Sunday was necessarily a quiet one. Johannes had crashed with a friend and didn't reappear until the evening. I caught up with Simon the Dutch guy for a very late breakfast and a gentle walk around Pott's Point, which is the area just round the harbour from Woolloomooloo heading east and home to some beautiful houses. The day was gloriously sunny, but not overhot. I was pleased that in the end I hadn't drunk much at all at the party except water; it meant I could enjoy at least some of Sunday without a raging hangover.

In the evening Simon cooked me & Johannes a Dutch dish called stamp-pot, which consists of potatoes, onions & a vegetable of your choice (in this instance broccoli) mashed and then mixed with blue cheese & mustard. Actually, I believe non-vegetarians might slip a sausage or two onto your plate as well, but hey ho. We sat around chatting for a while after food, but everyone was still pretty knackered so before too long Simon headed back to his backpackers, Johannes retired to his room and I slumped down onto my mattress in the living room for a well-earned night's rest.

On Monday Simon swung by the flat and I walked with him the scenic route past Mrs Macquarie's Point to Circular Quay and the ferry to Manly. We had thought we might go for a swim in the sea, as once again it was a lovely sunny day, but the air was actually quite cold and to be honest I didn't feel like risking the water.

As it happened, all I had time for at Manly was a spot of lunch (we had Mexican which was really yummy) before I had to head back into town, thence to catch a bus back north towards Macquarie University. I had arranged to meet Kate for a coffee and a catch-up, and as she was busy we decided on somewhere that was handy for her. She was eager to learn how it is that I could have spent two whole weeks in Canberra without dying of boredom! I hope my photos went some way to convincing her that the ACT can be as much fun as NSW. It was lovely spending some more time with Kate. I feel sure that we will meet again.

In the evening Simon, Johannes & I went for dinner with Sean, a Kiwi friend of Johannes', at the Czech place with the great beers. The food was good the second time round too! I gave in to the temptation of ordering the pork again, which perhaps wasn't the wisest choice because the pork wasn't quite as cracklingy this time. I made up for this slight negative by finishing my meal with a Becherovka herb schnaps, which went down very nicely indeed.

That, combined with the litre of gorgeous Czech beer I consumed, meant that I was content to listen lazily as Simon & Johannes had a trip down memory lane back at Johannes' flat, where they dug out CDs of questionable Euro music from the '60s and early '70s. I slept soundly if a little gassily (bloody sauerkraut!) that night, eventually managing to blot out the German Schlager songs from my thoughts by thinking about, well, anything else.

On Tuesday I spent some time online - at last, a cheap internet cafe! If only I'd known sooner that a place existed where I could have unlimited access for $3 - after a pleasant breakfast at a place just up the hill from the flat. The waitress there was outrageously flirtatious in a laid-back, nonchalant way, and cute with it. Perhaps I should have explored that avenue further, but I couldn't summon up the energy or, more importantly, the courage. Story of my life.

In the afternoon I decided to pop back to my old Bikram Yoga class for a session. It was not as hot & sweaty as I remembered actually. Perhaps I'm getting used to it. But then again, perhaps I'm not: that evening I came down with a huge 'flu and spent the night racked with hot & cold flushes, waking every hour and trying to swallow some water past my livid throat. It felt like I had a cheese grater stuffed down my neck. I had a series of bizarre fever-induced dreams about a strange old woman all through the night, and felt pretty shit the next day.

What I really wanted to do was crawl into a hole and die, but that wasn't an option - I couldn't find any holes - so instead I caught a bus back to Canberra; I had heard from the optician that my lenses were ready for collection, and besides, it was time to take my leave of Johannes, who himself has been unwell for the past few weeks with a stomach bug. Illness everywhere!

I dozed pretty much the whole three & a half hours down to Canberra, then went to a chemist to get something for my throat before heading to Joe's house to curl up in my sleeping bag and feel sorry for myself. When Sean came in he kindly got me some dinner, but I was monosyllabic in my conversation, sad to say.

I didn't sleep much better that night - oh how I hate being ill! - so I decided I would have to visit a doctor on Thursday. She recognised my illness as tonsilitis, which I haven't had since the awful bout during my year in Spain (where the doctor said to me she would give me medicine in powder form cos there was no way I would be able to swallow pills past those tonsils), and prescribed some antibiotics.

The rest of Thursday I wandered around in a daze, ending up curled on the sofa in my sleeping bag shivering. Justin walked in, and -like his housemate last night - kindly fetched me some dinner (he was going to get a takeaway laksa for himself anyway), but I fear I was lousy company.

Friday was more of the same really. I felt ropey but also guilty about hanging around the house and obliging someone to be without their house keys, so I arranged to move out to Johannes' friend Chris' flat in the south of the city. He too was feeling ill, but he said he was happy to take me in so long as I wasn't expecting too much activity! I got to Chris' flat in the evening and we popped out for some Vietnamese food in a nearby suburban restaurant that was really quite good, then turned in.