sydney was being a bit of an old tart on my last night. after a warmish, greyish day, the evening mellowed in to warmth, broken clouds and moonlight. i ate and drank with my pal j under the shadow of the opera house looking over to the harbour bridge, still infatuated with this city's beauty.

i did a nostaglia/cultural binge for my last full day:-

a walk round the Rocks where sydney's oldest history fights tourist tat for space, walking past a pub where a competitive scottish backpacker called nigel gave me the cold shoulder as i realised that the dishy swede christian would have been a much, much better bet;

ate lunch in the shadow of the tower block where mr s and i met and which lead my life in a completely new direction;

went to the historic building where i worked as a volunteer and visited another which was a vision of everything i used to aspire to professionally in my former career;

wanderd through the domain (big city centre park) to the art gallery where i sat in the cafe looking over to the first place i lived in sydney;

walked through the botanic gardens watching and hearing the fruit bats waking up, down to the waterfront where backpackers took photos of cockatoos (it's hard to shake off the feeling that they've escaped from a cage somewhere..);

then down to circular quay where i sill marvel at the fact that i feel so at home here.