Australia Part 1

Prior to the 13th of February I had not seen my nephew Breandan for almost half of his life.

I was thrilled to see Breandan and niece Eilish again. They were equally thrilled to see me again and were always begging me to play, cricket, footy, swings and everything else with them.

My first main meal: roast PORK and vegetables with the family. From left to right: Eilish, Shannon, Mum, Anna, Dad, Liam and Breandan.

Oman

I was going to do a big write-up about Oman and Australia but since the trip was so long ago, I’m just going to post pictures with short descriptions.

I found Muscat’s architecture interesting. Many of the buildings were similar to my childhood visions of what castles looked like.

A Muscat mosque. The above two photos were taken from Susan’s place.

Muttrah Harbour at night, Muscat.

HSBC’s Omani version of their “the world’s local bank” advertising campaign.

Oman is famous for its frankincense and myrrh. I bought a few incense burner packs from the Oman souq/bazaar in Muttrah. I’d have loved to have brought them to Australia but I’m sure Customs would seize them. The above photo is an optical illusion. The incense burner is gigantic in size and located on the top of the hill overlooking the bay.

I come from a land down under… The two songs I had on my mind the whole time in Oman were Men At Work’s Down Under and Dire Straits’ Sultans Of Swing. Oman is a Sultanate with a reigning Sultan who shares my birthday.

The former Sultan’s (the current Sultan’s father) palace, Muscat.

An Omani feast of crayfish, cuttlefish, kingfish, prawns, mutton, hummous, salad and 3 types of rice.

Susan’s regular taxi driver. The taxi drivers in Oman (or at least Muscat) are locals, unlike Dubai.