   Not everyone was ambling .

Some were running, 🏃seriously running, heads down, ear phones blocking out the world, bodies sweating, apparently oblivious of the everything around them.    🏃Others were cycling with a similar intent.   Although I did wonder if their real 🚴‍purpose was to run over anyone who didn’t move out of their way, quick smart.  (what happened to the idea of shared paths?)

Back to ambling though.

Some ambled with their dogs 🐩; and I found myself once more marvelling at how similar owners and dogs often were.   Which begs the question who grew like the other?     Will I get to look like Coco – alert, furry, handsome, happy or will she get to look like me? Not particularly alert, thinning in the hair and handsome departments.   But happy 😜.

I digress.  Back to the ambling.

Some ambled with their coffees.   Whether it was the taste, the look or habit I cannot say, but there was a nonchalance about holding the throw away cup that yelled ‘modern’ ‘ melbourne’ ‘me’.   I can’t help wondering how many trees, or lack of trees our ambling coffees are responsible for, and how do non coffee drinkers survive without this appendage.

And many just ambled, heads up, gazing around, feeling the breeze, the salt air, the energy, the sheer joy of a Sunday morning walk along the beach.

And just a suddenly, the path ’empties’ and for a moment or two, I felt like we were the only people there.

It wasn’t a bright hot day, rather a ‘moody’ day, not cold, just walking temperature.

And sitting watching the boats, the dogs, the children, the people drinking coffee kind of day.

Melbourne continues to sparkle and I am lucky to all it home. 16473056_1471529779532789_3497523470928225458_n16387023_1471529826199451_4743361376156134292_n14581371_1354995131186255_6228501265048689890_n14705740_1354995157852919_9030106100732425510_n

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Parks

I have been taking advantage of Melbourne’s glorious weather, my free time and the parks that are local to our home.

It all started when I started to measure the distance of our walks, our jalks (something between a walk and a jog) and on occasion, our jogs.   This meant I had to carry my phone (on which is the MapMyWalk app).    It also meant I had a camera on hand, albeit an iphone point and press type of camera.

From those beginnings, some meanderings emerged.   I hope you enjoy the indulgence of sky, fields, my ‘friend’ and the privilege of time.   Join me either through these ‘roamings’ or by creating your own.

Today, we, that is my ‘friend’, one of my two ‘babies’ ♥ and I drove 20 minutes from our home to Sassafras and found  a garden of Eden.

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We found the start
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Although there appeared to be some doubt about the route
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But trusting always,
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they set off
A little cool and misty in the early morning
We had the ‘world’ to ourselves

As the sun came through, it warmed up
there were ‘dark’ patches

https://youtu.be/WhtjcFD4qW4&rel=0

and glorious bright patches

There is always an adventure to be had when you go with my ‘friend’
Of course we had to go ‘up’ again 🙂

 

up and up
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the occasional interlude
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to cool off
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Then we waited will some got coffee
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and sat and drank it in the sun