4 jeeps and 1 hummer (jc, Alan, Abu Omar, Simon and myself) met at 6 am
8O 
arriving at Sweihan 7.30am and after refueling we hit the dunes to the back of the camel track just before 8am.After looking at the printed out google map of the area we set off in the 'general direction' of where we thought the oasis were - bit of a slight problem as I only had google co-ords (was too tired after the boat trip on Friday to figure out changing them to Garmin co-ords) - but hey, this was an exploration trip and that is certainly what it turned out to be.
Simon led (against the dunes) and within minutes 8O we had 2 stucks in a bowl of very, VERY, deep, soft sand
After recovering the decision was that we would leave the nasty, soft, deep sand bowls and follow some power pylons to a 'house on a hill' to get our bearings and see if we could find a better route through the dunes.
Got to the top of the 'house on the hill' and a worker told us the area we were heading for belonged to a Sheikh
- so we set off again weaving our way through the dunes either cresting against them or side cresting as we were still running against the dunes. Thanks Simon for finding a great route through 
which kept us moving at a good pace through some tricky areas. At some point Antrax got back to Omar with the Garmin co-ords so now we had a true bearing - and with Omar leading we set off, crossing a road and the end was nearly in sight....
.... and we found a huge fence that ran in both directions for as far as the eye could see!
We could see the tops of the oasis in the distance ... but that was as far as we were going to get ....
...until we decided to find a gate and see if we could gain access that way. If you don't ask - you don't get and having come so far it was worth a try
So we followed the fence ahead hoping to reach the corner where it turned right and came across a local beduin guy on his camel ... it was worth the trip just to have met a fellow dune explorer riding his original sand crossing 4x4 form of transport!
He had a chat with Omar, laughed, joked, posed for pics and pointed us in the direction of the gate - all the way back in the direction from which we had come!
So off again retracing our tracks and following the fence - my car was just beginning to creep up on the temp gauge at this point.
We crossed very wet sabkhas and found our way to the main truck road (if we turned right we would end up at the main roundabout in Sweihan again) - but we turned left and off we went - again! - at the side of the road to reach the main gate - only to find it was closed!
No security, nothing! 
While jc and Alan started to reinflate, Omar found someone on the other side of the gate - who directed us to another gate further down the road - so yeh, off we went again!
Found the gate and we had finally found the entrance to where the oasis were located:
Omar rose to the occasion again (Thanks Omar
) and did the talking for us
- but to no effect - not working today
By now it was 12.30 and to say we were hot :veryhot: and tired would be an understatement!
1pm we were all inflated and we started back on the road to Abu Dhabi.
All in all a great day - we didn't get to dip our feet in the water and have a chill out around the oasis
- but we did get a result! :okaay:Check out this google link:
http://www.cerehc.org.ae/AlAjban.html
So - AD4x4 intrepid explorers may have found a great place to go - Omar has the contact details. We will look into this and see what we can arrange
Today summed up for me what off-roading is all about - an adventure into the unknown in great company :okaay:
:thankyou: guys - jc for organising and H3, Alan and Omar for making today one of my favourite trips! :woo:
Jax
8)
