We arrived at Dubai in the small hours of the morning and picked up by a CfBT (the company we work for) driver who took us to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Abu Dhabi where we will be living for the next two weeks.

The view above is from the roof of the hotel where we are enjoying refreshing swims in the hotel pool.

We have finished our first week of ‘work’. Just orientation advice and mundane stuff like setting up bank accounts and getting our apartment ready. The flat has absolutely no cupboards so we have had to buy wardrobes and extra cupboards for kitchen and bathroom. We move in in one week so have bought a bed settee to use until our furniture arrives, sometime around the 30 August.

Today we have hired a boat to take 8 of us sight-seeing around the islands. A great day despite the coastguard sending us back for not having a GPS. After a few false starts we eventually got a piece of paper which allowed us out of the harbour without a GPS as long as we were back by 2pm. So the day was shorter than planned and we got a discount and the promise of extra time on our next trip.