Its looking like after a ‘rest’ (pre-Christmas and going on a wild trip to Egypt in a tour group was a rest?) we are starting filming again to pick up those shots we missed last year.

I have to admit………. even though last year was totally exhausting, I am missing the bonds I formed with the crew and the team spirit. I am sure all the boring parts will all come rushing back to me though lol! At least this year I am not studying……. just working FT. Who needs weekends, they are over rated.
You can track the movie on this link: Elindil’s secret

Here is a little ‘behind the scenes’ shot (from early days) of a wardrobe measure up day at my place http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEDPOn6G3Ac&feature=user 

Speaking of movies, I purchased a really groovy full HD Panasonic HDCSD5 video camera to film at Egypt. Then I realised my PC wouldn’t cut it when it comes to editing so I bought an iMac. Hmmmmm its a gorgeous piece of technology. It has taken years of nagging (from my computer nurd friends and collegues) to finally take the plunge into the Mac world. The trouble is that so far it is incompatible with the camera. Aaaaagh! The camera’s advanced technology seems to have left Mac behind. I have read lots of discussion about it on the Web (about my actual camera) to no avail. AND Final Cut Express (Apple editing software) doesn’t recognise the file type from my camera (yet?).

I think my little movie could be a long time coming at this rate. The re-union with the Egypt tour group which I promised might be in the year 2025. By then we will have forgotten we went to Egypt (dementia will have set in for sure).

Haven’t broken the news to Col yet. Shhhhhhh!!!!!! He just doesn’t understand technology, especially computers.

I made a little movie about Cairo (with still photos).

You can view it on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITJBA4Mk3es

If you don’t believe me about the traffic in Egypt……… watch this You tube clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYqhiFnuLSM

I didn’t take this footage myself, but I have some the same. It is an example of what the traffic is like without any exaggeration. There are 20 million people in Cairo and petrol is just 10c per litre. We were going to bring some petrol home with us but couldn’t figure out how!

You can’t imagine how hard it is to cross the streets, since there are no traffic lights except 2 sets in the middle of Cairo, which are ignored by motorists.

There are many other clips about the traffic in Cairo on You tube!!

I have also added some random pics on a page https://dishmoptop.wordpress.com/random-egypt-pics/

I am still getting over the Jet lag 4 days later!! I went to work on Thurs and Friday but I have no idea what I did or said… scary!

Here are two more pics. I feel a need to prove my humiliation at being put up on stage with a belly dancer. The other one is a cute lion cub (obviously) who didn’t really want to be in my arms.

The photos are scanned copies of very poor quality photos taken by the ‘restaurant’ providing the entertainment. I am sure they tell the story ok though lol.

We arrived back to the land of the living yesterday. Soooo tired. We slept all yesterday afternoon and all last night. Colin is still asleep lol!!
What a fantastic time we had. We are so used to being ‘organised’ by our tour guides that we can’t remember how to organise ourselves and we are in ‘la la’ land.

It is good to be home but it is also sad to finish our trip which proved to be an awesome experience. Sophie says we stink …….. Cairo had that ‘smelliness’ about it. With 20 Million people in it, it is one chaotic, noisy, smoggy, smelly but exciting place! I cannot even begin to tell you what the traffic is like there!! You wouldn’t believe it.

Unfortunately I had an SD card malfunction after taking about 100 pics. I have taken 400 since this on another SD card……… plus lots of HD video. The only option my camera/computer gives me with the malfunctioned disc is to re-format it (which would wipe everything). If anyone has any suggestions to help me I would be really grateful on this one!!

We got to see and do some awesome stuff like:

Riding a camel (me….. not Colin!)

Holding a baby lion (ditto)

Climbing inside a pyramid

Dancing with a belly dancer on the stage

Dressing up in Egyptian costume

Lounging around on the beach at the Red sea resort in Hurghada

Travelling overnight from Cairo to Aswan on a sleeper train the size of a dog kennel

Spending 4 nights on the Nile cruiser (4 stories hight)

Shopping in bazaars and souqs (Dubai and Egypt)

Eating so much we both need a drastic diet

But most of all ……. seeing awesome pieces of history you can’t see any other place in the world

Colin caught the dreaded cold early in the piece and then got the tummy bug a week ago (which he still has). I had a cold on the last day which disappeared once I left the smog and smoke. To be honest, not being sick was an oddity for most of the 102 people on the tour!!!

