When we all came back from Sydney from New Zealand Matty and Me had to find work straight away as it was time to sit and settle for the rest of our time in Australia. The girls were shooting off to Fiji for 2 weeks so gave us a bit of time to sort things out. A few days had past and Chris had come down the remainder of he's time in Oz which was a month but he had to find work also. He mainly came down to surprise Jo as they were hitting it off. Soon as he arrived, us 3 signed up to this gym which was $20 (£15) for 10 visits which wasn't bad as the gym was very good, even had a boxing ring. We couldn't resist having a spar with eachother so gave Lerch (Matty) a good beating. Over them 2 weeks we were looking for jobs consistently as we were getting to the desperate stage. I put a couple of Ad's on Gumtree about me being an Electrician and got a call a couple of weeks later by a guy called Ian. He has he's own business supplying University's, Colleges and School's with Science equipment. He wanted help around the warehouse but mainly to install all he's outside lights and camera's. Matty found a job on Gumtre putting up tents etc with a group of Mauri's for Festivals which was horrible as it was always raining, plus the cold was starting to creep in. Then he found a job with a Company called A-Star which works in Zara helping in the warehouse, taking stock up and down the stairs to customers etc. He didn't get full time work there but was getting enough money to cover he's bills.

Then the girls returned from Fiji without Becky as it was her time to head back home to England. The girls managed to get into the same room as us so we had a 4 bed dorm with us 5 in. Chris was struggling for funds so he snuck in which wasn't a problem. Jo being a hairdresser went out soon as she got back handing out her CV to Salons in the area to see if she could start work. She got a few phone calls straight away for trials which she took, some she liked, some she didn't but manged to find a Salon in Kings Cross where she was getting quite good money but the hours weren't very good but she stuck to it while looking elsewhere. Gemma is a PR (Personal Relations) so we thought finding work over here wouldn't be a problem being Certificated Young PR of England. She threw a load of CV's about and had alot of meetings with people looking for PR's but they werent what she was looking for. She started doing some office work to get her through until she found a PR job which she liked and getting really good money for it.

Chris left us in March which was a sad day for all as we had travelled with him for nearly 5 months and had a good bond with him. But like we said before, people are in and out of your life so fast when your travelling. We was down to the last 4, Me, Matty, Jo and Gemma. That night we got some beers and sat in the park chilling which was a nice end to a sad day.

It was now time for us 4 to get on the flat hunt so over them next 2 weeks we were viewing appartments good and bad but thought we could do better. The more we looked at, the worser they were getting. The girls managed to get a lovely flat over looking Darling Harbour which was very modern and clean. We were still looking! A couple of times we popped onto the Internet and saw these 2 really nice rooms in the same appartment to rent for cheap which we thought,' This can't be right'. We emailed them and they quickly responded with positive comebacks which we got a bit excited about, until it got to the stage when they were asking us to trandfer money into the Dubai Bank Accounts etc so it was all a scam. But a few days later we popped on a website called Domain and there was a appartment opposite our Hostel which they were advertising which didnt look too bad, so we booked a viewing for the next day. After viewing it we wasn't overly convinced but thought to ourselves we are only here for 6 months and it was right next to Central Station and in a prime location. So we snapped it up. A couple of days later me and Matty moved into our new appartment which looked alot better from when we first viewed it as it had been spring cleaned.

Over them 2 weeks we went in for alot of nice properties but didn't get them as we were young and didn't have any property history which gave us the hump so we went out and got drunk. One night us 2 went out as we got turned down an appartment we decided at last minute to get drunk and go out, which ended up to being a crap night as we didn't even make it into the first bar as i was too drunk but a few other things happened that night that i don't really want to expand on.

Matty and Gemma were still getting it on at this point and growiing on eachother alot more so they decided to become a item at last which was nice to see Matty all grown up. A few months had past as time was flying at this point and Gem and Matty fancied a weekend to themselves so we had a swap. I stayed with JoJo for the weekend while Gemma stayed at ours (obviously not in my bed). Me and Jo had a really good weekend that weekend, we went out the saturday night just us 2 and had a great time, bit of bonding time for us. Sunday we got up hungover and baked cakes and decided to spread chocolate sauce all over my face which was a good laugh for her as the next morning i woke up with spots everywhere. Later that night we met up Gem and Matty at our flat for dinner and see what we all done over that weekend. Couldn't believe it when Gem and Matty came out with, ' We have made up and dance routine'. So they showed us the dance routine which was really amazing to watch, funny as it was almost like watching professionals for Matty anyway. I think that was one of the best weekends for all of us that weekend.

