Europe Road Trip - Part 2

We made it home to Dubai safe and sound on Friday and our holiday now feels like a long time ago. 

Especially as I am here in Dubai and yesterday Naz and Piper flew to Australia for the next month.

It was the hardest goodbye ever, well for me anyway, Piper couldn't wait to get on the plane and get to Nanny's house, wear gumboots, see rain, play with her cousins and enjoy being totally spoilt for the next month.

A selfish part of me wanted to stop her leaving but it doesn't make sense for her to be here right now. She still has a month left of school holidays, Ramadan doesn't finish for another 10 days and it is far too hot to go outside in the daytime at all.

Enough of my feeling sorry for myself on my lonesome here, I have finally edited some more photo's from our holiday and some of my favourites from the German Alps region around Fussen are below.

Town of Fussen at the foot of the Alps

Medieval lunch in Fussen - love those paper bibs

View out the window from the cable car we took to the top of the mountains.... sensational view but I could barely breathe the entire trip up and down!

Looking down from the cable car on the toboggan run down the mountain....... this was one ride I wasn't skipping. I promised Naz I would behave and go down the hill slowly but my childhood Magic Mountain  memories kicked in and I flew down that thing! Don't stress grandparents - bub is just fine :)

Breakfast on top of the mountains

The top of the Alps was full of crazy people like this preparing to jump off and fly.....

Preparing to jump

Running to launch

Up up and away! We had to tear Naz away, he would of stayed watching all day if  we let him. I have a bad feeling that one day we will be watching him jump from mountains!!

Europe Road Trip - Part 1

Our European adventure is almost over but I will break up our pics over a couple of posts.

We are currently in Munich after finishing up our mobile home cruising and camping. Over the last couple of weeks we have travelled across Germany, explored the Alps via Austria, Lichtenstein and Switzerland, accidentally visited France and Luxembourg and found our way back to Germany.

Lastly but most importantly our little Piper turned 4 while we were on the road! 

One our favourite towns discovered in our first week - Landberg am Lech

Birthday Girl - never needs an excuse to wear tulle!  

An accidental visit to Legoland - not part of our plans but we couldn't resist stopping when we came across it. We expected to lose an hour or two...... not 6!

This is one of the tamer rides, we discovered later in the day Piper has a love of roller coasters and speed! Unfortunately these signs below prevented me from taking part in case I harm my legless, armless lego baby!

Birthday cake road trip style!

Outside our motor home ready to hit the road on Birthday day!

Desert Camping Adventure - The Empty Quarter

Naz returned to Dubai last Wednesday and I don't think Piper and I have ever been happier to see him.

However, rather than take things slowly and relax, in true O'Brien style we planned a road trip and camping adventure for the weekend.

We ventured to The Empty Quarter, a unique desert area at the northern tip of the UAE bordered by UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Yemen. It is a vast desert, home to some of the worlds largest sand dunes, approximately a three drive from Dubai (unless you have a toddler who needs to pee every half hour).

We travelled with friends, one of who had befriended a local man on a previous camping trip. We contacted Salem and he was only too happy to meet up with us crazy bunch of expat's and show us around. This kind man led us into the desert, took us to a friends camel farm, tested our 4WD driving skills before finally leading us off road into the dunes to the most secluded and beautiful camping spot.

It is quite rare to share such intimate time with local Emirate's. For the most part expatriates and locals lead very separate lives. But Salem was welcoming and engaging. While the boys set-up camp he took myself and two other friends in his car for a bash through the dunes, it was horrifying and exhilarating at the same time!

Not sure this desert has ever seen a little poodle from Australia before!

Fireside conversations

Sand boarding

My favourite pic - cars on the left, friends up on the dune and the boys sand boarding

Road trip - Jebel Shams, Oman

Ramadan is officially over and life is getting back to normal.

I am scared to 'type' this out loud but the weather has even felt cooler the last two days. Last night it got to a low of 34 degrees, so all fingers are crossed the heat is over and winter is on its way.

The end of Ramadan brings with it Eid celebrations and several public holiday. These holidays are not officially announced until the evening before Eid begins. UAE residents were given 2 public holidays.... sounds generous, however, all of our neighbouring countries (Saudi, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain) were given a week off so it was a little disappointing.

To make the most of a four day weekend and escape the oppressive heat we headed off on a road trip to explore the mountains of Oman in an area known as Jebel Shams.

A friend who also joined us for the road trip recommended this route and camping location, assuring us despite our hesitation that it was an easy drive and would definitely be cooler temperatures.

Well he got the cooler temperatures right. Jebel Shams camp is 2000m above sea level and the peak is 3000m. The nights were cool enough to throw on a jumper and light a camp fire.

As for the easy drive.... not so right. Firstly it was approx 7 hours each way including toilet breaks and border crossings (we had 3 adults, Piper and Lily in the car).
It was an extremely steep climb and took some time to get up the mountain itself. It had been raining and some of the 4WD driving was a little hair raising. In fact at one point on our scenic drive the next day I freaked out on a steep descent and opted to get out and walk (brought back lots of childhood memories Dad).

It was a great break and another Oman road trip is in the works for later in the year.

Our Bedouin tent - we glamped it a bit and stayed in this instead of taking our tent

Walking through a little village on the start of our hike

There were goats everywhere just waiting to be terrorised by Lily

On our hike looking back at  the cliff
wondering where the path was and how the hell we just walked around
that with a toddler and poodle!

Naz doing 'hero' poses. Don't worry Liz there was a big ledge beneath him x

Like father like daughter, my little daredevil rock climber

Snapshots of our Road Trip through France

 Still playing catch-up and now I am even more behind as we have just spent a long weekend camping in the mountains of Oman to escape the Dubai heat.

Here it is, the final leg of our Europe trip!

Our motorhome for the next 8 days, we picked up just outside Paris and headed north to the Champagne Region

Our camp set-up in Epernay

Roadside lunch stop overlooking the vines of the Champagne region, near Reims

Never too young to join in a day of champagne house tastings (just don't tell her it was only water)

Piper's set-up on the road

Another lunch stop on the road in a little village
After the Champagne Region we had planned on driving further north and into Belgium, however, the weather started to get colder the further north we went and our Dubai blood was not happy. 

So we changed planned and headed south to seek the sun and instead explored the Loire Region. We came across a stunning little village Bracieux with the best municipal camp ground we had seen. We ended up basing ourselves here for a few days and hiring bikes to explore the area. 

Cycling in Chambord

Views out cycling

One of our camping stops was conveniently located next to a chocolate factory

More cycling. Most routes we took between small villages were a combination of quiet country roads like this and bike paths

Refreshment break... my cycling was never very good after a few of these wine stops.... a rose bush may have been a victim of one of my after lunch rides. (Thanks Photographer Piper for taking this snap)

Lunch stop out cycling

Piper founds some donkeys on our ride to Cheverny

Exploring the Chateau at Cheverny

We loved the experience of travelling unplanned through France by motor home. Now that we have tried it once we are planning a big trip through Europe by motor home next year...... hint, hint.... maybe some family members or friends might want to join us?