Hi all,

and welcome to what is likely to be the last blog!

Last time I wrote we had moved into our flat in Curly and were still job searching.

After 6 weeks I landed a contract with AmEx at Darling Harbour, Sydney and got back into the work routine. This was great because it enabled us to be able to cover the bills and have some fun nights out in very expensive Sydney whilst Steve carried on looking for a sponsored job. Plus a nice prop up for my ego too ;0)

IBM and Commonwealth Bank were both very interested in hiring Steve, IBM particularly - but the position was over in Perth, known as 'the most isolated city in the world'. We were up for it, but after lot's of back and forth about the terms of the job it emerged that he would have to wait a further 12 weeks for a sponsored visa and the original offer was also changed, removing a lot of the perks and shiny bits.

We spent a lot of time looking at all the pros and cons of the situation and decided that the whole situation was not right for us at this time. Our original objective of 6 months work experience in sunny Aussie had become this big monster of indecision about moving our lives to another country for at least a year and that was not what we had ever intended to do.

So we licked our wounds and headed to Bali for 2 weeks for a bit of sunshine before returning home.

I don't wish to offend anyone, but Bali was not for us either! What a pair of ingrates hey! 'Benidorm for Aussies' is how we would describe it; and whilst Ubud had a certain charm with the rice paddies and lot's of temples, overall, we found it to be another place that has bowed too far to mass tourism and has consequently lost it's charm.

As we flew with Emirates we had changed our flights to hub out of Bangkok and break up the Sydney to London leg, so we flew back to Bangkok for 2 nights before the home run. I'm pleased to say that we had a lovely time in Thailand for the second time. Steve got 3 tailor made suits done and we went back to our favourite restaurant, 'Cabbages & Condoms' for delicious thai food 2 nights in a row, cheap beer at Denny's and a posh drink at the Vertigo bar - 61 floors up! We definitely ended things on a high!

So on Wednesday 18th August, pretty hungover and with 70kg of luggage and lot's of mixed feelings (not just the nausea) we flew from Bangkok via Dubai and then home to London.

We have been home for 1 week now and I'm just about over the jet lag!

We went to a wedding on Saturday (congratulations Mr & Mrs Leon!) and after a brilliant day and night with some of our best friends there is no doubt in my mind that we have made the right call in coming home.

We have had a truly once in a lifetime experience and the most amazing year of our lives no doubt. And yet I feel so excited about the future that I've not stopped smiling since we landed!

For now we are staying with Steves fantastic and ever supportive family back in Cambridge until our house in Reading becomes available in October. I can't wait! As luck would have it, the tenants have given notice anyway so the plan has fallen nicely into place. Just the small matter of getting jobs again now!

Looking forward to catching up with all of you over the coming weeks and showing you some of our thousands of photos, sharing a beer and a laugh and definitely a few hugs!

I hope you've all enjoyed coming along for the journey with us through this blog and thanks for all your messages of support and understanding along the way.

Lots of love,

Kathryn & Steve xxx