Hi fans!

So for my first blog entry I wanted to be able to spin yarns of great adventures and tales of excitment and danger, but in truth I've spent the last couple of weeks adjusting to the time difference and having a bit of a relax. Oh, and eating. A lot. And maybe the odd little drink here and there, but that goes without saying. Nevertheless, I thought I'd get my arse in gear and start writing just to break in my shiny new blog page while I have the energy.

After a 4 hour delay at Heathrow followed by a 22hour flight (in which I realised Nytol has a mystical ability to make 7 boring hours on a plane pass in a rather lengthy blink of an eye) I finally managed to hit Sydney airport at about midnight. I slept for about 48 hours straight after getting to Sydney, that jet lag is a b****. Or maybe it was just an excuse, who knows. After burning my rather partied-out candle at both ends for the weeks leading up to the start of my trip I think I was in need of a good nap or two! Either way I now feel rested, back on form and ready to be wild and courageous and drink cider 'til it comes out my nose.

It's been fab catching up with my big bro Tommy, who's been doing a bonza job of looking after me. In fact he has been dealing with having his little sister following him everywhere surprisingly well. He hasn't farted on my face yet or anything. He even drove me all the way northwards to Palm Beach (Summer Bay from Home and Away) just so I could take 4 photographs and make a few references to Alf and Pippa (can anyone else remember anyone from Home and Away?? I sure can't).

Bondi is like a mini Brighton but a bit sunnier. Okay, a lot sunnier. And EVERYONE here is beautiful. And tanned. And so very slim. I don't understand how they manage it. And you can usually rely on the fact that if they're not beautiful, tanned and slim, then they're probably British. I think maybe they have some kind of system for weedling ugly Australians out of Bondi, because I sure haven't seen any here. And I'm positive they must exist, I've seen them on telly.

So let's have the rest of the last two weeks in a nutshell. I ate a mountain of barbequed seafood on Christmas day, which I proceeded to vomit up repeatedly in the evening. It was a festive vomit though, the best kind. I've met plenty of Tommy's lovely friends who have all been welcoming and I have been staying in a lovely flat near Bondi with his friend Deano, who's been a star - apart from the worrying attempts to turn into spiderman every time he gets drunk ("that's clever Deano, now why don't you climb back onto the safe side of the balcony railings like a good boy"). Other than that there's been some trips into the city centre to see the Harbour and Opera House and shopping. Plenty of shopping.

New Year was a series of parties in and around Bondi, a couple of hours in a club by Darling Harbour and then back to a beautiful house on the north shore for recovery and a New Year's Day dip in the ocean. Spent most of the night and next day laughing my socks off with Jacky and Ian, some friends of Tommy's, and now by 2nd Jan am feeling pretty much recovered.

It's been odd being so far from home over the Xmas and New Year holidays, and it's taken a while to shake off a touch of homesickness, but I'm feeling heaps better now. Still miss and am thinking about everyone back home, so I hope anyone reading this is good. It's fab being back in Sydney, especially as I've been here before, so don't feel too guilty lounging on the beach all day instead of seeing and doing things all day.

I now just need to start thinking about the next leg of my trip - I only just realised today that Darwin is in the North of the country and not the west, and as such I have given myself just under a month to travel there from Peth, which is a rather MASSIVE section of the country. I think I'm going to have to become very well aqcuainted with the overnight greyhound buses. I frickin' knew I should have looked at a map of the country before booking my flights. Ah well, live and learn!

Big love and kisses from your friend and lonely traveller,

Laura

P.S.

I heard that the Rampant Rabbit dildo factory back home had to shut down.

Apparently squatters moved in.