Hi everyone! This is it - the final postcard from the the Happy Hippos on Holiday World Tour! Our stay in Darwin was short and sweet, involving little more than a shopping trip and several meals out with the guys from our Kimberley tour. We had a very early start the day of our departure - the shuttle bus to the airport left at 4.15am...we turned up to catch it at 4.16am and it had already gone - what happened to Outback Australia being laid back?! Fortunately, it was just around the corner and the office was able to radio the driver to come back and pick us up. Our destination was Cairns in Tropical North Queensland, where we had a week of relaxation planned before making our way to Sydney to begin the transformation from Holidaying Hippos to Hard-working Hippos! We left our backpacks in the reception of our hostel in the centre of Cairns (being too early to check into our room) and headed straight off on a day-trip up to Kuranda in the rainforest. The journey was one of the main highlights of the trip: to get there, we took the Skyrail, a 7.5km cable car ride, which took us right over the rainforest canopy and to get back, we went on the scenic railway, which wound its way through 34km of picturesque mountains. In between, we wandered through the heritage markets and went on some lovely walks through the rainforest and along the Barron River. It was here that we began to compose our "Stop, Start & Continue" lists - an attempt to re-enter "normal" society as new improved hippos, having made the most out of our once-in-a-lifetime personal development experience. In this way, the month of August was for us much like a January filled with New Year's Resolutions just waiting to be broken! The next day, we made our way to Port Douglas, rather more upmarket than Cairns, and our chosen destination for snorkelling/diving trips out to the Great Barrier Reef and for sitting on palm/coconut tree-lined Four Mile Beach, soaking up the sun. Both experiences were absolutely wonderful. We were lucky to get standby places on a diving trip going out on Saturday, as the weather turned on Sunday, which would have dramatically reduced visibility. The company with which we went out to the reef offered introductory diving experiences as well as dives for those already certified, meaning both of us could get the most out of the trip. Zena took to diving like a duck to water and really enjoyed her two dives down to 9m and also snorkelling on the reef. Kirstie hadn't dived since our trip to Mexico over 2 years ago, but with the Divemaster as her buddy, she was still able to do three 40-minute dives at 18-20m below the surface. We both saw some amazing coral and sea creatures and enjoyed watching the videos of our underwater experiences on the boat back to shore. As the weather in Queensland turned, Sydney started a spell of clear days with temperatures around 20 degrees and we timed our flight from Cairns down to Sydney perfectly to coincide with this. We met up with Polly on her way back from work at Circular Quay and took the ferry across the harbour, past the bridge and the Opera House, back to her apartment - what a commute! There was quite a sense of déjà vu, as the last time the three of us were together was when we visited her in Tokyo last October, stayed in her apartment and went out sight-seeing mid-week, while Polly went to work! (Thank you Polly - your hospitality was/is much appreciated and if either of us end up working somewhere you would like to go on holiday, the favour will of course be returned!) On our first full day in Sydney, Zena signed up for a Blue Mountains tour, while Kirstie signed up with some recruitment agents! However, Kirstie could not let Zena go off on a wine-tasting tour to the Hunter Valley without her, so joined in the further viticultural studies course later that week. Needless to say, we both had a great time! On the Friday, we headed over to Bondi for the day - despite air temperatures being pleasantly warm for mid-winter, the ocean (at 17 degrees) was a bit too chilly for swimming, so we just watched the surfers from the beach and had a walk along the clifftop path towards Coogee. We then headed back to the city to meet up with Polly after work and to see Opera Australia's production of HMS Pinafore & Trial by Jury at Sydney Opera House. The show was great, but it was the experience of seeing something in the world-famous Opera House that really made it special, including interval drinks on the balcony overlooking the harbour. Saturday saw us climbing the Harbour Bridge - a fantastic experience and the views all the way up were sublime (both across the harbour and on the bridge itself, our guide being quite a stunner - all credit to Polly for admitting she was scared of heights meaning we had to go at the front of the group!!!) Saturday night was Zena's last night in Sydney, but rather than a major partying session, we chose to have a quiet meal in a little restaurant around the corner from Polly's flat (have we become mature all of a sudden???). Our final meal together was the following day in a lovely café on the quays outside the Opera House, after which it was 'time to say goodbye', as Zena got on a train bound for Sydney airport and Kirstie got on a ferry back across Sydney Harbour with Polly. Separating was very sad and we both had tears in our eyes as we said our final farewells. We are both very lucky not only to have been able to take time out from our careers to travel the world, but also to have a great friend, with whom to share the experience. So, that's the end of the Happy Hippos on Holiday as we know it. Thank you to everyone who has left messages on the website and e-mailed us throughout our trip - it has been wonderful keeping in touch with you all. Our hotmail addresses are still operational, so please continue to e-mail us! Hope you are all well! Love, Kirstie & Zena