So I came to the end of another chapter, although not the end of the book. The 8th of February came and it was time to say goodbye. The last two months over 10 people from Devizes had been in Ko Lanta and it had been an amazing January. Whilst all my lovely visitors were here I did a day trip to Phi Phi which was fantastic, went kayaking and did a four islands tour. At the start of January I also did a Discover Scuba Diving course which was the one of the most amazing things I had ever done. I went diving in Ko Haa and it was such an eye opener. The ocean is an amazing place. I saw hundreds of really cool fish and some big beauties too.

My visa was about to expire and I had to move on to New Zealand soon or I would lose my work visa. So the last 2 days in Thailand me and Em went to Phuket. I got to meet his sister and brother in law and also their little daughter who called me Auntie Katie. We hired a motorbike for the day and explored some of the island. Em wanted to visit the fish museum (aka Aquarium) so we headed there first. After a long day we headed back to our hotel and woke the next morning sad that in a few hours we would be heading to the airport. On the way there in the bus my Mum phoned me and told me of some bad news. My Grandad had passed away in the night. I didn't quite know what to do. The day couldn't really get any worse. I felt so bad that I was about to be getting on a plane to Sydney when my Mum and Brother were back home waiting for a plane to Germany. Even though I would never get to Germany in time for the funeral I felt like it was wrong I should be continuing having a good time when I should be with my family.

After a very emotional and tearful goodbye to Em, I headed through immigration to the waiting room. My flight had been delayed 2 hours and there was nothing for me to do apart from sit and wait. My flight was cheap as chips and this meant I didn't exactly have the best flight seat. I slept a little bit but when I arrived in Sydney at dinner time all I wanted to do was go to bed.

I got to my hostel and was delighted to find out my room I booked (12 bed no en suite) was fully booked. For free I was upgraded to 6 bed room with en suite. I had a little nap and got woken up by 5 Chinese girls checking in to the room. I had just spent 7 months in SE Asia, just to get put in a room with 5 Asians! There was just no getting away!!!

I wasted away the rest of the day by taking a shower, wondering around the area, eating then heading off to bed. It took me a long time to get to sleep. Not just because I had to listen to 5 Chinese girls talking but because I was scared, sad and didn't feel comfortable being here. I just wanted to go home. I was feeling rather depressed.

I woke up the next day and decided that today would be a better day and that I wanted to go exploring. I had been told by a few people that where we were was quite far from the main sights and that I should catch a bus. I refuse to pay for buses when I have two perfectly working legs, so I walked. Mann did I do some walking. I walked all day. I saw the Opera House, Sydney Bridge, went to the Wildlife World and Aquarium and walked some more. I got back to the hostel and was shattered. My legs hurt and my feet smelt really bad. After a lovely hot shower I chilled out before having an early night.

I just cannot get used to city life. I find it weird flushing my toilet paper and I am still scared to drink the tap water even though I know it is safe. It feels odd walking on carpets again and strange being surrounded by hundreds of white people. One thing I am loving though is the hot showers! Oh how I have missed them.

The day before I had to leave I went to the Blue Mountains. They were spectacular. I was so tired by the end of the day though, we walked for miles. I stupidly asked the tour guide if they ever see snakes here (what with me having a big snake phobia now) and I quickly regretted asking as he replied 'We get the deadliest snake in the world around here'. After that I was quite paranoid and treading very carefully! I got back to my hostel (having seen no snakes or scary spiders) and went to bed around 10pm. I got woken up at 11pm by the Chinese crew. They all decided to have a shower and one girl even started blow drying her hair! I was not impressed, they were so noisy I didn't get back to sleep until 1am! They couldn't understand English, nor could they understand the facial expression of 'unimpressed' 'you've just woke me up' and 'will you shut the hell up!' The next morning I had a lie in then got up and packed my bags ready to head off to the airport. Next stop... New Zealand.