So it was back to where it all began. Kind of. When I first arrived in Australia I flew into Sydney airport, but I was there for only around two hours until I got a connecting flight to Cairns. So I had eleven days left before my visa expired and it was on to my next journey and this is what occurred.

Day 1 - I landed mid-afternoon after a one and half hour flight from Tasmania. I was greeted at the airport by Braydon, a guy I use to work with. Kindly he had offered to come and help me with my bags. We made our way to the city, where I checked into the hotel I was staying. I had decided to book a hotel to treat myself for my last few days in Australia and to also impress the lady who was also coming to Sydney to stay for a few days before she headed to Perth. Anyway me and Braydon went out and went to some of my former regular joints - Maloney's and Scruffy Murphy's, where we got a free pizza and had a few beers. Before long though it was time to go and meet Nat at the airport, it was awesome to see her again and we headed back to the hotel and had a few drinks and shared stories of our previous week's antics.

Day 2 - We woke up the next day quite late and decided to go to Bondi, at had ever been so wanted to go and check it out. We got up there had a few drinks, lunch and watched the surfers. We headed back to play some drinking games which included ride the bus and ultimate s***faced ( a drinking game version of s*** head) we were both pretty tipsy when we headed to go and see the Arctic Monkeys at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. They were quality. I am bias as they are one of my favourite bands ever but it was an awesome night. A lot of the songs were from the new album which I wasn't too familiar with, but they still played some quality hits like Dancing Shoes, I bet that you look good on the dance floor, Fluorescent Adolescent, Brianstorm and 505 which had a particular significance as we were staying in room 505.

Day 3 - Day 3 started with a fry up at Erin's. It was decent value at $8.50, getting sausage, bacon, eggs, toast and a hash brown. Next up was a trip to the Opera House Bar where we chilled out in the Sun admired the view with a Strawberry and Lime cider. After this we took the thirty minute ferry ride to Manly where I took Nat to the aquarium where we watched the penguins being fed, saw giant sting rays, turtles and sharks. We decided then to have fish and chips by the beach, unfortunately our plan was thwarted when we were attacked by what semt like a million seagulls, so we headed back to the place where we bought the fish and chips and took refuge there. We made our way back across the waters to the city where that night we went and watched The Lion King musical. It was immense. It perhaps had the best opening to a musical I have ever seen. The start of the second half was slightly odd but all in all it was an epic musical and pushing to be my favourite rather than the Wizard of Oz. The musical even gave me goosebumps at one point. Nat had seen the musical before in London and in New York and said although this one was great and she thoroughly enjoyed it the London one was much better so I'm going to have to get myself to see that. We ended the night with a subway and the headed home.

Day 4 - We thought about going up to the Blue Mountains, but that would have involved getting up early. So we opted to have a pants/Basford day instead. We ordered room service for breakfast which was very disappointing. It didn't even come with cutlery. And by the time they had bought some up for us we had manage to eat the breakfast using a tea spoon we got for making tea with. The hotel was nice but this massively let it down. We didn't do much for the day apart from watch Friends and a couple of movies. That night Nat took me out for dinner at a restaurant, I think called Grilled on Darling Harbour. We then went for a couple of drinks at The Pyrmont Bridge Hotel where I shown Nat the picture of me on the all after I destroyed there 1kg steak challenge the year before. The plan was to go back have a few drinks and then head back out, but we got distracted looking at each others travel picks and chatting away.

Day 5 - It was Nat's last day in Sydney, she was heading to Perth later that day, I tried to get her to sack her flight off and stay a few days longer but quite understandably she didn't. Again we didn't do much this day apart from chill out and Nat sorted her stuff out. We went out for dinner and had a few cocktails and then it was time to say goodbye.

