The Long Wait

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Why hello all! Now I realise that this diary entry is a long time coming but I have my reasons and you will find out in due course as to why it has taken so long. Now I am writing this from the safety of my home back in NZ as I am back for a few weeks on holiday after actually making it to graduation in Dunedin.

The Month of April
OK. From what I remember Spain was the last time I made an entry. I got called back from Spain as I was intending on going to India to do an oil pipelay job for a month or so. Oh did those plans change. When I got back there were delays in getting my Indian visa (who would have thought you need a visa to get into that country?) so was held up in the office for a week or so. In this time a number a mobilizations were done with some very long days installing equipment. Anywho, the visa came through but then I was told I am changing jobs to a hazard site survey in Iraq, yep Iraq. This wasn't to go ahead for another few weeks so was again held up in the office with an unused Indian visa in my passport.

In this time my wonderful cousin Rochelle and her boyfriend/life partner? Jeremy moved over to Dubai to take up residency. She got a job on Dubailand, the biggest something in the world. Even though it took a while I managed to catch up with them for dinner. We also went 4wd together in the dessert which was an experience to behold. At a numerous stages when we couldn't see out the windows due to the excessive amounts of sand being sent over the car, we thought the driver was going to lose it for sure and roll the rest of the way down the dunes but he managed to hold it to his credit.

From here the Iraq job went ahead. Basically we were surveying for any potential explosives on the seabed around these two oil loading terminals as the Iraqis are wanting to make them operational again. It really was an experience and a half with all the warships crusing round as well as the massive toys the Americans have like the hovercrafts. I'm not going to go into too much detail on this for obvious reasons but not many people can say they had their birthday in Iraq! I'll put a few pics up but give me a shout and I can email anyone a few if they really want to see some more. Due to the client being uncooperative, the vessel only just made it back to shore before I had to fly out back to NZ.

A few hours after being onshore I flew out of Dubai and headed to graduation of which was a fantastic day and totally worth it. Catching up with all the class and seeing the family again for the first time in a long time was great which brings me now to where I am. I'm back home for a few more weeks then heading of again, maybe. So I'll let everyone know what is going on in the coming weeks.

Bye for now! More photos to come.

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Photos

Search and Destroy!
Our vessel had to be searched for munitions and drugs before we were allowed in the security zones and these were the guys that did it

Toys and more toys
Just some of the toys they were playing with whilst we were working. Very loud though, no stealth missions with these