Thanks to the FANTASTIC tour guide (Fadi) of the ‘Habibi’ group/ bus 2 and the organizer from Planet tours, Osama (who did a great job). We made some great friends and had lots of fun. It was a pity there were so many ‘grumblers’ on the trip, but the ‘Habibi’ group were especially talented at going with the flow and having fun, regardless of being out of their comfort zone and the constant changes to itinerary.

Thanks to the Egyptian perfume sold to Colin by a Perfume shop holder. As the stall holder said, he is now ‘like a horse’ and attracting women from everywhere (!). Dream on Col.

I can’t wait for the re-union!

It seems to be almost impossible to get onto the internet here, with the tour group being scheduled in pretty tight and the last 3 places we stayed at having no internet. Should have bought the laptop doh!

We have done the over night on the train thingo, 3 nights on a boat cruiser (more like a ship!) and 3 nights in a resort in Hurghada. Last night was our last night in Egypt (boo hoo). We celebrated by going to this very unusual place for dinner and watched the floor show, had drawings done of us and I got to hold a lion cub ( I told you it was unusual!!). I was teasing a friend who had got dragged up on the stage by a belly dancer, when next thing I knew I was up there too…..feeling totally idiotic I might add. Someone figured out how to use my video camera so there is evidence that I am a prize clutz. Next dancer came, and she dragged Colin up! We Woods certainly steal the show with our skills at times lol.

We are off to Dubai this afternoon and will fly in on Tuesday. I WAS the only person on the tour (out of 102 people) to miss being sick…….but I am starting to get the dreaded sore throat this morning. Col has had both a cold and the Pharaohs revenge” tummy bug. The thick coating of dust and smog here in Cairo doesn’t help the respiratory system at all.

I will upload some pics on our return. Stay tuned!!

Hi all,
Finally I got to find an internet connection which is working. We are having a ball. Egypt is awesome!!
Staying in the Sofitel hotel at the moment, looking over the Nile and getting treated like royalty. We are going to brave the streets today and check out the shops in Cairo.
If we get across the road in one piece it will be a miracle lol!
So far we have been abducted by a ‘genuine fake’ handbag seller (we were barrackaded in a room!!), and hassled by a camel man who wanted to buy me for ’20 million camels”. Colin was tempted to sell me but wasn’t sure if he could fit them all on our 1/4 acre block.
I have taken lots of video with my new camera. Can’t wait to edit it into a movie. Unfortunately my SD card malfunctioned on my ‘still’ camera after the 4th day. I still don’t know if I can save all the photos of me on the camel …… whos name was Michael Jackson)(!) or of the pyramids and of Dubai. Oh well, these things happen. I think the camel photo was too much for the camera (the camel was laughing so much at the ungainly way I got onto it that it upset the SD card??).
We have each put on about 5 kilograms and are planning to wear Arabian gear from now on to accommodate our stomachs.
Tomorrow we are off on a train to Aswan (overnight) and then on the Nile Cruise ship for 3 nights.
Its a hard life…. but someone has to do it lol.
J 🙂

Christmas day was spent with Dad and the 5 of us having a lovely roast dinner on the back decking under the new umbrella. We topped it off with a nice walk with the dog in the reserve.

Boxing day was also at our house and we had 21 here for lunch (including

Hannah who drove down from Hamilton in the morning). Hannah bought Shan a punching bag for Christmas… we suspect that is so that he will stop using her for boxing practise.

Strangely enough…… the ‘in laws’ all ended up on the back decking and the 4 sisters and Dad ended up out the side under the pergola. Admittedly, it is often hard to handle the four of us sisters together. Dad must have been feeling brave.

As you can see, the guys were having a lovely time out the back. Glenn said it was peaceful enough to meditate. Obviously he couldn’t hear the 11 Grandchildren, the dog barking nor the ‘Christmas music’ which Blake had provided.

EVEN the cricket on the TV didn’t drag them inside!!

Last week my niece, Erin, broke her ankle in 2 places by walking in her high heels (you go girl!!). It was a bit tricky getting up our stairs and the Fireman was on holidays so he wouldn’t carry her up. Meanie.

As usual, I look forward to these events with great anticipation but they seem to end before I know it. We don’t catch up enough nowadays unfortunately so we need to savor them.

Only 7 more sleeps til we go to Egypt 🙂

Blake could be said to be missing home ………. but we wouldn’t say that about a 21 year old would we???? Leaving home can be fun and awful at once. Having left home at 17 myself I remember the mixed feelings well.

