So another Sydney day dawned and I was feeling rather lazy! Can't imagine it, can you? So my alarm went off... hold on that's not my alarm it's a text message. Cool, woken by text - always a good thing! What presided was a shock though. An old friend from home I hadn't seen for 2-3 years, now living in Sydney had text me to say hello. Who was? None other than Natalie Moran! Where did she get my number I asked myself? Arhhh, the website - of course. So we arranged to meet up for lunch, in Darling Harbour, near to where she works. Bit of a surreal moment but I was looking forward to seeing her, as it had been so long. Well Miss Moran is doing very well for herself after moving to Sydney and absolutely loves it. Still as tall as ever (its not like the heat has made her shrink!), but with longer hair, a big smile on her face, and of course still the feisty Nat we all used to know. We chatted over lunch and she is doing very well for herself and loving Sydney loads. She has a good group of friends who hopefully I'll be able to meet, except she lives in the suburbs so is not always in my neck of the woods. She works in a very posh office across from the Harbour - very swish, and the business sounds very interesting! Get this she also has an Australian accent! That is seriously weird, last time I spoke to her I was sure she was English...heehee. It was really nice to see her after all this time and hopefully I will have a picture to show you one time when our schedules meet. Its tough being so popular you know! The same day I also got an e-mail from Dave and Flick, one of the couples we travelled with in Vietnam. Now I have to issue a formal apology here! I said they were Australian in an update a while ago...they are not they are Kiwi's living in Australia. So my sincerest apologies. Anyhow, back to the story. They live in Manly, which I spoke about a while ago, and visited with Steph, but Dave works in the City, just down the road from my work. So we decided to meet for drinks and go for some food. Dave and Flick are awesome, they have been looking out for me since this e-mail and it's great to have some other people to chill out with. We went for a couple of drinks, and then to a Pizza Bistro in the Rocks, the oldest part of Sydney...very quaint. But get this - we had Kangaroo and Crocodile Pizza. They were yummy! So happy they are here too, gives me more options, its all about diversity you know. And they are really cool to talk with, as well as being a fun couple. I was also invited to the Manly Wine Festival one afternoon, which I was happy to oblige (no I am not becoming an alcoholic mum!), and I went to their house which is absolutely stunning. So my first taste of Aussie living culture was brilliant, and I am heading to the Hunter Valley at the weekend, the first commercial vineyard in Australia, with them. It's supposed to be gorgeous. Last weekend as well was the Queens birthday! A national holiday over here, so we had a 3-day weekend. We had a good night out in Sidebar again - (you see Nat this is why you need to show me other places!), with Karen leaving the house on her way to Perth, so it was a kind of goodbye. But Nat, Liza, Fin, Eoin, Karen, Loran and Claire all came along too, (my housemates). Good night out Karen, Claire and I were dancing til the early hours. I have become good friends with most of my housemates and they are all a lot of fun - Claire, Matt and Becky just make me crack up, since they are all friends from home (Matt and Becky dating), but they work so well in a group. Really funny. But the next day we visited the Jazz festival at Darling Harbour with fireworks, which was really cool. I so want to be here for New Year! The Aussies sure know how to do fireworks. Eoin and I headed back the next day for a cheeky drink by the harbour and the music, which was on a floating stage, was quite cool. You see what Australia's doing to me! Jazz Festivals, Hikes; Wine at the Harbour, Visiting Vineyards, working in a bank! - I am becoming very civilised. Well until this weekend anyhow, so it was Kayley's birthday, a lovely Canadian girl who moved in when Karen moved out. She's a really friendly girl who I get on with really well. Prior to her birthday we had had lunch, and gone to the Botanic Gardens to see the Bats. Something I had wanted to do for a long while. At dusk hundreds of Bats fill the sky in the nightly search for food. A really cool sight that my Camera just wouldn't pick up. She turned 21 on Saturday so we went out to King Cross and had an interesting night in a place called Empire. Great club with very cheap drinks and showing the football! Come on you whites! Eoin, the legend that is pulled a gorgeous girl called Claire, and he well deserves it! He's become my best friend out here, so I was very happy for him. We were dancing and drinking until Claire (housemate) and we found ourselves alone...and it was 4.30am! Where did all the time go? Claire is really cool, so fun to be around and she has the biggest smile on her face especially when drunk. We just kept dancing all night. She is the funniest dancer too...brilliant But the trip home was really funny, we were drunk, in cheery moods and found a cap in the cab that we played with the whole journey home (suppose you had to be there really), but a good night all in all. Topped off by Spaghetti Os when I got in! Good Choice!