Heading back to the UK with a slightly crushed Bank balance (due to all that travel) led me to my last stint of Locuming for the NHS. I decided that maybe it was time to see what all the fuss was about London Living and opted for a job in North East London at Whipps Cross Hospital. Surprisingly I found that It was great fun being back in the south again!! London I could take it or leave it but having access to my mates in and around London again was well worth the infamous almost never working Victoria tube line rides and the grossly overpriced London club drinks! I spent most of my 6 week stint in London hanging out with the other travellers I had met along my 2 year adventures including the girls from Bath, Summer Roady and my Egypt trip. It had been a long time on the road by this stage and some familiarity was comforting. I was also thoroughly inspired to spend plenty of time out of my London Flat due to a rat infestation. Yes how cliché London and these were no normal rats… they were London rats the size of small dogs… where was the piped piper when you need him?
One of my favourite last London memories in those six weeks would have to be convincing two of my Glaswegian Suzie's to come down for a weekend out at The Church, yes the infamous day club.. Yet again. Together with a few others we got all geared up in tight and bright theme and started the day off with a traditional champagne breakfast and onto the tubes for a day of clubbing. As always GREAT TIMES!!.
The times to head back to NZ was fast approaching and it felt like I had a couple pieces of unfinished business left in Europe. So I grabbed my pack and headed up to Glasgow for one last weekend … yes seems I can not let go of the Scots!!! From Glasgow I headed over to Amsterdam, it was the only other place in Europe I hadn't been to and realised I did not want to miss before going. I spent just short of a week immersing myself in the Dutch culture.. Ok that is not entirely true.. I should say more the culture of Amsterdam which yes included frequent visits to the local coffee shops but I also managed to visit Ann Frank's House, walk down the cities beautiful Canals, visit the Sex-Museum and wander through the red-light district. Amsterdam is city of two halves… it has this underlying 'dodgy-ness' with legal weed and the Red-light district that is evenly balanced out by its fascinating history, arts and stunning beauty of the city itself. It had me captivated, and I was lucky enough to meet a local on day one who ended up as my personal tour guide for the time I was there. Still loving being a traveller!!
Back to the Uk for one night and then it was my time to Go … Yep it was finally here back to NZ, but to spice it up a little bit I thought I might as well make a little trip of it. Nixs had invited me to her wedding in Cape Town and I thought I would be a great stop on the way, so I spent 10 days back in CT enjoying the company of my old friend and her family. The wedding was of course the highlight but I also managed to squeeze in some nights out in the city, surfing at Muizenberg beach and catching up with some family friends. Leave RSA I headed over to Auzzie with a short stop over to visit Pip in Perth, now here is a city I could live in. Big enough to be entertaining but small enough to be intimate - plus it has some amazing beaches, waves and the temperature reaches at least 40 degree's.. I am sold. Sadly it was only a quick stop over before landing in Melbourne to catch up with Rach, it has been almost 3 years since we had seen each other but like true good friends it was like yesterday. We spent our few days just hanging out and catching up on good times. And then finally!! I arrived back in Wellington, seeing family and friends again was indescribable .. WOW how much I have missed them.
And now I am back home where is seems the almost bigger adventure of starting life again begins. So I guess this is me signing off from my Blog for the last time. It has been an amazing adventure, which if I was given the option, I would do all over again in a heart beat! Thanks, hope you enjoyed the ride cause I sure as hell did !!! Lots of love xxx