Sydney is officially one of the most beautiful cities I have visited, it's definitely on par with San Francisco, if not slightly better in my opinion! I had such a great 6 weeks in Sydney and it totally flew by, I see how people easily get trapped into a 6 month time warp here without realising. Without a doubt I want to come back here and work, the lifestyle is so much more appealing.

The house we rented was beautiful and it was so nice to have the place over Christmas and New Year. I can't believe it was six weeks ago that I first met Els and Adam at the station and we spent our first night at Wake Up Hostel before I was reunited with Amy the next day and we all moved in. The area we lived in, Balgowlah, next to Manly was just stunning. Beautiful houses and beaches, it is definitely somewhere I picture myself living. I soon managed to unwind after the working slog of Melbourne and began to enjoy lie-ins, lazy days at the beach, nice walks and BBQs. Amy and I went to the Fitness First nearby, discovered our fave hangout 'Bluebird Cafe' at Darling Harbour and had some wild nights out. What a life....

Stereosonic Festival was one of the best days ever, we managed to get right to the front of the barriers, smack bang in the middle. Axwell came on at 3pm. The weather was perfect, his set was amazing and the day just got better and better, we danced for 8 hours straight. Deadmau5 also played a wild set. I didn't want the day to end.

The sights around Sydney were just amazing, from enjoying the harbour lit up at night sipping cocktails and listening to live Jazz at the Opera Bar, to dancing in the rooftop bars enjoying Manly nightlife, to walking through the Botanical Gardens and eating ice cream enjoying Darling Harbour in the sunshine.

Christmas in Australia was a first too, it just didn't seem right thinking about Christmas seeing tinsel wrapped round the trees in the hot sun and blue skies, but we were determined to make it feel a bit like home, we decorated the 'if you squint your eye it kinda looks like a xmas tree' with our cards from friends and family. On the day we started with a champagne breakfast and had Christmas songs playing, then we headed down the beach for a swim, mess around and some more drinks. It was so much fun and we all wore our Santa hats. Then we went home and cooked a delicious BBQ (well Adam cooked it, he was allocated BBQ chef throughout) and after that we watched Home Alone...a brilliant day. New Years Eve was also amazing, we went to Harbour Party at Sydney's Luna Park on the waterfront, perfect location for the fireworks, free rides all night and two massive arena's with Pendulum in one and Ian Carey and other dance DJs in. We had such a laugh running around going on the rides, dancing around the place and the fireworks of course were incredible.

We did road trips to the beautiful Northern Beaches including Palm Beach where Home and Away is filmed, we also had a whole day at the Blue Mountains which was great. We hired bikes and cycled all around Manly and Sydney Harbour National Park and the views were just breathtaking.

I had visits from Timm, Mimmi, Katie, Lorna and Gesa which was all great so we got to hang out and do different things.

Sydney I will be back.

Next Stop...Coffs Harbour.....and back to reality and backpacker mode...Starting with an overnight 'Greyhound' Coach journey!