I left home three months ago, tomorrow! It must be the longest I have gone wihtout going home, even at uni, I never went that long without at least going home for the weekend. Aren't I big and grown up, ha!

Work at the pub is good, I'm actually quite enjoying it. The clientele are something else, but that makes it more entertaining! There are many people that are banned for various reasons, including two for being actual real-life crack-w****s, so that's all good fun. The main difference from working in an English pub is that it is actually illegal to be intoxicated in a bar here, so if anyone appears to be drunk, we just don't serve them.. it's along the same lines of in the UK, when someone is clearly wasted, we refuse to serve them, whereas here it is if they are atall intoxiocated, we have to refuse service, about 3-4rounds of drinks earlier than I would at home. It's kind of weird, obviously we have regulars (mostly old men) that drink a s***load and MUST be drunk, but because they don't show it outwardly, and because they drink that much every day, it's just let be.

What with it being a bad-ass pub in a notorious area, the cops regularly stroll in to check details and have a nose around.. several times a night, 'visible police presence' that the UK government would be proud of! Maybe it's because it can be potentially so bad-ass, but the staffing levels are a bit weird, there are always at least three of us on the bar, even when it's so quiet and clearly only needs two.. on Thursday night, the three of us were literally stood behind the bar looking at each other for about four hours and yet we all stayed til the end of our rota'd shifts.. lynnette would have a fit!! I'm not complaining, I need the money, it just seems like a bizarre way to manage a business. I have to do my RCG (responsible conduct of gambling) certificate tomorrow, as the pub has TAB gambling screens and stuff in, so I'm legally required to have it, yet another day course and another $70..was offered a fake RCG certificate for $100 without having to do the course, but decided against risking it!

Grace and Sophie left this morning to do a 5-day surf camp then travel on up the East Coast, a little sad, but we had a great last four days. On Thursday, got the bus to Manly and did the 9km 'Manly Scenic Walk' which winds around the bays in the area, up to some stunning viewpoints and through part of Sydney Harbour National Park, it was great! Some aamzing scenery and perfect little deserted golden beaches, beautiful! Then on Friday, we had drinks and 'curry in surrey' hills, I had the best curry EVER, a veggie 'Malabar' which was the perfect combination of being coconutty, creamy and spicy-hot all at the same time, divine! Then we treated ourselves to an expensive cocktail at a posh bar, where we sat out on the balcony overlooking Crown Street and savoured it, mine was made with Bacardi, Cointreau, Malibu & homemade mango ice-cream!

Saturday was a bit of a hungover morning, so we went to the delightful and quite famous 'Bourke Street Bakery' for breakfast, before doing the Chinese Gardens of Friendship in the city centre, (on recommendation of Nicky Mon, thank you, we really liked it, was well worth the $6!), which is a landscaped chinese garden area complete with lotus ponds, willows, pagodas, temples and gorgeous little humpback bridges over pools and waterfalls.. all located slap-bang in the middle of the Darling Harbour area, surrounded by high-rise office blocks, but a pocket of tranquility in the middle of the city, great! Then we had super-cleaning Sunday which was also great fun, the three of us in old T-shirts, bare feet and PJs rolled up above our knees, scrubbing the bathroom floor, we WANT our $500 bonds back in their entirety, thankyou very much!

Uni stuff, is good, although making think too much about what I'm not doing with my life, I don't know now what I want to do! Am pretty sure that academia is NOT for me, I simply don't have the energy or enthusiasm to spend more time studying or in a lab.. I don't really want to work in a lab atall; I know I don't have to decide yet, just get on and enjoy my trip, but being surrounded by academics, makes me think too much about what jobs I could look for when I get back, no harm I suppose, but I worry about it and I don't need to yet!

Have been kindof mapping out the rest of my trip in my head roughly.. Sydney experience has suggested that Imay actually not as I had hoped be able to get enough employment anywhere to increase my money, only to break even, if I can even do that, so my money will last less time! I reckon I can make it stretch for a year though, so the rough plan in my head is to leave Sydney June, maybe do 'surf-camp' for a week up to Byron Bay, then spend a month to six weeks in the Brisbane/Gold Coast/Surfers Paridise area, depending on if I can find work there, then August travel on up the coast, do my weeks diving course, then accross the top to Darwin, spend maybe a week coming back drown through the middle, see Uluru Alice Springs etc, which will put me down at Adelaide&Melbourne in September/October, then over to Perth for a month or so before flying out to NZ at the start of Dec. Whew! All very flexible, and depends mainly on if I can find enough work anywhere, then obviously I will stay there for a while.

That's it for now, I have to get back to limpet fun.