A couple more months went past and it was June and time for Jo Jo's birthday which she had been going on about for weeks like a 12 year old. So the day before (Saturday) i said i would take her out and surprise her. I picked her up from work and took her on a Jet Boat around the Opera House and Harbour Bridge which she loved and it reached up to fast speeds, doing spins and turns and basically throwing you about. It would of been alot better if it didn't rain but we still seem to have a good time. After the 35 minute thriller we headed to a bar called Watershed where i bought her a few glasses of her favourite, Sparkling Wine which seem to of gone to her head a bit. It got to about 6pm by this point so we headed back to the girls to meet Gem and Matty to have a BBQ, showered, dressed and head to the town to get on it. Gemma got absolutly smashed that night which was brilliant but we all had a fun night.

The next day Gemma was feeling the night before as she was being sick, headaches. While Matty was looking after Gemma Jo and Me went for a few drinks down the harbour to celebrate her birthday which was nice as the weather was hot. Bumped into a few oither friends Mike and Tom from Essex which we had been out with the night before. Went to a bar called Pontoon and had a couple before the meal on the evening. After our drinks we said goodbye to Mike and Tom and headed back to the girls to get Matt and Gem for Jo's birthday dinner. Gem and Matt sneaked out and went down to the restraunt that we was eating in to give them Jo's birthday cake to bring out after dinner while I kept Jo occupied in the bedroom for a couple of minutes, (not how you are all thinking). Then we walked down and met up with the other 2 and had din dins on one of the boats on the Darling Harbour. The food was amazing, even though Gemma could only manage about 2 mouthfuls due to her hangover, but we would definatly be going back there before we leave. After dinner we all snuggled up on the sofa and watched a DVD.

Another month had flew by and it was time for Matt's birthday but he wasn't overly excited as much as Jo for hers. But Gemma ensured everyone knew about his birthday whether he liked it or not, emailing his work and making them arrange a mini birthday celebartion in the office which I am sure he enjoyed. No ones birthday can be celebrated without a night out so we all went to the Establishment and had a good night, Gem had to take Matty home early as he could not handle his drink that night or the amount that he had. We then all went to Hurricanes on the Sunday where we all enjoyed the best ribs I have ever tasted, before returning to the girls for Matty to open up all his presents and have his cake. A few weeks later Matt and Gem went to the Hunter Valley a present that Gem had arragnged for them both which Matt was very excited about. On Thursday night they set off on a three hour drive out of the city to a remote little cabin high up in the mountains. They had kangroos in the garden which they fed every morning. It was nice for them to spend some quality time together playing tennis, exploring a chocolate factory and eating out and also I know they had a lot of fun especially in the Jacuzzi :)!

It was time to start looking at details for Asia like money, flights, needles etc. So Gemma worked out how much we would need to take including flights and all the rest and the money i was earning wasnt going to be enough, Matt had got a new job as a payroll officer working for a company called GN Connections so he had began saving. So i started looking for some Electrical work and quit my other job as i needed to earn a bit more money. So one day i got a call from a bloke called Nick to start with he's company which sounded really interesting. The job was on Darling Harbour so 5 minute walk from home which was even better, the lads there were sound and the job didn't seem to be that bad either. But the lads had warned me about the boss, Nick! He's an idiot. After a couple of weeks i could see what the lads were talking about getting us to do really long shifts (70 hour weeks) and expecting us to be working our arses off. One night i did a 26 hour shift which killed me for weeks and i couldnt sleep properly and get my routine back. Matt, Gem and especially Jo was telling me to quite as it aint worth it.

We kept in touch with Matt's brothers from back home as they were always interested on coming out to meet us in either Thailand or Australia. We was both excited that they were looking into flights and stuff until they told us about University fee's and not being able to afford to comeover which was a bit of a hit in the face. The girls were talking to us saying they had a surprise for us but we just thought it was going out somehwere, or buying us something. But then one night when me and Matty had gone to bed about 11.30pm the girls went and picked Sam and James up from the Airport and brought them to our flat and jumped on us. As i was deep in my sleep, they barged the door open and jumped on Matty. Then they all come barging into my room and jumped on me, and obviously I screamed as I thought someone was about to abuse me. Still half asleep and without my contact lenses in I thought that the girls had gone and pulled 2 boys and brought them back to flat, but i thought the 2 boys were gay, honestly. Just the way they were dressed. Then it clicked that it was the little bro's. And then thought, it was 2 gay boys, joking! It was a great surprise and straight away we went out for a half hour walk at midnight to show them a little of Sydney. Over them few weeks they were here it we both perked up alot for seeing familiar faces from back home. We took them out to show them what Sydney nightlife had to offer which isn't the best but they seem to enjoy it, took them for meals, little tours around Sydney. One of the weekends they were we took them to Bondi for the day, well me and Jo met everyone down there as we did the City2Surf Run which was a 14km run from the City to bondi which we finished in 1 hour 26 minutes I think. After our run we met up with everyone and basically got on the beers all day. Had a really good day and seemed the boys did aswell. On there last night we us 4 took them for a buffet at the top of the Westfield Tower which was nice as the floor circulates and you can see the whole of Sydney from the top. Made a couple of us a bit uneasy looking out but well worth the money for the food and the veiws. Before we knew the 3 weeks they had come for was up and it was time to say to goodbye to the little bro's, so early that morning me and Matty got up and put them in a cab to the Airport, it was sad time for us both.