Day 6 - The next day I made my way to Banksia which is the suburb Braydon lives, he coaches a under 17 football team and invited me down to come and watch. They won 3-0. But for me it was really interesting to look more at a game from a coaches perspective and looking far more at the tactical side of things. It made me very interested in coaching and an avenue I might explore when I finally get home. After the game we headed back to Braydon's where we got a Dominoes. I had a ire breather, I must be building my tolerance up to spice as I wasn't bothered by it at all, where as his brothers mate had a slice and it blew his head off. After pizza, we headed into Banksi for a beer and a few games of pool, I beat Braydon 2-1 and then we headed into the city where we had a rematch of the pool game in Cheers and again I won 2-1. E headed to Scruffy's for a few beers then and called it a night as Braydon had to make his last train home.

Day 7 -Day 7 saw me reunite with Danny Lad! Danny was a souser who was out travelling Australia with his missus. I worked with Danny at the Noodle Markets in Sydney and he is a sound guy and really funny. We met up and made our way to a place called The George for a few pints and a few games of pool, unfortunately my pool skills deteriorated after a few beers and I lost 4-3. After this we made our way to Kings Cross and went the pub next to his house for a few cheeky ciders and a few bets on the greyhounds. I carried on my losing form and didn't win a race. We made our way to his flat where we had a few more beers before I headed off to meet Braydon at Cheers bar for the final game of the season. Where a bad season was topped off with Man City winning the league, for me though it was better than Liverpool winning it!

Day 8 - After a healthy lie-in sleeping off my booze filled antics from the day before, I made my way to Erin's for the $8.50 special breakfast. For the rest of the day I spent time working on my Australia review blog and sorting various things out before I headed up to Danny's for a Dominoes, I had Peri-Peri Beef this time and chilled out watching TV. Which, was quite funny as there was a guy on Masterchef who we use to work with.

Day 9 - Day 9 started with what was becoming my usual trip to Erin's for a $8.50 special breakfast. From there I decided to be a bit productive and get some essentials I needed for South America. First up was flip flops, unfortunately my $6 Target Classics were on their last legs so proceeded to get some new ones, as well as a new wallet, book, laptop cable, sunnies and some Argentina Pesos. After this I made my way to the cinema to watch The Amazing SpiderMan 2 which was a good film even though I was a bit lonely watching it. After this I popped up to Danny Lad's for dinner, he made a nice pasta veg dish and watched some tv with a few beers. It was a pretty chilled penultimate night. Maybe it was the calm before the storm what was about to happen the next night.

Day 10 - The main priority of Day 10 was to get my clothes washed and dryed, after a few unsuccessful attempts of finding a dry cleaners I finally found one and got y washing done. A cheeky pie face followed and then it was tie to meet Danny Lad for some beers. We went to Jackson on George for their happy hour and $5 coronas, then made our way to Kings Cross and headed to the sugarmill where I had a steak and I got ripped off on cider. Danny Lad and his missus had to vacate then as they had work in the morning so I went to meet Braydon at cheers bar which started a little pub crawl where we visited Scruffy Murphys, Maloneys, Charlie Chans, Scubar where we beat two Danes in a doubles game of pool and then ended the night in Side Bar. It was a good night and I was definitely feeling the effects of the bourbon, beers, cider and tequila as I walked back to the hotel. When I got back I had the wise idea to pack and sort things out, meaning I didn't get to bed until 5am. Which wouldn't be a problem but I had arranged to meet Derrie for breakfast and had to check out!

Day 11 - My last day in Australia! First things were first and I as I said I had arranged to meet Derrie at 8am for breakfast. This proved to be quite the challengE I was massively hungover and tired. So instead of meeting him at 8, I met him at 11 after checking out of the hotel. We went to Cheers for Brunch, I had a big breakfast which made me feel worse, and had a game of pool which I won in spectacular fashion. We headed tot Kings Cross then so I could pick up any mail I had and then spent the rest of the afternoon chilling in the sun until it was time to go to the airport.

Australia you have been amazing but now I'm sat in the airport waiting for my massive 38 hour journey too Argentina!

So until next time stay safe and take care

Adi

xx