The Dubai stopover

Beck and I actually managed to get to Germany this year (which we weren't too sure about earlier this year!) It was nice since I hadn't been back for 6 years and Beck had never met the rest of my family as none of them could make it to the wedding.

So I took 5 weeks off work and we headed off on the 7th October via Dubai for our 4 week holiday in Germany. Here are some pics from the 3 day stopover in Dubai. It's an amazing place to visit and and the weirdest place to fly into - there is nothing but dessert except for Dubai which is full of green plants and shiny new highrise buildings.

Some of these towers are pretty spectacular and they are still building more like there's no tomorrow. I like the building which was completly mirrored on the outside as shown in the photo. One of the other photos shows the marina area by the beach where they are building lots of new apartement blocks - just look at all the cranes!

We also went on a dessert safari which was really cool. We had the craziest driver but never got stuck even though he never followed the main path that the other 4x4's travelled. After we watched the sunset there was a BBQ dinner as well as the chance to ride a camel (which we did), smoke a water pipe, dress up, ride some quad bikes in the sand and beck got a hanna design done on her hand. At the end of the night the driver dropped us back at our hotel. It was definately worth the stopover but we feel like now that we've seen once we've done most of what there is to do or see. Maybe we'll come back after 2008 when according to the guide on the tour bus all the building will be complete; biggest airport in the world, first glass underwater hotel in the world, the tallest tower in the world, biggest man made island (the world island as well as two more palm islands), etc....!

The Wedding 4th March 2006

Hey guys,

As promised we're trying to keep this site up to date with the latest happenings. So first of all a few pics from the wedding in March. I know it's been some time but better late than never!

Everything was perfect including the weather!

The 1971 VW Beetle convertible rebuild

This is what we started with:

and then began pulling it apart:

All the underseal was wirebrushed (with power drill!) off the chassis to expose the bare metal. The chassis was then primed and painted with black enamel.

All the welds were then sealed with automotive seam sealer before a final coat of black enamel.

Then the body got a good work over.

All body panels were dipped in a bath and then stripped back to bare metal by Strip majic in Onehunga - Auckland.

I welded in a 'new' front apron since the old front was very rusted and had already been patched up in the past.

The front and back body sections were then welded back together using new heater channels which were strengthened by a steel beam welded to the underside of the channels. The body and all other body panels were then etch primed and primed/filled ready for painting.

And then the body came back all nice and shiny after being painted by Spraytech in Manukau.

And then the big assembly job began. All rubber seals were replaced with new parts and most other components were either replaced with new or overhauled/thoroughly cleaned old parts.

And then it was all done and registered.