Thought that i would give everyone a quick update as i am a little conscious that i haven't spoken to you all for a while. Things have been pretty busy, but i am still having an amazing time. I am still in Sydney for the time being. We have built up a really good close group of people here now, we are all having a good time spending most days and evenings together. It is going to hard when people start leaving (which they do in the next week) as we all get on really well. I cant remember the last time that i updated everyone..all the days seem to merge into one so i will go back to new year! New year was fantastic although we had to que up for around 4 hours to get into the botanical gardens to watch the fireworks. It was worth it though as we had a fantastic spot as you will see from the pics that i will post on my site in the next few days. The only problem was that after 4 hours queing and 10 hours waiting around we were too tired to go out after!! never mind, we can do that any night and this was once in a lifetime!! One of the girls has got a video of the fireworks so i will try and either post it on the net, or send it home.

We have been to a couple of games of the cricket since we have been out here. We payed around 50 quid to a tout for excellent seats to third day of the test..shame the cricket wasn't as good as the seats, but the barmy army were amazing. I have never been to an england aussie game so it was quite an experience. They were out singing the aussies easily who have no decent songs or imagination it seems! They are really doing us proud, no matter what the result. We also went to the 2020 game on tuesday night (dressed up as Monty!!) which again was a bit of a disappointment. Again the Barmy Army did us proud, but we are still receiving quite a lot of stick from the aussies about the cricket. We are holding them off with things such as "your still sh*t at football", "England still own you". "your all convicts" and the "21-17", world cup scoreline, but i fear that this will only keep them at bay for so long! I just hope that they dont whitewash us in the ODI's too as i will have to seriously consider leaving the country if they do!!!!

Anyways i am going to have to start work in the next few days i guess as i have been spending quite a lot of money over xmas and new year and with the other bits and pieces that we have been doing, i seem to be always at the cash machine which is a little worrying!!

We have also been playing a bit of cricket. There is an astropitch in the park by a harbour down the road from the hostel so we have been playing a few games down there which has been a good opportunity to turn my arm over, and have a bit of a bat. I am going to miss not having the season with TMCC, i hope you guys have a good first season in the league. I know we have the ability to do really well, i just hope everyone lives up to it. I am thinking of going down to a local team to try and get a proper game in. I have found out where the best place to play is so i just need to get down there to find out what the score is with it. Will be good to inflict some pain back on the ozzies!

I am job hunting at the moment as it would be nice to have some money going back into the account for once, rather than it all coming out!! Sydney is nice, but quite expensive so money is going out quite quickly...i am not worrying too much as i still have a decent amount left, but i am going to have to earn enough to get me around the rest of the world so i am going to have to do a fairly decent stint of work in order to get me into the position where this is possible otherwise i will be home sooner than i want (no offence!!)

We got up to the blue mountains last week which was really nice. It was a long day though as we got up at half 5, and was not back until around half 2 in the morning. We did a bit of walking and had a few drinks in between but its around a 2 hour train journey each way. I slept most of it in both directions though!! The view were pretty spectacular, but not as amazing as i had imagined. I have taken a few pictures which i will post. Over all, it was just a good opportunity to get out of the city and do something different which was nice.

we have a fancy dress party tonight to go to as its one of the guys 24th birthday. Its an "R" theme so everyone has to think of a costume beginning with "R". I think that i am going to go as a reverend, It should be a good laugh. I will be sure to take some pictures for everyone to see! Other than that i am not sure there is much more to report. One of the guys has been lent a car for the next couple of weeks so is thinking of heading down to Melbourne in the middle of next week. If he does then i think that i will join him as he is a really nice guy, and it will be a good opportunity to get down there for not much money. I can always go back if 2 weeks is not enough time. From there i will probably have to stick around in Sydney for a while to build up the funds. Nothing is solid yet though, and i have had a really nice invite to stay with a relative of my x bass from CAF for a couple of days which will be really nice. They are living in the hills on the other side of Sydney so i will get to see some different beaches and cool sights which will be good. We will also be able to try some new bars and clubs which will make for a nice change. We have met up a couple of times for lunch, and drinks which has been really cool, i think that they are trying to fatten me up as they kept on piling on the food last time we met!!! :D (thanks again for lunch and drinks :D) Anyways, i hope that all is well with everyone. Sorry i have been bad at replying lately. I have just been busy! Keep me posted with all the news from back home...its still really good to hear from you. Take care, and speak soon