I'm still in Sydney and therefore safe and far away from all the Victorian bushfires, but it is affecting the whole country. All the flags are at half mast, and red cross collection buckets are everywhere - it's Wednesday and already 45 million Australian dollars have been raised. The climate is a lot cooler now but some fires are still burning and the winds are gusty. The police keep making arrests because there is evidence of arson. There are extended edit...

It's been a while since I have updated this, but things have been plodding on. I've been working but still trying to see some sights and stuff, in between going to the beach :) January is a busy month in Sydney, with the Sydney Festival, Australia Day and Chinese New Year. There have been lots of things to do and lots of free things, too! I went to the first night of the Sydney Festival in the Domain with my roommate. It was a lovely atmosphere - very diffe...

Happy New Year! New Year's Eve was brilliant - I went to a bar on Circular Quay with my friends which meant we got to dress up and drink champagne and oggle at all the massive crowds that were in the public spaces. The fireworks were brilliant and the whole harbour cheered everytime there was an extra impressive one, which was sooooo cool. There were fireworks at both 9pm (for families) and midnight. The 9pm ones didn't include the harbour bridge but were sti...

Merry Christmas! Christmas was over in a flash here, and now it's all about New Year's Eve. I'm going to have to fight to keep my Christmas cards up for 12 days! Tried to get on GMTV, but I had to leave early which is just as well as it started chucking it down just as they started filming! Everyone cheered when we heard the first rumble of thunder! There were a load of backpackers, a couple of families, and about one million Santa hats all pushing to the f...

It's beginning to feel like Christmas... :) Thank you to everyone who has sent me Christmas cards - they are proudly sellotaped to my wardrobe and it is lovely to receive them. Christmas feels very different over here because there are no woolly jumpers and cold noses! But it's a lot of fun - on Saturday night I went to a free televised open-air concert in the Domain (next to the Botanic Gardens) with about 100 000 people. It was lovely and no one was cold! It ...