Hello folks! Firstly sorry about the delay in writing my log for Australia, I've been experiencing some technical difficulties with my journal which (hopefully) is resolved now. For instance, I wrote a very long detailed journal entry a few weeks ago which disappeared into cyber space when I tried to submit it..grrr..very frustrating. I figured it might have had something to do with the very old, scruffy, steam driven computer I was using at the time in the back of a newsagent in down town Sydney!? In a nut shell- I've been having great fun in Australia, love this place! Despite the fact I arrived mid Autumn and am now in winter people are, on the whole more positive here, more open to possibility and giving you 'a fair go'. Systems seem a bit more straight forward and logical, the train I get into the city most mornings are the double decker kind (the same as in Amsterdam) with big leather seats that you can just flip the back and it faces in the right direction! No double decker buses here only single with friendly drivers who will go out of their way to help you (the bus driver on my route to work the other day offered me a strepsil because I said I had a sore throat! Bless!) The light seems different over here even when its occasionally overcast the grey is higher and brighter than in the UK. And although we've had the odd rain shower most of the time I can nip out to the shops in just a sweater- although apparently that might change when I go to Melbourne in a couple of weeks! When I first arrived on the flight from Singapore one of the first experiences I remember is going out for what seemed like one of the best meals I've ever had. Roast beef with mash and veggies and loads of yummy gravy with a large glass of Aussie red wine...that was heaven given that I'd been living off vegetable fried rice for the last two months!! My flight arrived 5 minutes after my friend Kates and we decided to go stay in an area of Sydney called Kings Cross which, according to the guide books is a suburb near the city centre that is very popular with backpackers with a 'cosmopolitan vibe'. Turned out what they meant is that it is a popular hotspot for indigenous people, some dubious looking ladies, hobos, young professionals and the gay fraternity- a very mixed community indeed with a very vibrant, buzzy feel- people say the place never sleeps!