The End

I arrived back in Sydney from Fiji on Thursday afternoon around 11:30am.  I immediately went down to the Westpac building behind PKF to have lunch with the remaining secondees who were still working.  It felt so good to be back in Sydney with all of the familiar sounds, sights, and surroundings.  After lunch I had a few hours before we were all meeting back up again so I used this opportunity to walk down Pitt Street and George Street one last time, walk through QVB one more time, and purchase a couple extra souvenirs here and there.

My last night in Sydney began at Cargo overlooking King Street Wharf before moving to Darling Harbour for a delicious dinner at the Meat & Wine Co.  I had one last kangaroo fillet for dinner followed by the delicious Grand Finale dessert.  We then went back to Cargo before finishing the night at Establishment.  We were the last group of people at each place.  Around 2:30am we parted our separate ways after many good-byes.  It was a fabulous send off with amazing new friends.

I woke up early on Friday morning to try and fit as much in as possible before facing the inevitable - getting a taxi to Sydney International Airport.  My morning and early afternoon involved:

A walk through the Rocks,

A walk around Circular Quay,
A walk through the Botanical Gardens,
A visit to St. Mary's Cathedral,
A visit to the Australian Museum
and lunch in Hyde Park.

I accomplished all of this in four very quick hours.  At this point it was time to take the taxi to the airport and board the plane for a quick 14 hour flight, a 2 hour layover, and another 6 hour flight to Newark NJ via San Francisco.  I successfully boarded and deplaned 10 different planes over the past three weeks and never lost any of my four bags - so a big improvement over my last big international trip!

The past four months have been incredible and amazing - it was definitely an opportunity of a lifetime that I'm so grateful for and will never forget.  And now it is back to reality....