We left on Monday morning after two solid days of heavy rain, so Katherine and I were hoping for some delightful tropical weather - and fortunately for us that is exactly what we got. We arrived at the airport just before sundown to be greeted with the speculator sunset which you will see below. From there we enjoyed a couple of days of rest and relaxation which included lots of sleeping by the pool and walks along the beach.

On Wednesday, we took a boat out to view a number of the other islands which was a totally amazing experience. This was my first time to Fiji so everything was a surprise and there was lots to explore.

One thing that I will certainly remember from trip is the friendliness of the local people that we met. I have been to a lot of places but never experienced such genuine warmth and people that really take the time to get to know you and do what they can to bring a smile to your face.

Below are a couple of photos and later on in the next month or so we will add a new section to our photo gallery where you will be able to see more photos from our trip.

We are about to head home, with a lot of preparation coming up for our new baby. So we will definitely appreciate the holiday time we have had and the sleep!

Talk to you soon,

Dale

Hi Everyone,

This is a couple of weeks late, but around my birthday I got together with some friends and some of the young people that are involved in our Empower U Program and we went to Karaoke World in the city!

It was a great night, which saw us all belt out some tunes. Below are a few pics for your amusement.

Dale.

Last weekend I was in Melbourne for the Think and Grow Rich Seminar and was fortunate enough to catch up with Craig Lovett, who is one of the contributors in Secrets of Male Entrepreneurs Exposed. Craig has made a name for himself with his company Cleanevent, which holds the contracts for such events as Live Earth and the Olympics.

We were both in Melbourne at the same time and he invited me to a corporate box at the Telstra Dome to watch my first live AFL match between the Western Bulldogs and Essendon.

This was also an historical event, as Essenden coach Kevin Sheedy broke the record for the number of games as a player/coach of any team.

It was a wonderful night and was great to have a chance to catch up with Craig. Check out the pics below.

After almost two months of working 7 days a week, I felt it was time for some well deserved rest and relaxation in the Hunter Valley. For those outside of NSW (or Australia for the matter) the Hunter Valley is two hours drive north of Sydney. The region boasts some of the best wineries in the country and the winding road and picture perfect scenery is absolutely magic.

Without making you too jealous, when we arrived we drove around some of the vineyards and picked up a few bottles of quality wine. Unfortunately for my wife Katherine, and fortunately for me, she can’t drink alcohol, so I managed to drink her share and proceed to fall asleep for the rest of the afternoon. Now that is what I can relaxing! However, when I woke up I almost had a heart attack because Katherine had put a whole cup of bubble bath into the spa and I literally had to rescue her from being completely swallowed by the bubbles. By that stage it was dark so we walked across to the beautiful restaurant and shared a great meal. This was followed by more wine then building a fire and eating toasted marshmallows for dessert.

Day number two was more of the same so all in all, it was a very relaxing time and I am now feeling rejuvenated and looking forward to Friday’s book launch. Here are a couple of photos. If you click on each of them you can upsize them.

Some people have asked for some pics, so here they are… The other two guys are Brent (blond hair) and Ryan (red hair)… my two best friends since the age of thirteen.

OK, OK… I know what you’re thinking! You were just in Singapore, what are you doing now in Vietnam? Let me explain…

In Singapore we are running two Empower U programs. Both of them run on a Friday night, all day Saturday and all day Sunday. That leaves four full days in between. As we have been to Singapore umpteen times (don’t get me wrong it is a great place – I love it) however, we felt it was time to do some exploring.

So we checked it and discovered it was $160 for flights and $40 per night for five star accommodations. It sounded good, but it wasn’t until we found out that our hotel offers full-body 90-minutes massages for get this $10, so we said ‘That is it. We are going’

Here is a short video I recorded this morning just for you. It only goes for one minute so check it out.

A few days ago I was in New Zealand, presenting a series of Goal Setting Seminars and Workshops. First was Wellington, then Christchurch and onto Auckland. It was a real privilege and I had some great feedback from the audience!

Also while there, my wife and I went to an indoor ski centre called ‘Snowplanet’ with our beautiful Kiwi friends, Simon and Yvonne Godfrey. Built on the side of a hill in a sort of farm area (20 minutes from the Auckland CBD), the slop is 202 meters long and has an indoor temperature of minus five degrees Celsius, 365-days a year.

Talking of setting goals, as Katherine and I have never been to a ski field ever, we have decided that this is going to be our year to learn to ski - actually snowboard in fact. As we were short of time and couldn’t have a lesson, we hit the slop anyway for what they call ‘air boarding’. It is basically when you lay or kneel on a small inflatable mattress and you travel down the slop, accelerating as you go over some hills and bumps. Anyway, it was a lot of fun and we have vowed to return in April for some serious lessons, followed by a week at the snow fields later in the year.

Tomorrow we are going to be leaving Egypt and heading back to Sydney, so it is probably time I do one final post.

After Luxor we flew to Sharm El-Sheikh (world famous for its phenomenal diving) which is in the far east of Egypt. In fact this place falls in the continent of Asia and is located right on the Red Sea. After checking into our hotel we went for a snorkel which was spectacular, with hundreds of fish of all different colours swimming metres away from your face. Also of note the water in the Red Sea is extremely salty, which makes it really easy to float in the water. Then it was back to our room as we were told that we were going to need the rest.