After a couple of weeks of listening to the others about quitting my job I did and it was the best thing I had done. The next day I recieved a random text out of the blue about Electrical work, so I chased it up. I managed to get some more work a bus ride away for 10 weeks, but we only had 9 weeks so worked out great for us, plus i was on better money. The lads at this job was wicked aswell, the job was so easy just running cables and doing alot of lazing about which was a great job to finish off Sydney with.

On Thursday 13th September Jo and Gem's dad Ray came over for a couple of weeks. He was spending a week in Sydney, then a week in Cairns which the girls were joining him doing.
By that time me and Jo had signed up for The Blackmore Half Marathon (22km) which we both thought we would struggle with as we hadn't done any training. We had done little jogs but nothing too heavy. We had to be up by the Harbour bridge at about 5.30am to begin the jog before then sun came up. We finished it within 2 hours Ray came and met us at the end while we collected our medals and took in the views as we finished by the Opera House and alot of people had participated. We all got back about 10am, all had brekky and headed out about midday for a sunday session with Gem, Matty, Jo, Ray and Michael. We all got a bit drunk but the evening so Ray, Gem, Michael and Matty headed back while me and Jo stayed out most of the night.

The next day I called in sick saying that I couldn't walk from the half Marathon but i was fine. Me, Jo and Ray hired a car and drove to the Blue Mountains for a visit to the 3 sisters. The weather seemed to be nice in the morning but went cloudy and rainy for the afternoon. We wasn't going to let this spoil the day. After we had lunch we decided to go on the Cable Cart across the Blue Mountains which was amazing, it was pouring with rain with the sun out so there was a rainbow which went right around our Cable Cart which we had never seen before. Took a few great snaps before heading back to the car for a 2 hour drive home. When we arrived home I had to head back to our flat to meet Matty to pack up all our gear as we moving in with the girls. The next day after work we moved all our stuff into girls and threw alot of stuff also, then we stayed in our flat for one last night before moving in with the girls as the headed to Cairns for 5 days with there dad Ray.

On the Monday that they came back we was all booked in to do the Sydney Harbour Brodge Climb which we was all looking foreard to. It was a $pm climb so we would go up during the day and see the sunset on the top which was a really beautiful view.

When they returned me and Matty moved into a Hostel for 3 nights while there dad was here. The first night in the Hostel was horrid for Matt as he had work the next morning and had to be up at 7am. It wasn't too bad for me as I had finished work until after xmas now. It felt wierd being there as that was us drinking until 1am before heading out to a bar to carry on the drinking session. There Sydney life had just starting as ours was coming to an end. I was thinking about drinking some Goon and getting on it with them lor while Matty slept. The next few days we was around the girls all the time and just heading back to the Hostel late to sleep and then back to the girls again. Then it was time for Ray to head back home to Watford after he's time in Australia which he enjoyed.

We moved back into the girls on the Thursday that he left which was nice for us as we couldn't wait to get out of the hostel. As I had alot of time off until I left and everyone else was at work I used to meet up with one of the lads from work who had a week off to recover from the long hours that we had been doing. Plus it was just coming into summer so the weather was great to go to the beach and have a few beers in the sun.

One monday evening Me, Jo, Gem and Matty had booked to go to the Opera House to watch the Opera as we thought we couldn't live in Sydney and not go. We went for a meal at a restraunt that i was working on before we headed up there. We thought it started at 8pm but quickly double checking as we left the restraunt we realised that it started at 7.30pm so we was going to be a little late. As we turned up 10 minutes late we had to go into these different seat until the interval which was annoying as we couldnt see a thing, just here the Opera. After the interval we managed to get into our seats which were quite good. When they were singing there were subtitles above us which we could read as all the singing was all in a different language. I couldn't read them as I havent got the best of eyes so had Jo telling me what was going on. The girls enjoyed it but me and Matty thought it was ok, glad we did it.

