Farewell To Sydney

Hey guys and gals, this is the last e-mail you'll get from me as a Sydney-sider (the technical name for one that dwells in Sydney I believe) as I leave to set off on my proper travels tomorrow (January 8th) It feels quite like leaving the UK all over again cos I've been living here for so long and got used to the lifestyle so much.

I'm basically going on a 3 month tour of the east of Oz taking in the following places (get ready for this it's a fucking long list): Blue Mountains, Hunter Valley (a wine growing region, HAPPY DAYS!!!) Port Macquarie, Byron Bay, Nimbin (Basically the hippy capital of the southern hemisphere, so once again HAPPY DAYS!!!) Gold Coast/Surfers Paradise, Brisbane, Fraser Island, Bundaberg, Airlie Beach, Whitsunday Islands, Townsville, Mission Beach, Cairns (I'm gonna stop here for a month and work with a bit of luck to earn some much needed cash), Port Douglas, Cape Tribulation, Alice Springs, Ayers Rock, Coober Pedy (an underground town - how cool is that!), Adelaide, Kangaroo Island, Barrossa Valley (yet another wine growing region) Glenelg, Balarat, Melbourne, St Kilda, Mornington Peninsula, Philip Island, Wilsons Promontory, Narooma, Canberra, Wollongong and then finally back to Sydney.

As I say that should take me about 3 months so I'll be back in Sydney in early April - I'm gonna stay there for another week or so and then head back to the UK so I should be home by about the 20th of April and then it'll be party party party!!!

As far as other stuff that's happened in the last few weeks - I had a drunk and debauched Christmas and New Year. I went down to Bondi Beach on Christmas day and the weather was shocking it was absolutely freezing cold, and no I'm not joking - a bit of a pain in the arse really but i drank my way through the cold we all then went back to our flat and cooked kangaroo on the BBQ - apologies to the vegetarians amongst you but it was pretty fucking nice. New years eve I went to watch the harbour bridge fireworks which was a pretty amazing sight - i spent the next 4 hours walking round Sydney with a few of my flat mates wishing everyone happy new year, one guy took offence and nearly punched me - I don't think he was having such a good time!

Since then I've just been chilling out and getting my trip sorted out, although I did go to Bondi for one last time yesterday and I've come away with some cracking sun burn. I also got told by an Aussie surfer that i was in 'the zone' I thought he was maybe complementing me at first for being an expert surfer but he was basically telling me to get out the way of people that could actually surf!!! I'm an English man on a surfboard - what did he expect.

Anyway, I'm going now 'cos I've just got a call to say someones bought some Emu and it's going on the BBQ any minute now (once again apologies to the vegetarians) and it's not everyday of your life you get a chance to eat Emu is it. I can't say when the next time I'm gonna e mail you all is cos I'm gonna be moving around so much but expect to hear from me sometime in the near future.

Until the next time,
Rich