Jordan - 4 days

We ferried over from Dahab to Jordan and the captain of the ferry invited us to where he invited us up to where he steers the boat.

Upon arrival in Aqaba we had our visas stamped and then it was off to Wadi Rum, the desert where Lawrence of Arabia lived. We stayed the night in a Beduion Camp and enjoyed the stars and the fire and great food.

The next stop was Petra which was amazing, we spent all day in there exploring all the tombs. Nige and I hiked up to the Monastry which is 900 steps straight up.

The next day we went to the Dead Sea which was really good. You do float with no conscience effort and the salt content is 30% so when it got in your eyes it was hell.

Then we went on to the capital, Amman for a night and a city tour in the pouring rain and then it was back to Petra for one more night before heading back to Cairo.

Wadi Rum, the desert that Lawrence of Arabia lived in

Enjoying sitting by the fire at night under the stars

Our desert camp

Here it is peeking through the cavern walls....

PETRA -TREASURY

(cue Indiana Jones music: da dum dum dum dum da dum...)

The little steps up the side of the Treasury are the foot holds for the people who carved it.

Tombs

Inside a tomb (we did a little bit of rock climbing..)

Nigel sings to the masses

Me not scared at all of the heights, you'll notice nige isnt beside me.......

Tour group photo

The Roman Road the Romans built (no surprises there)

On the way up to the Monastry, you can see the tombs in the background and this gorgeous donkey in the foreground

Nige is the little white dot infront of the Monastry. 48m x48m around 1200m above sea level

Here is the top of the Monastry poking out around the cliff tops on our way back down

We chose to ride a camel back to the Treasury, it was really hard to stay on when they galloped

I wonder where in the world this could be

Quite clearly we are in the Dead Sea

And its real cool fun!

Katak Castle in Amman

In Aqaba, this shop keeper was in the film Lawrence of Arabia, he thought Nigel looked like Charlie Atlas.

Enjoying our private boat back to Egypt, Nige is posing

Behind me is Israel

Kat and Ryan's Wedding

We arrived back in New Zealand for Kat and Ryan's wedding on the 3rd of October 2009. The wedding was in Punakaiki and it was a wild, west coast day. This did give them lovely, dramatic photos but the beach ceremony had to be canned as the bride arrived the rain started to pour! Nige did himself proud as a groomsmen and he quite enjoyed wearing the kilt. We had a fabulous time and stayed for another night after the wedding to catch up with everyone.

Where the ceremony was going to take place.

Nige waiting with Ryan and his best man Dan Kat the beautiful bride coming down the aisle

The bride arrives at the altar and then turns around and leaves as the rain starts... This is much better Me and Natalie

Me and some of the other teacher college girls having a catch upKat and her lovely flowers Me and Nige looking posh Nige and his Davidson heritage coming out I helped to set the tables Kat and Ryan Nige sitting up at the big peoples table The cake

Nige shows a bit of leg

And a bit of bum

And his singing skills later on in the night!The next day at the Pancake rocks That night we went out for tea and then back to the resort for the girls to have dessert!