First of all apologies to all those emails that I have not replied to. I will very shortly I promise. The excess of Xmas and New Year are over and as you can probably see from the pics updated now, I have had a rather jolly time. Now, it's drying out time. After driving up the coast from Sydney to Brisbane, Dean and I flew down to Canberra and were picked up by his Father. We headed to Merimbula on the coast (about 5 hours south of Sydney) and had a Xmas with a whole load of ex-pats mainly from Preston. Loads of fun: Woke up by the kids at 6am, proper turkey dinner and turkey sarnies at night. Then it was Boxing Day at the races, fishing the next day and way too much drinking. For New Year we headed back to Sydney and saw the celebratory fireworks from Mrs Maquarie's Point, looking on to the harbour bridge and Opera House. Really good night. From there we have come to Melbourne and today Dean went back home. So, I'm back to travelling solo. Watch out the world!! Nick