well folks, Im on a bit of a downer at the mo as I am writing this on my last day in Australia! - Aaaaaahh *cue large sighs from the audience* I cant believe that my three months here is up, where did the time go hey?! Well, you know what they say happens when you're having fun!! I arrived back in Sydney safe and sound on wednesday night after a pretty easy 2 and half hour Virgin Blue flight from Cairns. Was kinda what you expect from a 'no frills' flight - a little cosy and no food but on the plus side there were some HOT stewardesses (yep, steve, even better than Singapore Arlines mate!!) so that helped to pass the time!! Anyways, my original plan was to stay at the airport on wednesday night and save on a nights accomodation but that went t*** up with no places to kip and loads of security everywhere so instead I had to hop on the train and head back to Kings Cross to the same hostel which I stayed at before. Its a little gem of a place, really new and modern and defo one of the nicest places I have stayed in Oz - oh and besides, I still had my room key to return from the last time I was there!! Luckily they had a bed so after a good nights sleep I was ready to make the most of my last few days here. So what have I done? well.....Ive done some shopping.......and some...........shopping and then some...umm.......shopping!! haha, no don't worry dad I havent been blowing the budget but I have treated myself to a few things! I'd done all the 'touristy' stuff last time I was here so I wanted to see another side to Sydney so i have spent everyday just wandering around and taking it all in. The only trouble is that this 'wandering' always seems to end up in the Pitt street area and browsing the shops!! A NZ winter is the next stop and the warmest thing I've got is a tatty fleece so I needed to buy some warmer clothes but on my tight budget I limited myself to $150, thats about 60 quid. But I defo caught Sydney at the right time for shopping as there are winter sales EVERYWHERE and its not like home where you may have 5 or ten quid off, over here they mean business and its bargain central!! Check this out, for 60 quid I managed to get an awesome thick winter jacket (wool lined and all!!), a jumper, a funky thinner jacket and a sweet pair of Globe shoes!! Not bad hey!! and they say cities are expensive!! I could have spent loads more (especially on music) but I managed to resist. So other than browse the shops I went back to the Art Gallery of NSW which I enjoyed last time, had a gander at the impressive town hall and strolled around Circular Quay (Harbour area) again. The other bonus is that its not half as cold as I imagined it to be down here. Its a little nippy in the morning and night but its been clear blue skies the whole time (I seriously havent seen a cloud yet!) so once the suns out its a kinda mild autumn day. I've been having fairly early nights aswell to try and recharge the batteries before an action packed NZ but I did venture out last night to meet up with jess, a canadian girl I met in Melbourne. It was her birthday so was nice to catch up and kinda weird as things had gone full circle - she was one of the first people I met in Australia and now one of the last! Crazy days! So yeah, deep down my whole trip has revolved around Australia and after so many years of wanting to come here its weird that its now come and gone! But its been everything and so much more than I expected and Ive had the time of my life knocking up the east coast and obviously with the old travelling alone thing, its defo been the most fulfilling part of my trip aswell. I will defo be back!! Anyways, its not all bad (its not like Im coming home!!) next up is country number 7....New Zealand. Now that Ive actually got some warm clothes Im really pumped for it and in particular I cant bloody wait to get up the mountains and start shredding! I need my snowboard fix BIG TIME!! So its goodbye to great weather, my tan, immense surf, Tooheys beer and man-eating wildlife and hello to bitter cold, snow, breath taking scenery and cheap kiwi fruits!! Bring it on!! Right, as my last update from Australia I bid you all a fond fairwell. I'm off to browse the Sunday Markets. Next stop NZ!! Laters peeps, Dan