Today Col and I went to visit him in his home in Flemington. Considering there are 3 single guys living in it, it is surprisingly nice! They have some quirky decorating ideas but otherwise it looks very homely. Blake puts party poppers on their kitchen doors so that they pop when you open them and cover the poor unsuspecting person with streamers. I am glad I am not cooking in his kitchen or I would be a nervous wreck lol.

Then we took him down to Puckle St Moonee Ponds (nearby) for lunch and he showed us the shops he has been busting to take me to as he assured me I would love them (which I did).

After that we went to the museum where we had a great time looking at bugs and into funny mirrors. As you can see by the pics. The pic the left is of Blake in the ant colony and below are of us in the wonky mirrors. Cute hey?

Its so nice to see your son growing into such a nice chap. He is learning all about budgeting (the hard way) and living with others ………. all a part of growing into an adult. I have included some lifestyle tips (below) for you to take note of…..just in case things are getting too tricky for you!

__________________________________________________________________

Life style tips (as explained by Blake)

1. Place mats on the table look homely
2. Throw out your ATM card and just go into the bank once per week and take out the money you need
3. Get up at 5am and ride 30 k before you go to work, its invigorating
4. Eat a tablespoon of wheatgerm a day. It replaces vegetables (!)
5. Buy a corned beef at the start of the week. It will last you all week for 2 meals a day.
6. Ride your bike everywhere, it saves money and time (cuts 40 minutes off the trip to work!)
7. Allow $3 per item for each grocery, it works out about right within the budget at the end (!)
8. Be nice to your boss, she is your life line
9. Don’t use a fan in summer (or an air con) it uses too much power
10. Don’t take up smoking its hard to give up (!)
11. Leave your smokes at home during the day so you can’t smoke them
12. Take advantage of handouts. e.g: The guys in Blake’s house all sent off for free tiger claw slippers. They all wear them at once!
13. Eat the food sample tastings in the supermarket. It saves on food.

We are about to embark on our first overseas trip. Our destination is to Egypt because it is with a tour group (the Police and Firebrigade tour). We would start at Cairo and travel down on the Nile cruise to Luxor and Aswan. Spending time in a resort on the Red sea then back to Cairo. Then we WERE going to Singapore for 4 days afterwards.

I say ‘WERE’, because last night Stephen, from Egypt tours, phoned to say he couldn’t get us any tickets (to anywhere!!!) and would we be prepared to travel ‘business class’. He was happy to split the bill with us but it would still cost $5,000.00 (on top of what we already paid). I could hear Colin’s voice starting to panic……. I am sure you can imagine!!! ‘NO’, he said, ‘we aren’t prepared to go business class!!!’ So Stephen asked if we would be prepared to fly to another country for 4 days before Egypt and then catch up with the group…… like Kuala Lumpar for example. This seemed an ok compromise, we thought. He was worried as he said tickets to everywhere were sold out. We would be attempting to fly out on Jan 2nd.

I have to say……..we are the only ‘Firebrigade’ couple on the tour (out of 120 people) and it seems interesting that he didn’t choose a Police member to phone up with this news!

This morning I was jokingly telling someone that we will probably end up in Iraq or somewhere, yikes, perish the thought.

Next thing you know, Stephen is on the phone…..

(Spoken in a thick Egyptian accent): “Jenny it is your lucky day. You should get a tattslotto ticket. I can’t believe your good fortune. There is someone up there looking after you. I have been trying to find you 2 tickets for 10 days now (why?…….. we paid months ago!!!!!) and I have found you some. You are flying ‘Emerites’, best flight in the world and going to the best place in the world. Everyone want to go there. Best shopping in the world.”

Where are we going? I ask (stupidly). He told me 3 times and I thought perhaps his accent was causing me difficulty. I got off the phone and said to Colin…. “Where is Dubai?”

TAKE A LOOK AT THE MAP!!!!! I just decided that I am writing our will this week. Anyone who thinks they deserve a share in our fortune can let me know lol.

Our place must be where the wild things live (both human and beast!)

Today this little echidna climbed up 22 stairs to get to our front door. He was so funny going down again because he flipped over down every step. We didn’t offer to help him though! As you can see, he was being photographed from all directions. At least he took the formal approach and came to the front door.

I took this photo (see below) of the little bush wallaby from our family room with my mobile phone while eating my breakfast one morning. There is a downside to having animal visitors though….. we also get lots of snakes!!!