Then at 11pm we boarded our bus and had a three hour ride. Our destination was the base of Mt Sinai and our goal was it climb to the top (3,000 metres above sea level) to watch the sun rise. To give you a bit of history Mt. Sinai is famous for a not only being one of the most wonderful peaks on this side of the world, the top of the mountain is the place where Moses received ‘The Ten Commandments’ as well as saw the ‘burning bush’.

At 2:30am we began our ascent up the mountain. The first part was easy as it involved a moonlit camel ride under thousands of stars, it was truly magic! Half way up the mountain it was goodbye to my trusty camel as the rest had to be on foot. I might add that it was pretty dark and total freezing (zero degrees at the top).

We reached the top around 5:30am and rugged up waiting for the sun to warm the sky. Finally it did what it does best and boy was it spectacular!! Here are a couple of pics…

OK, now I will quickly summarise the tail end of our trip. From Sharm El-Sheikh it was back to Cairo where we had a private tour of the Egyptian Museum (very cool), the Palace of Prince Mohammed Ali Tawfiq and Old Cairo. Also we did some shopping at the Cairo Bazaar and today we went on day trip to Alexandria - a city named after Alexandra The Great which sits right on the Mediterranean Sea.

All in all our entire trip to Egypt has been brilliant… In the next two weeks I will aim to have a whole lot of the best pic put into the photo gallery so stay tuned.

We have been in Egypt for over a week now and cannot help every day to be overwhelmed with the sights we are experiencing. There is far too much to go into a day by day account however here is a quick list of things we have done and the places we have been.

After Cairo we flew to Aswan and boarded a cruise boat, and not just any cruise boat this was to be our ‘luxury home’ for the next 3 nights. Aswan is a sea of colour, sound and aromas from exotic perfumes and spices to left overs from donkeys and horses.

From there we went on a day trip to Abu Simble where we visited the temple of Rameses II and his wife Nefetari. A huge monument right near the boarder of Egypt and Sudan.

Back in Aswan we began our 3 day cruise down the Nile, stopping to visit more sites including; the temple of Philae, the temple of Kom Ombo and the temple of Horus.

Also of note was a faluka (small sailing boat) ride down Nile and an Egyptian fancy dress party on the cruise which was a real hoot. (Check out the photo below).

After disembarking in Esna, we travelled by bus to the most famous ancient city in the world, Luxor… There we visited; Luxor Temple, the temple of Habu, the temple of Dendara, the temple of Abydos and Karnak Temple. A lot of temples I know, however, each had there own unique features and the size and scale where simply mind blowing.

Also while in Luxor we went to ‘The Valley Kings’. It is estimated that there are a couple of thousand tombs in this area, of which only 30 per cent have been discovered. Once there we went underground to go inside the tomb of Ramses IX and the very famous tomb of Tutankhamen.

However, the highlight had to be a visit inside the tomb of Sety I. This tomb has been closed to the public for 23 years, but opened only a couple of times a year for the world’s highest dignitaries such as Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and Bill Gates, and selected archaeologists. Through some major connections our tour company has with the government, would you believe our little group got to inside and have an exclusive, private tour of this tomb and WOW was it AMAZING!! We weren’t allowed to take any photos inside but let me just say the size, the detail, the colour, the workmanship and the beauty were breathtaking!

Here are couple more photos of the highlights… (Click on the images to enlarge)

Today was one of those days that you wish you could bottle to re-experience over and over again. It started early and I mean early (4 am), for private tour of the Sphinx. Under the light of the full moon, we walked around the sight of the Sphinx while listening to commentary from one of the leading authors & Egyptologists. What was special was the fact that this area is now totally closed for public access as the closet point that most other tourist can visit the Sphinx is some 100 metre away. However, we were able to literary touch the Sphinx and stand directing under the iconic face. After an hour or so we witnessed the most magnificent pink and orange sunrise, which soon lit up Sphinx and nearby pyramids. Wow was that cool…

Then it was back to the hotel for an Egyptian breakfast, followed by a lecture from Zahi Hawass who is the Chairman of Antiquities for Egypt. Zahi is a remarkable man that is in absolute control of all of the excavations and discoveries in Egypt and in fact Time Magazine voted him as one of the 100 most influential people on the planet. So to sit in room of 30 people while Zahi shared his love for Ancient Egypt along with his latest Archaeological discovers (including the mummy of King Tutankhamen) was a once in a life-time experience.

As if that wasn’t big enough, we later returned to the site of the pyramids where we were given exclusive access to go inside one of the pyramids!! Not just a few steps, but all the way in, through a maze of dark corridors with long stair cases and extra low ceilings to reach the Kings Chamber, which is believed have once contained the tomb of King Khufu (2650 B.C.) Once inside the Chamber made totally of garnet, we had more commentary on the mysteries of the great pyramids and then as a group we had the opportunity to meditate for around 15 minutes. Just knowing that you were in a place only the King visited, built nearly 4,700 years ago by well over a million people - made for a was totally mind blowing experience!

Once finally outside the pyramid it was off to a carpet factory and later a fantastic restaurant for some more fantastic Egyptian food…

Here are a couple more which pics to add to the memory.