The Black and Gold Ball

Where else could you go on a Thursday night in Dubai, to hear the likes of INXS, Men at Work, Natalie Imbruglia, and Kylie Minogue? Throw in a 5 star buffet (thankfully Vegemite free!), unlimited champagne, and all the 'crocodile dundee' accents you can take, and you have the Black and Gold Ball. An annual event on the Dubai social calendar sponsored by our Aussie and Kiwi expat friends to honor ANZAC day. In brief, Anzac Day marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. The acronym ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, whose soldiers were known as Anzacs. Unfortunately, our one Kiwi friend had to cancel at the last minute, so we had no national representatives at our table! Pictured below: a Brit, two Americans, a Jordanian, a Palestinian, and a French man.

It was a beautiful black-tie event held at the Grand Hyatt, and our friends from down under threw an excellent party. There were raffles for flat screen TVs and front row tickets to a Manchester United game, with all the proceeds benefiting charity. Matt jumped in on the early bidding for the Man U tickets, but I managed to stop him before he blew the mortgage payment on the 4 tickets. However, with our vocal encouraging (aka peer pressure) the guy from the table next to us did win them for a mere $15,000 dirhams - you do the math! We wined, dined and mingled till the wee hours of the morning until they concluded the night with an all time favorite - there is nothing quite like jiving to "Land Down Under" in a tux and a ball gown to send you off!