Hi guys and girls! Apologies for the lack of updates, but in our defence there really hasn't been a lot to update you on. We've mainly been working hard and saving hard, with a few drunken nights out in between, and made a few great friends along the way! Our time in Oz has come to an end now as we are flying to Hong Kong very soon, only 2 more sleeps! Our plans have changed slightly; although we are still going to Hong Kong, we are not travelling around the rest of china anymore! :-( Due to the heightened security for the Beijing Olympics they wanted to know where we were going to be every day we were in china. We were hoping to work this out as we went along and didn't want to plan it all that much. Aside from this, we didn't have time to thoroughly plan, book and play for (all on the net) the whole 6-8weeks in China. So we've decided to give China a miss for now and come back and do it properly another time on our second world tour- ok a mini world tour :-) We were going to be short on time anyway for Asia so it's worked out for the best really. We are gutted because we were really looking forward to China but this just isnt the way we wanted to do it so now we're not. Anyway, what have we been up to... we have enjoyed many a cheap chinese in the chinese quarter (we worked out that if you go at about 3pm they are selling off the lunch buffet foods). I've been to a few markets, Paddingtons (the oldest markets in Sydney) was good but not particularly cheap. Paddys markets are a bit too cheap tho, its a lot of tat!! Me and Katie went to the Mind Body Spirit Festival which was amusing, we thought we might as well as the tickets were free from work. I had a massage of a thai man and I wasn't sure if he was trying to hurt me or heal me! Can't wait to try a real thai massage though! We ended up with all sorts of free samples but the best thing we tried was an exercise contraption that u stood on and it vibrated your whole body at high speeds. It was a bizarre feeling but when you come off it after about 10 minutes you ache like you've been in the gym! Amazing. I would've bought one if I could've fitted it in my backpack!! I've done a wee bit of shopping while we've been here, but not much, 2 dresses, a top and a waistcoat in all this time is not bad!! We've eaten in Newton a couple of times; always a beautiful meal, reasonably priced and a very funky area! The alcohol is pretty cheap also...2dollars a glass of champagne in Zanzibar in the week! And when we went to a house party once I got a bottle of sparkling rose for 3dollars(that's less than 1pound50) and it didn't taste that bad!! lol I got some straightners and a hairdryer while I was here and I think I might cry when I have to leave them here :-( Back to roughing it though it's the only way!! Have had some brill nights with Katie, B and the other residents of number 25!! They've all moved on up to Cairns now to get a bit of sun! The weather has actually got a lot better here now, I don't know how they can call this winter really its great!! Work's been really good actually, have met some lovely people and the pay here is so much better here than back home! I trained some new people aswell towards the end and my boss gave me a bonus of 500dollars for it! I was so chuffed! It's kind of traditional that whenever someone leaves people bring in cake and when I left the girls in the office brought in all sorts it was fab! Liam went for drinks with his work mates on his last day and had a great time also! He could've woken the dead when he got back he was chattering away I think our neighbours must hate us!! What else is new... Ah yes as it was my birthday yesterday so on the Friday I went for cocktails with the 3 new girls from work Kirsy, Una and Jackie. Needless to say I wasn't in great form the followig day. On the Saturday we went to the markets and Bondi Beach! Then on Sunday (my actual birthday) we had a gorgeous picnic in the sunshine in the botanical gardens with a lovely view of the opera house and the harbour bridge. We ate sooooo much, we were still too full for dinner in the evening! And we all know that's not like me :-) We had Sparkling rose wine, strawberries, crisps (or chips as they say here), cookies, various styles of chicken (satay, bbq plum, and honey soy), and soft cream cheese with apricots and almonds on crackers. It's making my mouth water again just thinking about it. We also foud a shop here called 'treats from home' where we got sherbert, fruit salad, rhubarb & custard sweets, caramac, galaxy ripple, and walkers crisps. Was't cheap but was a nice treat! We also went for a drink in The Argyle, which is a very posh bar down at the Rocks, very nice indeed. We had to get the ID out for the first time in aaaaaages, don't look too old yet then! Today we went to close our Aussie bank account and change our money into travellers cheques. Need to change the rest tomorrow into currency once we've worked out what we need. Later on I shall be packing my backpack again (Liam did his his morning while I was on my 2 hour Skype conversation with Josh), then we are going to gut the room, bathroom cupboards etc... not very exciting news to you all know but it has to be done. And you have all been nagging us to tell you what we're up to so here it is :-) Tomorrow we're going to Watsons Bay for a top notch fish and chips (2 in the top 5 places to eat in Sydney), as we had planned to go on my brithday but as I said we were to full! We also STILL haven't walked across the harbour bridge!!! So that's on the agenda tomorrow also. Other than that we are all set to go now... We will be kind of sad to leave, have loved living here for a few months! Sydney is fantastic, would love to live here one day! Hey we'll see. Take care all, and I can guarantee the next blog will be more interesting! Lots of love Jade & Liam xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx