Arrived in Manly at Aid & Leah's at 9am tired from the journey so I had a nap, caught up with Zoe and then caught the ferry back into Sydney to see Barry, another friend I met in New Zealand. He and his friends were gearing up for Mardis Gras which we will be flying out for, which is very bad timing as I would loved to have seen that. We had a few drinks on Oxford Street and then we had to say a sad farewell as we will be in completely different countries for the next year or so. I'm so glad I met him, he's been such a sweet friend and I feel proud to know him. We are gutted it will be such a long time now, though there is hope to catch up in May briefly if we haven't both flown.

Back at Aid and Leah's Zoe put together a ginger and lime chicken salad and we had a few drinks before I collapsed around midnight with tiredness.

After a day doing final chores in preparation for our leaving, I headed over to Manly on the ferry to meet Aidrian, Leah and Zoe for a lovely picnic on the grass at Manly wharf. We grabbed sangria from the bottle shop, the best Thai in town from the wharf stall, and lay out on a picnic blanket and set the world to rights as the sun went down. It's been lovely meeting Aidrian and Leah, two people I know to be close friends with many of my friends back home, so it's been lovely to put faces to names and find out why they are so highly valued. I'm a bit gutted myself that I won't see them again probably!

I then walked home across the bridge and took some last photos of the Opera House and the city. I will miss this beautiful view, and how easy it has been to walk around, every corner opening out onto some stunning vista, whether it be sparkling lights in the dark water, or brilliant blue skies and sunshine reflected in the water. It has been amazing and I'm sad to leave this lovely city.

Today we were all extremely hung-over and despite the gorgeous day outside none of us could face leaving the house. That is, except Neil, who had to go out to a music festival at midday, poor bugger. We finally managed to drag our sorry butts out of the house around 3pm and headed over to Manly to sit on the beach. Here I met up with my friend Tim, from university, who I haven't seen in 5 years. We sat on the beach catching up for a while and then wandered up to his friend's house for a barbecue for the afternoon, before I returned in the evening.

Today we caught the ferry across to Manly beach, which is definitely my favourite so far of Sydney's beaches. Unfortunately the cafe (Candies) recommended to me was closed for the holiday period but we found our way to Zoe's friends Aidrian and Leah where Zoe produced a lovely meal to say thank you for letting her stay earlier in the month. We enjoyed some lovely sparkling Pinot Grigio and got some good recommendations for Tasmania, Leah's home state before catching a late ferry home and finally making it home across Harbour Bridge around 2am...