Favourite quotes: "He's not gay, he's just high maintenance"

"I can see how that town would be perfect for you... if you are only planning on making it to 50"

"You're like a German man travelling back to Thailand"

In accordance with what has become a recent theme, my journey into Mexico began with me missing the bus to Tijuana (prescient of me missing my flight back from Mexico City and from Sydney to Melbourne doh).Throwing some money at it, we persevered into Northern Mexico with a very uneventful journey and not a sniff of any of the drug wars going on at the border towns that we had been warned about.

Landing into Mexico City, my second favourite ciudad en todo el mundo, I was giddy with excitement nattering away in Spanglish, finally in a foreign country where I could attempt to 'speak' a different language (Australia and New Zealand notwithstanding).However, whilst I throw in a lot of enthusiasm, progress has not really gotten beyond the schoolgirl level: buying a bus ticket or ordering a beer in a restaurant (though this has come in handy).A friend has a theory that I struggle with Spanish so much because my English is so perfect - lol! I like this theory and I'm sticking with it!

Tam and I wasted no time in hitting the city's nocturnal hotspots, meeting up again with five cool Melbourne laydees and a local tv celebrity to party until dawn on our first night.We then met up with Tam's old friend Adrian who in turn introduced us to a whole bunch of lovely, super fun peeps, Dante and Wolfie to name a few.The following evening, being the 200th anniversary of Mexico's independence (and it's nice to be celebrating a country's independence that is not from the English) Adrian invited us to his boyfriend's best friend's house party.What was originally intended to be a two hour warm up pre zocola became a serious session, with boys who do girls, like they're boys, like they're girls all the while listening to Lady Gaga.Muy divertido.

After fatefully mentioning that I hadn't been sick since setting off, my body finally went on strike in protest at my neglectful behaviour, as Tam and I along with Adrian headed to see Lydia in Queretaro.Luckily for me Lydia's mum has a shine for the English, having lived in London in the swinging sixties, and she nursed me back to good health.

Next we headed to Puerto Vallarta, a beautiful coastal town, where we were joined by the lovely Lana.After persuading a local band that we could sing... on stage... again, I heard what could have been a fantastic pick-up line "You really don't know who I am (emphatic pause), do you?"My knee jerk response would have been to reply "a burnt out trustafarian, with an obvious drug habit who is old enough to be my father" but in the hope that this was an ironic use of the playbook (for fans of How I met your mother), I bit my tongue.Sadly it was a case of the former rather than the latter.

Speaking of strange folk, we then all headed to Sayulita, another beautiful beach town but which could have also doubled as the set of the cantina in star wars.Never have I met such a concentrated number of 'characters'.Needless to say this is where Tam is relocating to ; )

In Sayulita Tam, Lana and I, blowing my budget in style, hired a fabulous villa, where I spent evenings listening to the booming waves of the pacific and wistfully watching sunsets unfold like a pink, purple and orange kaleidoscope every night.It was so exquisite I slept with the doors open every evening, the hundreds of mosquito bites being a small price to pay to wake up with blue skies and view of the sea beyond my toes.

Travelled back to Mexico City by bus (they really know how to do buses in Mexico, with horizontal seats and wifi) to be hosted by the very hospitable Santi.A wonderful few days ensued: all warm sunshine, walks in the park, art exhibitions and good chat.One particularly memorable evening incorporated lots of mesquite, convincing bouncers to let us into a bar even though they were full (sometimes the broken Spanglish and English accent help), trying (and failing) to bribe a karaoke mc to put my song on next (though he did anyways) going behind a bar to pour our own drinks and drinking flaming absinthe shots, followed by the some of the tastiest pizza of my life at 5am.

Sadly, after saying hasta luego to Mexico and an epic two days of planes and automobiles, I landed in Sydney and was welcomed by my cousin Donna and her fiancé Jon into their beautiful home in Mosman.Sydney was a whirlwind of being reacquainted with old friends and different Australian grape varieties.Caught up with Brita who true to form had the champagne on ice for my arrival and whilst it had been close to two years since we last met, we chatted like we had seen each other only weeks before.Brita also suggested a skydive at the centre she used to work at.She then proceeded to tell me of the three tragic skydiving fatalities that had occurred in the past month.Needless to say I gave it a miss.I was also invited to my first thanksgiving courtesy of Jacq (albeit Canadian - does that count?), which (well the bits I can remember anyways) was fantastic, with enough pecan pie left over for breakfast. Legendary.

Besos

Kerry