Wedding Bells and Exotic Smells

Photos of Petra...

Ooops! That's supermodel Petra Nemcova

That's the Petra I have been wanting to see

My Sweet Sister Is Getting Married!

It seems like my feet have just hit Australian soil and I will soon be overseas again.

My beautiful sister, Dee has beaten the O'Leary boys to the alter and will be marrying Stuart in Dubai in May. Stuart is such a nice guy that it is easy to forget he is an Englishman ;)

We all think that Stu is ace, and can't wait to have him in the family.

This is going to be a rare international gathering of the O'leary clan, with the nicest people in the world coming together from all corners of the globe to be part of this wonderful event.

Shenanigans...oh yeah...there will definitely be some shenanigans.

I haven't been to the Middle East before, and it just wouldn't seem right to be so close and not see the Pyramids.

Like just about everyone else the pyramids have been on my "must see list" since I was about 5 years old, and I am finally going to Egypt to see them first hand, in particular the big one at Giza...I don't know what to expect or how I am going to feel. I know that it is big...139 meters or 455 feet high. I know that it took a lot of work...2.3 million stone blocks...the biggest of which are about 80 tonnes! I know that my brother Brendan remains convinced it was built by a mysterious race that predates the Egyptians, (possibly with the help of aliens). I know that it is the oldest and only remaining of the original seven wonders of the world. I know that it is going to be one of the coolest things I have ever seen.

Petra has also been one of those places that I have wanted to see, not for as long as I have wanted to see the pyramids...in all honesty probably "only" since 1989 when I saw Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. So I will be hitting the deserts of Jordan before coming home. I just love climbing around temples and pretending I am Tomb Raider.

I am so excited... I'm going to see my sister married...I'm going to see family I haven't seen in years...and I am going to places that have been calling me for as long as I can remember.

I can almost smell the camels.