‘Do you know why you are here? Unbeliever?’
Jaz swung round. In the shadows of a doorway stood a young man. He sneered at Jaz.

At first, going to Abudai to live with his Arabic father who is known as the Black Prince seems like a wonderful dream for Jaz but things start to go wrong when he finds that life is very different from at home in a country town in Queensland. Only his half-sister, Noora, who has the same green slanted eyes, slightly hooked nose and wide grin, is friendly towards him. Noora wants to be a C.I.A. spy when she gets older and she practises by spying on her own family and she’s learned a frightening secret about their devout cousin, Tariq – a secret that will put Jaz’s life in danger.

Why I wrote Destination Abudai:

I’d left Dubai by the time I wrote this book but I went back for a visit a couple of years ago to research Muslim marriage ceremonies and I met up with a friend who is married to a Muslim. She wears normal western clothes and has a job and lives a happy life and her husband is a really nice guy but she did tell me that she always gets nervous when he’s travelling on the roads in Dubai in case he has an accident because if something happened to him then his family would have the legal right to take her children away from her. She doesn’t know if the family would or whether they would let her keep her son and her daughter but she knows they wouldn’t like her ever to leave Dubai. So now in a way she’s trapped there and lives every day of her life until her children are grown up with the worry that she doesn’t have the right to keep her own children. That made me think.

Then often when I visit schools and talk about what it was like living in the Middle East I always bring along some traditional clothes for students to dress up in so everyone could see what it was like being an Arab for the day. It’s weird but whenever a boy pulls on the dishdash and then puts on the red checked head-dress some body always yells ‘he looks like a terrorist!’ That made me think.

Then there was the Muslim doctor who got deported from Australia because he was suspected of being a terrorist when he wasn’t. That made me think.

Now when a writer starts to think that’s when a story starts to happen.

Finding the main characters for Destination Abudai was fun. Noora is based on an Iranian girl who I first met in Dubai when she was about 10 years old. She was cheeky and funny and one of her ambitions for awhile was to be a CIA spy. When I went back to Dubai this time I visited her and she’s now grown up and got a degree and is married. I’m pretty sure she’s not a CIA spy but who knows with Noora. She just might be. Definitely I do know she’s very happy with her life even though her marriage was arranged for her by her mother.

With Jaz, I thought of his name first and then I began to build his character. One of the good things about being a writer is you get to create your own character. Because Adam in CR is such a spoilt brat this time I wanted to have a main character I really liked. And I do like Jaz’s qualities. He’s brave and honest and smart and caring and loyal. One of the other fun things I got to do as the writer was to get Jaz and Adam and Walid from Camel Rider to become friends by being at school together

Gulf Arabic Men’s traditional clothes
Dish Dash: A loose, long-sleeved, ankle-length garment. Summer dishdash are white and made of cotton and winter dishdash can be darker and made of wool.
Tagiyah: A white knitted skull cap worn under the Ghutra.
Ghutra: A square scarf, made of cotton or silk, folded in a triangle and worn over the Tagiyah. It is either all white or red and white checked. There is no significance placed on which kind the man wears.
Agal: A thick, double, black cord that is worn on the top of the Ghutra to hold it in place.
How to wear a ghutra: Fold the square piece of cloth once on its diagonal to form a equilateral triangle and drape this over the head so that the apex falls down the back and the other two angles frame the sides of the face. Wind the right one tightly around the head, tucking the tip under one of the folds and do the same with the left – or let it hang like a drape on the side of the face so it can be pulled over the mouth and nose for protection or flip it over the head.

Gulf Arabic Women’s traditional Clothes
Abaya: large, loose dark cloak. Also known as a burqua.
Hijab: Head covering

Click here for teacher's notes or to buy Destination Abudai