P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way...

You should have been able to see where I was going with that. I'm sure I'll make more Finding Nemo references, because when in Sydney, right?

I made the flight to Sydney, and despite the wonderfully confusing nature of the airport, met Chrissie who I was staying with. She lives up in Hornsby Heights, which is pretty much the last stop on one of the train lines before the actual bush... something Chrissie gave me fair warning about. Don't fall asleep on the train alone. With that in mind, I can understand how easily distracted I could get on the trains, purely for the fact I was fascinated by the fact they were double decker. Simple things entertain simple minds.

The next day Chrissie had a speech to give, so I managed to go to (in the loosest way) my fifth university in a just over a year. First it was Colorado, then Keele and Kyoto, and I just managed to push my way into attending a class in both University of South Australia with Leni, and then Macquarie Uni with Chrissie. Needless to say, film and business lectures are definitely not my thing, but it was pretty cool to the differences and similarities the Australian uni's had to Keele.
Across from Macquarie there's a quirky little milkshake place that I'd seen many a time from Chrissie's instagram, so after going there we headed to Manley Beach for lunch. I will admit, on the ferry I saw a dark shadow and did think it was a great white briefly (obviously Bruce giving the whole "fish are friends, not food speech" to his gang), but it was a dolphin. Although part of me was a little disappointed in wasn't a humpback whale like had been in the harbour a few days earlier.
We reverted back to being little children when we got to Manley, deciding to get fish and chip for lunch and sit at the beach. Great idea until we realised how stealthy the seagulls were, stealing a fair few things off Chrissie's fork, much to her disappointment, Karma definitely played a part too, since after all my laughing at her incompetency, the same thing happened to me. We took a nice leisurely stroll along the beach, attempting to take photos of our names in the sand, but true to form that failed too

SATURDAY WAS ZOO DAY. I went with Chrissie, Katy and Chrissie's friend Emma, and it was safe to say that we were all a little bit more excited than we should have been, especially all over the age of 20. We actually parked in the Sydney Harbour national park so we could walk along the boardwalk on the way to Taronga, and we got some pretty good views of the city from there! It was a shame, because both ways the weather wasn't exactly cooperating in terms of us getting a good photo, but we tried at least, and it turned out super cute. We saw lots of different animals, but the highlight for me was definitely the elusive pygmy hippo.

I was so happy that despite Chrissie having work on Sunday morning, we managed to visit so many places. We started in Darling Harbour, a place that somewhat reminded me of the Albert Dock back home. From there we stumbled upon the Chinese garden of friendship, hidden in the middle of all the hustle and bustle Sydney has to offer. I was honestly surprised I'd never even heard of these places before, but I guess when you have the bridge and Opera House to drag tourists in, you don't really need to mention much else. After a really brief walk around Paddy's market (with Chrissie pulling me away from all the cute backpacks, it was like Asia all over again), we headed to Chinatown. We actually ended up in some Korean restaurant since we both loved the fact the other wasn't fussy with food, and it was pretty good. Not a patch on Seoul, but it was pretty close. The fact we got a pitcher of pomegranate soju and stumbled home almost sealed the deal.

The rest of my days were spend doing the infamous Bondi to Bronte coastal walk, where we took some stereotypical American sorority girl pictures on the beach.Chrissie and I don't really get to embrace that side of us much since we've come home from Colorado, so we decided to go all out and start a global sorority gift exchange with each other, which I'm sure will be great until I have to get crafty. My second to last night was spent at the Opera bar, a small venue located right next to the Opera House and overlooking the harbour. Yet again, our luck with wildlife continued as seagulls were loitering everywhere, but it was super cool to be able to have a few cocktails with Katy and Chrissie, knowing I won't see them for a while, in such an surreal location!
Hands down the best decision I made during my time in Sydney was telling Chrissie to take me to all the local places she goes. I would probably never have discovered half of them, but it gave me such a better perspective on what living in Sydney is like. Needless to say, I could happily see myself living there in the future. Although I may just have to spend Australian summers somewhere I'm less likely to spontaneously combust.

I had a golden gaytime in Radelaide.

It's not what you think. During my time in Melbourne, Chrissie and Leni had insisted I try what you could call a local delicacy, basically a caramel ice cream coated in chocolate and biscuit. I'll have to admit, it was pretty good. It obviously has a huge following too, since that week they introduced it in tub form and it was sold out everywhere I went! I also tried Vegemite which I liked, and was shocked but equally impressed by the amount of chicken schnitzels Will can eat over the course of a day.

I was staying with my family in Adelaide, which was nice considering I missed the majority of their visit to England at Christmas while I was still at CSU. I went a little overboard on cup of tea making, and embraced the home cooked meals involving potatoes with open arms.

Doing a typical touristy thing, I started by going to Gorge Wildlife Park with Will and some of his friends. This was were I got to hold my first koala, who was super cute, along with feeding wallabies, kangaroos and quokka. I'm still plotting ways I can steal all these cute little things and have them as a pet in the flat next year at uni.

We had a busy weekend, with Bec, Will, Terry and I visiting Victor Harbour, Port Elliot and Hahndorf in a whirlwind trip on the Saturday. Although we did sit watching whales and seals from the cliffs for almost an hour. Then on Sunday, we headed to the barossa valley for a quick tour of all the wineries. Guess I'll never be a designated driver either, although I drank the same amount as everyone else, I blew double the reading on the breathalyser. I introduce you to your resident lightweight of the group!

I managed to spend some more time with Leni too, one evening getting treated to a night at some choice pub with cheap drinks, a beer garden and a rather large selection of bogan guys. Although she was the first person to tell me about the Hello Kitty cafe in Adelaide, I didn't get a chance to go with her, but rather bullied Bec and Will into taking me. It was a lot more toned down in comparison to the others I'd been to, but I guess that's just the Asian market for you!

All in all, Adelaide totally wasn't what I imagined it to be like at all! That's not to say I didn't love it, I did, but god is it small! The o-bahn (practically a train track for buses that sounds German) still confuses me...

Despite being pretty sick during my time there, I appreciated finally being in cold weather were I could wrap up and go into hibernation mode. However Australia, I'm definitely not a fan of how bright it always is, especially early in the mornings.

6 airports in 5 days

Yes you read that right. As you can see, I had a mildly crazy week after the exchange programme finished! I made a pretty spontaneous decision to go back to Seoul for a few days, because hey, why not.

I'm so glad I got to go back to Seoul again, because it really is a wonderful city. I spent time with one of my friends and although I was only there a few days, if that, I managed to explore more places. I even got to go to Lotte World, a famous indoor/outdoor amusement park that is huge. I saw some interesting sights there, namely girls wearing plush toy tails, and couples walking matching animal ears. Not to mention, I made sure to get my fill of banana milk and Korean BBQ while I was there.

After leaving Korea and making a brief stop in Tokyo to see Haruka one last time, I headed to Australia!

I only had one day in Adelaide with Eleni until we flew to meet Chrissie in Melbourne for a girly weekend. It was sooooo good to have a reunion again, almost 8 months later, and it honestly felt like we hadn't spent any time apart. True to fashion, Chrissie had wine awaiting us upon our arrival at the hotel.

Melbourne is a such a cool city to walk around, and it kind of reminded me of a larger Lark Lane back home. Saturday was spent walking along the Yarra river and heading to Chinatown for dumplings. That night we had our official reunion in a place called the Croft Institute, a medical themed bar that gives you a syringe with your drinks. Even the girls bathroom had a hospital bed in, but that was the point in which the place got borderline creepy.

Although the weather wasn't the best, on Sunday we headed to St Kilda beach to see the markets. Officially my first Australian beach experience (well, that I remember)! It got pretty awful and stormy in the afternoon, so we packed up and headed home, not before getting a super yummy Thai curry to ease our still present hangovers. 

All in all, it was a super fun weekend in Melbourne, but also bittersweet since it will be the last time all three of us are together for a long while. Next year when Chrissie and Leni both come to England can't come quick enough!