For our final day in Ireland we headed back toward Dublin, passing (and salivating at) the sight of the Magners and Bulmers factories near Clonmel, including a great number of tall vats filled with the good stuff.We stopped in Kilkenny for some lunch (yet another soup and sandwich combo, a fave of pubs/cafes in the UK) and a look at the very picturesque castle right in the centre of town.Kilkenny was quite an attractive town overall, and probably one we'd like to have spent more time or a night at.

The final stop of the tour was at the Guiness factory, back in Dublin. While not mind-blowing (hopes were probably a little too high given almost everyone seems to go when in Dublin) we were both feeling the effects of the tiring tour schedule, so much so that Barry even passed on his free pint at the factory, disgraceful. It was a good foot to finish on though, with the 360 degree view of Dublin from the top of the factory worth the trip alone.

It was back to the hostel where the tour started and goodbyes all round to the great new friends we'd made.Also, special mention must go to Canadian's Reid and Kim, who stayed on with friends in Ireland and got engaged a few days later, big congrats.

Given they were in Croatia while we were living it up in their Dublin apartment, we had dinner with Melbourne friends Lisa and Seth for our last night in Ireland. With their local knowledge they picked out a small restaurant that did a great calzone while we traded stories of our recent travels.We also since realised it was a rare occasion we forgot to get a photo with people we saw, sorry guys !

With a crack of dawn flight to Edinburgh it was onwards and, well, downwards to the 'interesting' Dublin suburb of Ballymun where we'd booked an airport Travelodge for the night. Despite being very tired at this point, we did get woken in the middle-of-the-night by 'domestic' arguments and a loud evil laugh reminiscent of the end of Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'.