I arrived in Sydney on Friday afternoon. Scott was very kindly letting me stay with him in Balmain again, and he even came to pick me up from the aiport! Such a nice change to negotiating public transport. I went out for dinner with him and Mary-Beth that evening in Balmain.

The following day Azza arrived from Brisbane for our last few days together in Australia. I had found her a nice hostel to stay in in Glebe, thankfully replacing the terrible impression of hostels in general created by the horrible one in Airlie Beach! We went out that night in Kings Cross and spent the following day relaxing in Balmain. On Monday we took the ferry to Manly and spent the afternoon wandering along the beach and playing with Azza's new camera. She left the next morning, back to Brisbane.

I spent 2 nights visiting some old family friends from Bahrain, the Gays, who live in the southern suburbs of Sydney. It was lovely to catch up with them again - the last time I saw them was 9 years ago, en route to Vanuatu after I finished school and before I started university. A lifetime ago it seemed!! They took me to visit Captain Cook's landing spot in Botany Bay and a good place for whale watching. We actually saw 3 or 4 blowing in the distance. We then visited Cronulla beach, a hugely popular spot for surfing even in winter!

Friday night was my last night in Sydney and I spent it with two of my friends, JF and Dorian, who I met when I was working in Queensland. They are in Sydney for a few weeks and it happened to be JF's birthday so we went out to 'The Ivy' to celebrate. It was a really fun night and it was great to see them again. I might be meeting up with JF in Thailand at the end of my trip which would be great.

So it is time to say goodbye to Australia! I've had a fantstic 8 months here, better than I could ever have hoped for: spending time with Vicky and Grant in their new home country, visiting old friends and making new ones, seeing the different sides to the country and people, and of course enjoying the weather! I know I'll be back before too long....