The next night I took Jo out on a date back upto the Opera House to a french restraunt that I had booked a few weeks before. It was one of the fanciest restraunt I had been too and really posh. Jo mentioned ages ago that it was of her dreams to eat there. We had a 4 course meal which was really nice and a couple of little snacks between meals. I had duck, beef and an apple tart while Jo had Duck, chicken and a pastry with ice cream. A couple glasses of Rose. Then we headed to this other little fancy bar just outside the Opera House for a couple of Martini's before heading back home. Living the high life for one night and it was a very enjoyable night for both.

Over the next 2 days while everyone was at work the weather was in its 30's so I decided to go up the roof with a spread of oil on my skin, so yes I go burnt. The girls had a go at me when they got home about putting sun cream on. So over the next few days I was coating my self in moisturiser.

It got a week left before we went to Asia and Jo's boss (Jenna) at work had invited us to a really snazzy club around the corner to us called Marquee. It was based in The Star Casino so pretty smart place. It was Jenna's birthday that week so we all went out on the weekend. We all had a good night, expensive but good.

On the monday as Jo has it off she had a surprise for me as she will miss my birthday at the end of the month. We both went to get the train to a place called Wolli Creek where my surprise was. Usually I would know what she was doing for me but I couldn't think what. She took me Go-Karting which she knows I liked. We had 3 ten minutes sessions just us 2 on the track as they weren't busy. The staff wasn't really that friendly, seemed unhappy but we thought that it would be a boring day for them as the place where this was, wasn't really a busy area so didn't look like they got a lot of customers. After I hammeredher at that we went for a stine (1 Litre) beer at the local Bavarian in the city. We had a couple of them before walking down the harbour for dinner. We both fancied pizza and spotted an all you can eat pizza place just by the IMAX cinema. It's a bit different to pizza hut as there you walk up and choose your pizza, with this place you order a whole pizza, then if you can stomache another then just order one. We both scoffed down our first and both was full, until Jo said 'Shall we order another' for a joke. When the waitress came over I think Jo thought I was going to ask for the bill but instead asked for another 2 pizza's. I told the waitress that Jo was still hungry, which Jo looked at me in enbarrassment. But we managed to scoff half of another one each and taking the rest home for Matty and Gem. We was so full when we got in that we decided to be fatties and get a huge bag of penny sweets that we scoffed down aswell. That night we both struggled to sleep, wonder why!
On Thursday after work Matt took Gemma on a surprise (and final) date night. They strolled across the Pyrmont bridge with Gem having no idea as to where they were headed. They walked round Darling Harbour past the aqaurium and arrived at the Sydney Showboat - a 3 hour dinner boat cruise around Darling Harbour and Circular Quay. They boarded the boat and sat down at their table, which had a bread roll and a salmon/prawn starter on the table. Tucking in, they also ordered a couple of drinks - Gem got a bottle of white wine to herself and Matt ordered himself a beer (he had splashed out a bit more cash so it was all you can drink). For dinner Matt had chicken and Gem had veal and desert consisted of 3 cakes. After dinner, Gem and Matt strolled around the boat which was now cruising past the Sydney Harbour bridge and the Opera House. When they went back inside the cabaret show was just about to start, as well as a magician show. Gem loved her surprise, singing and dancing all the way home.

On the Friday (day before we left) after everyone had finished work we got ready and headed to Manly on the Ferry for dinner which our mate told us to go to. As the girls had let us stay with them we thought we would treat them to Ribs and Rumps which is a place that is famous for its Ribs and Steaks. After our half an hour trip on the Ferry we had a 5 minute walk up to the beach where the restraunt was. When we got sat at the table me and Matty ordered a beer while the girls ordered a glass of wine each. Gem got half a rack of ribs while Jo ordered the chicken breat. Me and Matty went mad and ordered half a rack of ribs with a rump steak combo each as it was our last meal. We all ate our dinner before heading to bar called 'Manly Wharf' where we had a drink and played some pool, which was annoying as the girls beat us. We then headed back over on the Ferry home to head to bed as it was getting late. We all had a really nice last night together before me and Matty had to head to Asia the next day.

The next morning it was a bit sad as Jo had to go work and say her goodbye's to Matty. Us 3 chilled out and had brekky before we had to pack our bags ready for the trip. At lunch time I took Jo to lunch and said my last goodbye's to her for 4 weeks which was really sad as we had got pretty close over the last few weeks. At 4pm it was time to head downstairs and jump in a cab to the Airport. We both said our goodbyes to Gem which was more sad for Matty as he's in love with her, we both had lumps in our throat on the way to the Airport leaving Australia and most of all leaving the girls.

Next stop Asia - Thailand (Bangkok).