Hey everyone!

Well my gosh its been a long time since I wrote one of these bad boys!! Ha ha! Sorry, I have no exuses, I am lame! Soooooooo what I have been up to over the last 3 months, alot is the short answer. You know me though I like to write a lot in these emails so for all of you who cant be arsed to read it all, I am having an awesome time still, off to New Zealand for 2 weeks and then to Perth for I dont know how long.

Everyone else who likes my emails here we go, you may want to grab a snack or a drink to accompany your reading.

I have been in Sydney since December and let me tell you it is one hell of a city. I have had some of the best months of my life here, there has always been something going on, someone arriving, departing and a mixture of buzz and relaxtion all rolled into one. And now its time for me to leave and head to New Zealand for 2 weeks. So thought I should really sum up Sydney before I have loads to write about New Zealand. Rachel! Stop blabbering on, get to the point!

Ok, at the end of January I started a job with a company called Pepper Home Loans, they lend money to people who arent normally granted loans as they have poor credit rating, something I can relate to! I had to call Mortgage Brokers and ask them two questions 1. Have you received the Approval in Principle for Mr and Mrs so and so and 2. Please can I get an update on the deal for Mr and Mrs so and so. Interesting hey! Spent most of my telephone calls trying to pronounce weird names, now I know how people feel when they have to say my surname. I also had to keep saying I was calling from Pepper Homeloans, "like salt and pepper" because no-one could understand my English accent, they thought I was saying Papa. Other times I was being chatted up by the brokers because I had such a cute accent, I got asked to Melbourne 4 times! One of the brokers even named me Pickleberry. So as you can tell I had alot of fun in the job, it was probably the best company I have worked for, everyone there was so friendly and fun. Its a really young, up and coming company that is fastly expanding so everyone was really optomistic and motivated, brilliant after having worked in local government for the last 3 years. We had free fruit, they gave us champagne when we hit their $1 billion target and a party under the harbour bridge. It was great to work there, although the job was so easy, I could pretty much do it in my sleep it was really excellent to see a happy workforce who were really cared for by the management and also to really see the aussie working life. Also the view from my office window was Sydney Harbour, cant really beat that.

The beginning of february I moved into an appartment near Kings Cross, Sydneys answer to Soho with Liz, Kev and Stu who I had met in Cairns. It was above a backpackers hostel so still felt in touch with travellers and was on 3rd floor, perfect location for spying on all the hookers that were stood opposite! And these were very interesting hookers to watch as they were mainly transvestites/transexuals..... men dressed as women, whatever. I kept wondering if one of the main questions after How much? was Do you still have your penis? Ha ha! So that was entertaining. I had a brilliant time living in that flat, we had loads of people staying over all the time which was great, although stepping over people to get to the bathroom in the morning to get ready for work could be annoying! On our first night in the flat we had about 7 extra people staying so there were people everywhere, we went to sleep at about 7.00am and I was supposed to be in work at 9.00 am well I wagged that day! So never a dull moment and if there was we would just go and rent 5 films from the video store up the road. Liz and I recently had a 2 day session of series 1 and 3 of one tree hill, it was ace! Although towards the end we were all ready to leave as we had new housemates in the shape of bugs, that bit us in our sleep, I got bitten a couple of weeks ago on my thighs and they swelled up really badly I was a little scared I was going to have to go to the doctor but they went down after a while. Poor Kev decided he was better off sleeping on the sofa as he was being bitten so much in his bed.

We have had loads of things to do in Sydney

*Mardis Gras*
We all got dressed up in bright clothes, feathers, face paint to celebrate Sydneys Lesbian & Gay festival. We attempted to watch the parade down Oxford Street however there was so many people stood in the way on milk crates that we settled for watching it on the big screen. Stu and Kev made two excellent camp men that did make me think on occasion that there wasnt actually any real acting going on by them! Also was interesting to watch lots of big fat old hairy men in leather thongs kissing and also a grandad kissing a man that looked like his grandson!

