Well this is it! I can barely see the keyboard through my watery eyes, its upsetting to say – this is my final update from Australia! (May also be my final entry full stop, Sorry Auntie Jan!) I doubt ill have time in Tokyo to do one, and ill be sleeping when im home!)

So ive done Melbourne, Adelaide, Alice Springs, Darwin, Cairns, Brisbane and my journey ends in Sydney.

After typing up my last blog entry it was late so a good opportunity to go down to Sydney harbour. I'll be honest, I knew they were iconic, but I just thought they were a big bridge and a silly shaped building. Hell no! Much like the feeling I got when looking at Uluru, they are breathtaking! They've got an aura about them. They know they are the big boys and they love it!

I had a lie in the next day as we had to get up at 5:30 previously to get to Sydney. It had nothing to do with the fact I tried to take a shortcut the night before and ended up getting lost and walking the equivalent of Sydney to Melbourne in search of the hostel! Anyway I headed to the Circular Quay area again to look at the sites during the day before walking through the botanical gardens to Mrs Macquaries Point to get the typical tourist photo of the Bridge and the Opera House together. Cheese!

Treated myself to a Ronald McDonald before heading to Sydney Aquarium, which was fin-tastic! Ha! See what I did there?! Yeah anyway it was actually really good! Saw pretty much every type of fish there is, the particular highlight was walking through glass tunnels allowing sharks and stingrays to swim over your head. Then took a look around the rest of Darling Harbour before having a drink in front of the Opera House at the Opera Bar. Flaming expensive, but the view was pretty good! Definitely beats the wind farm at Minnis Bay. Learning from my mistakes I walked back the way I came and got back at a reasonable hour. Genius.

Now the next day id actually planned to go to the Blue Mountains. Here's a lesson in life – never listen to weather forecasters! The forecast was miserable and wet. Everyone I'd spoken to said its only worth going in good weather, bad weather is pointless as visibility of the three sisters or the mountains isn't very good. Coupled with the fact ive spent practically everything I have (and much more!) I left it. And what happened?! It was a belter!

Pretty gutted, but ive made up my mind that im coming back to Australia to do the few bits/cities ive missed so ill no doubt end up back at Sydney anyway.

Instead of the mountains trip I got the ferry across the harbour and spent the day at Taronga Zoo. Cant remember the last time I went to the zoo but I loved it! Its situated right on the edge of the harbour on a hill. Took the cable car to the top and gradually made my way down. The views from the top were special, let alone seeing all the animals. Apart from rhinos I cant think of anything they didnt have! Highlights were the seal show and Luk Chai, a baby elephant.

The next day was the penultimate one that I'd been planning for ages. As soon as I'd discovered how expensive Australia was (day 1!) I booked my Sydney Harbour Bridge climb. That way if I run out of money (which I had!) I'd have something to look forward to just before I leave. A gamble, as its difficult to judge another cities weather over a month in advance, luckily it was another beauty!

Not only is Australia more expensive than England (im never complaining about beer prices in England again! Although a little birdie tells me my local has gone up 10p?! Best be to pay for the Bordeaux trip dude! Ha!) its more health and safety conscious too! They went particularly overboard on the bridge climb!

After a briefing and signing my 72nd death form, we were taken to a room. For a breathalizer! Luckily I dont touch the stuff so I was fit to climb. Into the next room to put our grey jumpsuit on, before a trip through a metal detector! I felt like an Asian going through an airport. Poor sods.

Into another room where I was expecting a frisking, probing or drugs test, but no, they just clipped on everything you can imagine to give us the full, authentic ghostbusters outfit. Next was the simulator. Which was a ladder up, a platform 5 paces along and a ladder down. How stupid of me! Of course they needed to check to see if we were capable of ascending and descending a ladder.

So after 2 hours we got going. Being treated like a child was worth it though. I'd recommend to everyone to do it, its certainly something you'll never forget. The guide stopped us at certain points for a good look around and history of the bridge and surrounding areas. We got to the summit, walked along and down the other side. Walking over 8 lanes of traffic, 2 railways lines and pedestrian footpaths is something you dont do everyday! A helicopter pulled up beside us at the top and you could see everyone inside smiling and waving at us. Pretty surreal. Didnt want to get down but all good things come to an end.

As you can imagine, it was hard work so I jumped on a bus to Bondi Beach for a chill and a swim in the sea. Its miles better than Broadstairs.

After that I went back to the Harbour to watch the sun go down for the last time while I was here. Happened to see the West Indies cricket team enjoying a few beers and seeing the sights before their game with Australia on Friday (can you believe it I leave Thursday afternoon!) Pretty gutted, oh well.

And thats thats. Ive learnt some important things while ive been away....

1) Canadians are rubbish at drinking games
2) Aussies dont quite understand what coleslaw is
3) And i'm pretty handy with a table tennis bat

But no seriously, people have been asking me what my favourite part of my trip has been all the way through. There's no way to answer it. I couldn't even say what my favourite city is, activity, sight or even aussie animal! They are all different but equally all as good.

I can only sum up the highlights (which of course started off with seeing friends for the first time in 5 years!!). In no particular order...

- Scuba diving / snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef
- Walking around Uluru (with waterfalls too!)
- Kayaking with dolphins around a ships graveyard
- Sky diving over Mission Beach
- Watching the boxing day test at the MCG
- Climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge
- White water rafting at Tully
- Going to see North Queensland Fury and ticking off another team in another country
- Wine tasting in the Adelaide vineyards
- Quad biking in the Queensland forest.
- Driving the Great Ocean Road.
- Visiting the Castlemaine XXXX brewery
- Surfing in New South Wales
- Horse riding at a Cattle Farm
- Going to a Twenty20 game at the Adelaide Oval
- New Years Celebrations in Melbourne
- Swimming in Lake McKenzie, Fraser Island
- Sailing around the Whitsunday Islands
- Going to an outside cinema in Adelaide
- Swimming in the Waterfalls of Kakadu National Park

And thats not even everything, but I need to draw the line somewhere.

It's been 'heaps good'. Ive enjoyed every minute of talking to randoms, living out of a bag, taking myself off to places and generally being a stranger in someone else's country.

Thanks for the memories Australia!