A part of me is definitely wishing that my leaving Africa today is just an April Fool's joke, but the other part of me is very excited to be seeing my family and friends in less than a week so I am also glad that I am on my way to Australia.

I spent my afternoon in Durban on Sunday walking along the beach and generally getting a feel for the city. The city has a much more Indian influence than the rest of South Africa and that means that the blacks don't seem as black and more Asian. It also means that the speciality dish of the city is curry and oh how long it has been since I have had a good curry.

Stephanie, one of the other volunteers who left Thanda 2 weeks ago was also in Durban on Sunday and so we met up for dinner. It was lovely to catch up and swap stories, but also not to have sit alone at dinner. I had a rather delicious lamb curry which was a lovely break from all the sometimes-tasteless one-pot wonders of past months. This morning was spent luxuriating in my room of luxury and packing my bag yet again. Can't say that I won't be sad to be able to stop having to pack my bag and carry all my worldly possessions with me all the time.

Am looking forward to reaching Singapore now and seeing Kimberley and Caroline again. Just hope that the 18 hours of flying to get there simply flies by J

At Johannesburg airport now waiting for my flight. Guess I should disclose that it was a close call and I was at one point rather worried about actually making my flight for Johannesburg. Let me explain. I booked the airport shuttle for 1pm on the advice of my hotel for my 3pm flight. I was really rather happy to luxuriate in my room of comfort for as long as possible so gave the timings minimal thought. I had to walk up the street to the front of another hotel to get the bus. No problem I think, but the problem came when 1pm arrived and there was no bus… then 1.15pm and there was no bus… then 1.30 and there was no bus and I had no phone or way of contacting the company. I have to admit that panic did set in as there was the magic window of 1pm - 2.30pm in which you can check-in and being a budget airline there is no way you can put a thing through check-in in the dead half hour of 2.30pm - 3pm. The doorman from the hotel I was in front of was most helpful but also slightly alarming in alerting me that the bus is usually half an hour late and that it is a 45-minute drive to the airport. I must admit that I did start mentally checking off the items in my checked in luggage and decided whether I could live without them! Although having donated most of my bag already this was not a situation that I wished to arrive at. The shuttle arrived at 1.40pm and then it was time for everyone already on the bus to pay… me with a slight panic but not wanting to cause alarm. I forced the question out of how long it would take to the airport and the driver said - we will be there by 2pm. Ok me thinks, this could actually work, if the driver says 2, he surely must know better than the doorman. I still watched every minute tick by as we went to the airport, but amazingly we did arrive at 2.03pm; plenty of time to make the 2.30pm cut-off. My bag has also thankfully dropped to just 18kg so it looks like it is plain sailing to Oz. Just got to remember that I can't buy anymore than 2kg in Singapore… or I will have to wear it! My hand luggage still weighs a ton so taking it on board is not currently feeling like a good option and the longer I fly and sleep at erratic times the less appealing that idea is going to get. So next time I report lets hope it is at least from Singapore!