Countdown to the commencement of whirlwind travelling 9 countries in less than 16 weeks.

Life has been very tranquil here in Marrakech, embarrassing for Christine to say, her only accomplishment has been learning Photoshop online and manipulating funny photos of Bradley.

Sure she has successfully bartered her way around the souk, btw the Berber race is a strong independent, take no prisoners nomadic tribe. Attended cooking classes, trying to join up her freckles but that’s about it. On the other hand Brad can proudly say that he finished a chapter of his thesis which was the objective of us staying in Marrakech, of course his supervisors may suggest additional work but overall very proud of his dedication to the task, quite an achievement 15,000 additional words.

With regards to shopping we would have bought more but as there are no shipping routes to Australia everything has to be flown and that means big dollars, so unless we wanted to buy a crate of goods, we had to settle on items that Christine just had to have. Apparently we are turning “Brads” study into a theme shoot of Arabian Nights, should be fun. Have settled into a routine here much like a dole bludger in Australia, minus the surfing and the income. Our greatest stress is working out what to eat when we splurge on a lunch or night out. Otherwise our life is simple, cooking at home, food shopping, reading, writing, lying around the
pool (temp of water approx -30) internet surfing and counting stray cats etc.

In particular I like the cats that sit in the souks under the butcher shop windows, wistfully hoping the meat will fall.

We could have gone on a tour of the Atlas Mountains but again, it all seemed like too much effort. We have enjoyed ourselves here immensely but it is definitely time to move on and explore more of the world and get ahead of those molotov cocktails and political upheavals in the Middle East

So on Wednesday morning we will be flying from here to Casablanca then a connecting flight to Dubai for 4 nights and a flight to Amman in Jordan to commence a tour of Jordan and Israel for 10 nights and a further stay in Israel for another week.
We are staying in Dubai at the Pullman above the Mall of Emirates, just imagine a mall directly downstairs, don’t even have to leave the building to shop in one of the largest malls in Dubai, 520 stores, 60 designer, 80 food and beverage outlets, 14screen cinema, snow fields . . .

You think we would be sick of shopping by now, but strangely really looking forward to Dubai and salivating over the essential luxuries everyone must have. Money is getting scarcer but we are sure we can dig some up for the perfect watch, handbag, jewellery, dress, scarf, shoes, swimmers, ring and anyway that’s what credit was invented for, right?



Now that we can see the end of this trip in sight, hold onto your hats as we plan on making the next 16 weeks as action packed as we can. Now for a sneak peak - Dubai, Jordan, Israel, Turkey, Austria, Spain, Scotland, Hungry?, England, Singapore - Home.

Will write again once we leave Jordan. Love Bradley and Christine