Well, it's time to say bye bye, so long and farewell to Australia. Our three months in the land down under has come to an end. The warm clothes, hat, scarf, gloves and coat have been purchased and I am ready to fly to New Zealand tomorrow morning!!

We have had the most amazing time in Oz and I will be sad to say goodbye to the friendly Aussies, koalas and kangeroos :o( After we left Byron Bay - which we both loved by the way - we headed back to Sydney. We broke up the 12 hour drive with a stop at a little town called Port MacQuarie which was sweet. Apparently they'd had nothing but rain recently but we had a gorgeous sunny day so embarked on our 53rd coastal walk!! We have decided to call ourselves the Jammy Dodgers because, well, that's what we are, where the weather's concerned anyway!!!! After 2 nights in a really quiet holiday park where we had our very own room (a real treat after sleeping in a 16 bed dorm for 9 nights) we caught a veeeery early Greyhound coach back to where it all began in Sydney. Our return to Sydney was really nice as we were meeting up with lots of people there. Carolines mom and aunty came over on holiday for a couple of weeks so we spent lots of time sightseeing (occasionally in the rain!!) with them. A uni friend of Carolines, Jemma, also arrived in Sydney a day or two after us and her sister, Annabelle, was also here too so again we spent lots of time with them (including a rather drunken night out with much dancing :o)) We also ran into some other people we have made friends with whilst on our journey so it was really good to see them again.

Not such a good element of our return to the big city was the hostel which, on first arrival, was superb. But as we had only booked a few nights and then decided to extend our stay, we had a couple of room changes and let's just say that this is the first time during my travels that I have actually refused to accept a room. And we've shared with rats in Laos for crying out loud!!! I'll spare the gross details but needless to say I had had my fill of hostels at this point, as had Caroline, so we went on the hunt for a hostel that had a cheap double room for the last week of our stay in Sydney. We found a great quiet hostel that has been just perfik for our last few days and it has been so nice to be able to get undisturbed sleep in our own room!!

While we've been here I've made a return to Manly beach, Bondi beach, eaten my sandwhiches on the steps of Opera House, walked across the Harbour Bridge and upto the lookout, been treated to numerous lunches and dinners buy the fantastic Norma Merry :o), celebrated my 28th birthday at Circular Quay and Darling Harbour and been to see an historic State of Origin Rugby match!! Seth, a guy we met at Airlie Beach met up with us in Sydney and being the star that he is, managed to bag us 4 tickets to see a rugby match at the Sydney Olympic Stadium!!! Awesome!!!!! There was me, Caroline, Seth and a german friend of his. I still have to laugh when I remember Caroline asking me, in not too quiet a voice in front of some Aussie supporters, is it football or rugby we're going to watch?!! New South Wales and Queensland have an annual test series of 3 rugby matches which generates a lot of rivalry (all in good spirit). The match we went to see was the middle one and ultimately the decider if New South Wales lost again! It was also a match that would go down in history if Queensland won again as this would be the first time a state had won 4 series in a row. I remained loyal to the state I was staying in a supported NSW and Caroline chose QLD. We were sat right at the back up in the gods with the best view and the atmosphere was electric with a live band playing and a firework display. We litterally had to run to get to our seats in time but we made it and stood for their national anthem, then got down to business and I started yelling and clapping for my boys in blue!! Those of you unlucky enough to have watched an England football match will understand what I was like!! It was a great match and quiet close towards the end but my guys lost, despite my emphatic support, and Caroline was delighted that her guys in red won the match and as a result, the series! Such a brilliant experience and to watch it in such a fab stadium too was amazing. Big smiles all round when we left for the train home :o)

My birthday was fantastic and definatley one I will remember forever. Just quickly, I want to say thank you to everyone for my lovely messages, emails and texts. The day started with presents from my travel buddy....a jar of Nutella, a bottle of Strongbow, a photo album with some of our great travel pic's already put in and 6 fancy cup cakes in a very cute box!! I was sooo happy, I mean...what a start to my birthday! We met Carolines mom and Aunty at the Rocks by the Harbour bridge and had more prezzies...a funky wooly hat for New Zealand, some chocies and a bracelet. I was a very luck girl. We had a lovely lunch at Circular Quay then headed back to start getting ready for our night on the town!! We went to Darling Harbour where we met up with Pete and Bex who we did Africa with and enjoyed lots of bottles of Champagne brought for us by a rich guy from New Zealand! A great night was had by all (I think!) and we ended it perfectly with a stop at Hungry Jacks for a burger and chips. Nom Nom ;o)

And that just about sums up our return to Sydney and the final few days of the Australia chapter of my adventure. I can't believe everything I've seen and done so far and it's not quite over yet. Not sure when it will all sink in! I think 3 months was definately long enough here and now I can't wait to see what New Zealand has to offer. We have been warned by a lot of people that it is FREEZING over there!! From the photos I've seen of friends who have already done it, it looks stunning and I'm so excited. Only 1 sleep left - yeeeey!

So next time you hear from me, I'll be in New Zealand searching for a Kiwi! (No, not a huge strapping man, it's actually a native animal over there!!)

Hope all is well with you guys at home. Not long unitl I'll be back pestering you in person rather than electonically! Take care.
Lots of love
Nic
xxxxxx