Boys will be...

...Boys

The last few weekends have been adventure weekends for the boys...dirt biking in the dessert, deep sea fishing, and a couple of a good old braais.

Whilst I didn't loose any sleep over not going deep sea fishing (considering the one and only time I have been deep sea fishing in the past, was with Kerry Breetzke, her dad and half brothers, when we were in High School and about 5 minutes after finding the perfect spot to fish, I proceeded to 'feed' the fish...and I can tell you it was not fun being out there with nowhere to go and nothing else to do but feel extremely sorry for myself as the boat bobbed up and down in the swells the whole day)...I was however a little bleak that it was boys only for the dirt biking session in the dessert.

The guys got up early to head to the KTM farm, so as to make the most of their time in the dessert before the complete heat of the day hit. Obviously, since I wasn't there, I don't have all the stories to tell, but it sounded like much fun was had by the three of them. The team consisted of Mark, who I think has only ridden a bike once before (and a road bike at that), Rob who hadn't riden a bike in about 10 years and then Gareth, who had his own dirt bike in SA, so the only experienced one out of the lot.

Kitted up in the full biker gear, from jumpsuits, to biker boots, helmuts, breast plates, knee pads, shoulder pads, you name it....they headed off for the dessert and as you can imagine there are lots of stories to be told...from dust clouds (after hitting dunes at funny angles), front wheels being buried into the sand and having to be dug out, lots and lots of falls, people going missing for awhile, issues trying to jump start bikes after heat and physical exhaustion (not to mention dehydration), feet burning in biker boots when touching the hot hot sand...you name it, the list goes on. But nothing could detract from the fun that was had...

That was, until they hit the short stretch of road between the dessert itself and the KTM farm...with only a few metres to go before arriving at the place to drop back their bikes off after an exhilarating riding session...what could possibly go wrong?

Mark was in front, so when a car (an FJ Cruiser to be exact) pulled out of its driveway without looking, there was no stopping in time...Mark tried to slow down, but skidded before hitting the car...body, bike and all...over the bonnet he went before finally hitting the ground of the otherside of the car. Thankfully (and a very big thankfully at that) he wasn't too badly hurt...his quick thinking of lifting up his leg, before it got trapped between the car and the bike on impact probably saved him from some major injuries, and instead he walked away with with only a few minor injuries, a couple of bruises, cuts, scrapes, bumps and the main injury being to his wrist (yet again, which was only just finally coming right after his last incident with it).

Once the shock had subsided, he was ready to give the driver of the FJ Cruiser a piece of his mind...but on turning around, with the sun in his eyes he saw the driver happened to be an Emirati (in his white dish dash), with large gates behind him and the longest drivway to an absolutely huge house. Had he been a little less compis mentis at the time, this sight might have caused an even greater shock than the accident itself...considering he was looking into the light, seeing an 'angel' in white, stood above him at the big 'pearly' gates...

Gathering his thoughts he decided to rethink his approach on giving the driver a piece of his mind (for obvious reasons) and instead 'inconveniently' asked him for some ice for his wrist. Then after agreeing not to take any further action, the driver headed off to pray, whilst Mark and co made their way back to the KTM farm, where they had to explain what had happened to the bike. Thankfully broken clutches and damaged bikes are a regular occurence and no costs were incurred (and because the driver actually happened to be a sponsor of the farm).

Needless to say I was very pleased in the end that they had made it just a boys thing...as I most certainly would not have been any fun dealing with all that gear in the heat of the day (and how hot it was), falling off bikes and then seeing Mark hit by a car to add to it all....so my lazy lie in that morning was a much better option for me that day after all.

Then this last week Mark was lucky enough to join Gareth, Rob, Helga and Sarah on a deep sea fishing excursion. Again they were up at the crack of dawn, this time heading for the Dubai Marina and a speedboat as the choice of transport for a spot of fishing.

Once in the big blue, with the fishing lines out and a couple of bites (excuse my poor excuse at fishing lingo) Mark got the catch of the day with the 'hugest' fish you have ever seen! :)

Rob had a bit more luck with his catches and managed to get a few better sized fish that he could actually take home for dinner.

Not too long into the excursion, some of the other 'fishermen' on the boat decided it was time to 'feed' the fish, instead of catching them, and as it happens the ripple effect soon took it toll on a few more onboard and a couple of sea sickness pills were necessarily distributed.

Once back on on terra firma the stomachs were settled with a hearty breakfast...after yet another great adventure and another tick off the Dubai 'To Do' list.