Hi from Abu Dhabi

My wife and I are both Ex pats living and working in Abu Dhabi UAE, we have a Jeep JK Unlimited that we have extensively modified for overland travel, lift kit, fridge, winch etc, the list goes on, we are usually in the desert once or twice a month with the local offroad club, but our favourite is to travel to Oman and drive the Wadi's or the little known South of Oman called Salalah which is lovely and green with an abundance of wadis to explore.

We enjoy it here because of the Bedouin heritage you can pitch tent almost antwhere and theft is very rare.

Nigel

Welcome Nigel and your significant other!

Too bleedin' right theft is very rare over there, you need both hands to pick your nose and scratch yer bum at the same time!!! Shame political correctness bans such punishment over here, otherwise the crime rate would plummet overnight! Rant over.

Coincidentally, there's a series on the box at the moment called "Arabia" and a couple of days ago it featured Dhofar - the very same province that Nigel describes. I tell you, it's was a real eye-opener, for never in a million years did I think that Oman would look like that. Soooooo green!







Who would have thought that you could find leopards, hyenas and Baobab trees in Arabia? Well I for one certainly didn't! You live and learn. Nice one Nigel, looking forward to some piccies of your own.

Thanks for the reply, lepoards are rare as well as hyenas so we have not seen any yet, but there are quite a few sand gazelles around as well as Arabian Qryx. It was a 13 hour drive from AD to get there you have vast very arrid desert plains, thenturn a corner and its lovely and green like scenery in the Welsh mountains, first night we camped on beach with flamingoes for neighbours, peace and quite. Only around 50k from Yemen but no problems.

Nige


Please give me tips on uploading pictures and I will post have tried twice and failed misserably

Trouble is you're asking the wrong person about computer stuff, next to useless me!

Silly question - have you read the blub in How to register, post photos, rules & regs, do’s & don’ts, etc. ?

In there I gave a guide on how I post photos. There's probably a 'correct' way, but it didn't seem to work to me ... so I do it my way. Bit fiddly at first, but once you do it once, it's plain sailing.

Also, I heard that the forum software doesn't allow those newly registered to post photos until they've reached 5 posts. Yet, of late I've seen a couple of newbies (one selling a vehicle) to post straight away with a photo. CONFUSED???

Sorry, that's about all I can advise, does anybody else have a definitive answer?

Tom,

Still no luck, not very good at this compauter stuff myself either I will post a few more threads then maybe I will be able to access it, you can always look at my facebook page Nigel Ree for the pictures.

igel

Hi Nigel and Spouse,

Sounds like you have some interesting land to explore there. I was on a flight yesterday looking at the maps in the back of the in-flight magazine wondering how I could get my vehicle to Oman to go exploring...so a bit jealous. Also interested in how the JK does. I grew up with Jeeps in Canada and often thought of kitting one out for overlanding but outside N.A. and some urban areas globally, parts are pretty hard to come by.

Anyway, looking forward to hearing about your travels and the pics when you get them sorted

James

Hi Nigel and welcome.

Thanks to you both for the welcome.

James,

When we first came here we looked at all kinds of 4X4 from Hummer to japanese and back again, we settled on the JKU as it is 'competent straight out of the box' ours is a 2008 model so does not have the pentastar engine but the 3.8 V6 with a 'cat back' exhaust and a K&N filter, we have a 2.5 inch skyjacker lift with 33x12.5x17 cooper discovery tyres. we have fitted a 40Ltr footwell water tank with a Waeco fridge in the back and have a garmin rack on the rear with a 'smittybilt' wheel carrier complete with rotapax fuel cans. On the front we have a rugged ridge bumper and Warn Tabor 12K winch, other stuff is planned such as full rack and RTT but finances will dictate when.

It has done in excess of 120,000 Kilometeres and the most trouble we have has been with the aircon (much needed out here)

We carry a few spares such as belts etc and silicone tape to repair fuel lines or water lines also have ARC welder that works off 12V just in case. We find so far in 12 months we have owned it that it is a great overland vehicle from, beach, to mountain to desert great fun and very capable.

If you ever find yourself down this way give me a bell and we could hook up for a quick trip somewhere.

Regards

Nigel

Oh I see, James gets an invite simply because he grew up with Jeeps, what about me? Issit cos I is Land Rover innit! Feel offended and left out.

Hey all invited, had my share of landys down the years not marqueish at all, its a big country!!

Well, I am in Jordan all next week but probably won't make it out of Amman...much the pity. But if I do every get out again in the vicinity I may very well take you up on that offer!

I am shortly starting a new job in April that has me based in Doha, Qatar for 3-4 months then back to Abu Dhabi, but would welcome visits anytime.

Nigel