*Palm Beach*
Ellie and I went to the beach where they film Home & Away, was a really pretty beach, we posed by Alf's surf club and did some super duper sunbathing. Didnt see any of the cast though but Ellie and I did try and re-inact some scenes such as dramatic walking accross the beach looking distraught because Todd/Bruce/Shane had dumped us for Carly/Chloe/Selina!

*Austalia Day*
28th January was Australia Day, a national holiday in Australia and a very legitamate reason to have a drink or two! We all went down to Hyde Park to see what was going on there with boxes of goon (wine), australian flags and a frisbee. We plonked oursleves down in a spot and decided we would stay there for most of the day, although we later realised we had picked the wrong spot as 5 mins away from us was a stage where people had been playing music all day and we managed to catch the last 1/2 hour, which was good. We then missed the fireworks in Darling Harbour and a stupid German girl broke my sunglasses! Was a good day though, we put mascara and eyeliner on all the boys as girls like to do and boys pretend they dont like but really they do!

*QE2 meets QM2*
We all went down to Sydney harbour to watch the two biggest passenger carriers meet each for the first time since WW2 or something like that! There were loads of people down there and was a really special evening to watch as the harbour was full of boats and as the sun set on the harbour all the boats lights were turned on and the harbour looked so pretty. There was then a brilliant firework display to celebrate the meeting, those boats are so huge!

*Playground Weekender*
Throughout the summer in Sydney there had been music festivals going on that I kept missing them so I was determined to go to one. I found this festival, Playground Weekender on-line and really liked the look of it as there was lots of different music ther from dance, hip hop, funk, reagge e.t.c. I voluntereed with my friend becky to work there so we didnt have to pay for the ticket or 3 day camping pass so that was a bargin. We worked 2 four hour shifts in the box office over 2 days, we were handing out wristbands to the people coming to the festival. The festival was awesome, so so so good, brilliant! We saw loads of cool music, Fat Freddies Drop, Chk Chk Chk, whomadewho, Mr Scruff, Bugz in the Attic, The Avalanches and loads of DJs were playing as we chilled by the pool in the beaming sunshine, it really was heaven. Becky and I met some great people and had some entertaining experiences involving no sleeping bag on the first night and then a stolen beer covered mattress on the 2nd. I wont go into all that now though!

I have done loads more stuff but I thought I would just write about the stuff that has stood out to me. It has also been great to see people from home here Claire,Sam, Charlie, Martine and Amy was awesome to see all you guys.

As you may know I lost my phone in a cab on Paddies Day on the way out so want even drunk, I'm an idiot! However, the day before I had found $200 sat in a cash machine so I was able to fund a brand new pink phone. What a find hey!

So now I am off to New Zealand for 2 weeks, I am covering both the North & South Island in this time on the Stray Bus with Becky(similar to the Oz Experience I did down the east coast). Everyday will be somewhere different so I will write again and let you know what I get up to, cant wait to be travelling again. Then I am flying accross to Perth when I get back. I have managed to get such a cool job working as a travel agent for Peterpans, a travel agency that specialises in budget travel aimed at backpackers. I have a 2 week trial period so hopefully I will be good and they will keep me on! It will also mean I get some free travel around the west coast, which is ace as I didnt think I would be able to do it. I will also be working for my accomodation in a backpackers hostel there so cant wait to get there for a change in working environment. What it means is that I probably wont come home in July as I had said I was going to. I think I would be stupid to waste the last 3 months of my visa and I really want to make the most of my time here and this job if it works out and I love it. So sorry for saying I was coming home early, at that time I thought I would be. I am still really looking forward to seeing you all when I get back though. I will let you know when I have settled in Perth what I plan to do.

Anyway, I know I have probably missed loads of stuff out of this email as I am rushed, it is now midnight and I have to get up in 6 hours to go to the airport but wanted to write before I went to NZ and had even more stuff to talk about. SO EXCITED!!!

Lots of Love to you all, hope you are all fine and dandy! What you all been up to? Sorry for being rubbish at replying to emails I absolutley love getting them though and love to hear what you been doing.

Take care xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx