So… I’m currently camped out at Terminal 5 at Heathrow undergoing a 2.5 hour wait for my connection to Johannesburg. Six weeks ago, one miserable Monday morning I was driving to work wondering why exactly I was still working in the same job after such a life-changing, 13-week, round-the-world trip earlier this year. Just one hour later I was writing to my friend Steph in Australia asking about the job situation out there. I allowed myself to daydream about a life in the sun, and kidded myself that looking at flight prices wouldn’t really mean I was moving away, but by the end of that week the flights were on hold; I’d confessed to my Mum, friends and family and had arranged to visit Ellie (my travelling partner) in South Africa en route. I sealed the ... read more

We were up fairly early and went to the beach, but El was feeling restless and "unorganised" (this made me smile) so she headed back to pack her bags. She met me after; we picked up wine from the Bottle-O and sat on the park which was full of families and groups of friends playing sport and having picnics. We ended up get getting pretty tipsy after just a few glasses (I'm sure alcohol has a different affect in the daytime). Ellie did us proud and made a wonderful fritata for dinner. I'm really going to miss her cooking but hopefully I've picked up enough tips from her to try a lot of the things at home. We sat and did our last pedicure together - we both kept getting tears in our eyes and saying ... read more

Said goodbye to Julian and another guy in our room called Bobby. Bobby is a business man in his 50’s that ended up here because the bank machine ate his creditcard. He’s been waiting for the bank to send him a new one and for his wife to wire him some money so in the meantime has been living off whatever cash he had left in his wallet. I felt incredibly sorry for him but he didn’t whinge. I can imagine staying in a hostel full of 20-somethings must have been a culture shock for him. I felt ever so mean for returning home last night and scoffing a Fergburger in my drunken stupor, while he’d spent his last $3 yesterday on a can of Tuna. He’d eaten half at lunchtime, and half at tea time. ... read more

Woke up at Gareth and Sarah's. They'd taken me back to theirs after Franks last night and we'd collected cheeseburgers on the way. Gareth made me a cheese toastie and made me laugh all morning. My new nickname is Manchester thanks to Sarah. She continued to call me this all morning as well as last night and I started to wonder if she could actually remember my real name or if she'd been too sozzled, ha ha. She was cringing about getting up on stage last night but was really pleased with her 400dollar tattoo prize! Sarah's friend Ellie came over and the first thing out of her mouth was "Holly Fak, your gorgeous". W..what?! She joked that she was jealous of Gareth and grabbed my bum when we hugged goodbye. Gareth gave me a lift ... read more

The views while we drove from the Mongolian Tent to our ferry port reminded me of driving through the Yorkshire Dales on a sunny day. "Can I have an ice cream" I heard from the back - all the adults groaned and rolled their eyes as this has become Lian's signature request. The landscape changed from hilly fields (filled with cows), to masses and masses of ferns, tall trees and bushes, as we drove through one of New Zealands Forest Parks. It was an incredible view. We stopped at Coromandel town and picked up a few things from Munchies Deli Bakehouse - anyone visiting the Coromandel really must stop here. El and I oooh'd and aaah'd as we looked at the glass fridges filled with cakes and pastries and the baking rack with bread and pizza ... read more