Boxing Day was a little emotional, that was when it sunk in that I was leaving people I loved behind. My best friend passed me a letter with strict instruction not to read it until on the plane.

The first flight to Dubai was fantastic! I was able to spread out over 3 seats and could actually lay down. I was getting extremely twatish looks from the people squashed in the next row of seats. But hey, I managed to sleep through that.

About an hour before we were due to land I remembered the letter I was given... Good thing I didn't wear makeup!

The wait in Dubai was only 3 hours and the food that I got wasn't bad. It was a huge airport and took me the best part of 45 minutes and a shuttle to get to my next gate.

The Emirates flight to Singapore was incredible. I didn't quite have the luxury of spreading out but the food, entertainment and service of this airline was 10/10. I wouldn't mind saving my miles and flying first class with them. I landed in Singapore early hours as the sun was rising and the small islands before reaching the runway were beautiful!

I had a 5 hour stopover in Singapore and I was extremely tired. As soon as the gate opened I headed over and found these lounge seats. It would have been rude not to get a few hours in. 4 hours later my flight is boarding and I'm feeling energised.

The final flight I was lucky enough to have the 2 outside seats to myself again... Not quite enough room to lie down but enough to position myself to get a decent sleep. This was a late flight and I managed to sleep through most of it. It was the sun rising through the window that woke me up. As I looked out I could see Australia. I didn't want to take this feeling for granted so I put on my headphones and put some inspiring music on to make it seem movie like.

It felt good to get off the plane and out of the airport. But I should have thought about my footwear before doing so. Uggs did not go down well in 7am heat.

Getting to wake up hostel Sydney was fine. Not far from the airport at all. But when it came to checking in I realised I had booked to check in the day after. I obviously got a little confused with the day I arrived... And that I can't read!

They managed to have a bed for one night which I was grateful for, and I was so glad I wasn't going to be in that room my entire stay. All 3 people in that dorm were German. They were nice but had already formed their friendship. The room that I was placed in on my booked day was great. There are 6 of us and we all got along right away.

The first day in Australia I went for a walk to the harbour. Seeing the OperaHouse was a surreal experience. I was thinking I'm actually in Australia! I'm actually half way across the world! The iconic Sydney OperaHouse is right in front of me!

I had to buy some havi's too as mine managed to break in my bag?! They are so cheap out here I will be picking a few up throughout the trip!

The first night I was jet lagged but felt I had to go out and socialise as I hadn't moved room yet. I stumbled across Alec, who lived quite close to me in the uk and had a mutual friend of someone who I saw on a regular basis. We automatically got on talking about how long we were out here for, where we were going etc.

Alec invited me to a boat trip the next day which was really sweet, and introduced me to his hostel and friends who he was travelling with.

By now my jet lag is kicking my arse! So in my new room I decided to take it easy and get some sleep. After waking up that's when the room was full and all of us were introduced to each other. There was Sarah, Lloyd, Joe, Anya and Amanda. The boys and Sarah were from the same part of the uk and the girls were American and Dutch. The other 2 girls didn't really get us Brits and we have had some awkward moments but you're not going to get along with everyone...

New Year's Eve was a blast. Sarah had met a girl called Rachel on her first day and introduced me to her. We decided to walk over to the harbour early in the morning to suss out the plan. As we got there it was already mega busy and we were told after we were in we couldn't go back out and re enter. So we found our spot and settled.

About a minute after putting our towels down a family from Manchester turned around and introduced themselves. We got along right away. As we were there for so long it was nice to have good banter and it helped Rachel, Sarah and I bond. Around 6pm there was an airshow which was fantastic and then a break between the next load of events. There was a baby firework show, and then live music! Which was on point playing out some decent music. The girls and I were loving it. We decided about 9pm we would get our alcohol. As it was so expensive we didn't want to start too early. So 9pm came and we each got 4 drinks each. By 10:30 the 3 of us decided to have a little power nap... We slept through some fireworks. But we were all jet lagged. We then awoke to the mancs laughing that all 3 of us were ko'd. We were then up and ready for the nye fireworks!

They truly were a surreal experience. Ive seen them on the TV a number of times but watching them for real was simply exquisite! Well worth the long day sat on cobbles and getting burnt!