My last week of proper living in Melbourne (from here on in, any time I spend in Victoria will be on a strictly passing-through basis - boo hoo!) was full-on. Just so much to do! So many people to see! So much crap to organise! Yes, ladies & gentlemen, I was in full keep-busy mode, so as to avoid plunging into the abyss of sadness that I can see wants to engulf me at the prospect of leaving beautiful Melbourne and all its charms.

Highlights (ie things not like me folding clothes) include attending the gala opening of Fiona's mum's new Chinese restaurant in Essendon, where I got chatting to a very famous footy player by the name of Simon Madden, who used to be captain of Essendon footy team in the eighties, and whose brother (also a former player) is Sports Minister in the government. He was a jolly chap, but I get the impression he was in anecdote mode and I didn't really see the man behind the mask.

Hot on the heels of the heaps of delicious Chinese finger food there, I headed to South Yarra for Tiffany's birthday. Unbeknowns to me, it was a kiddies' party, complete with a clown/magician woman! She did lots to cure me of my clown phobia, because she was very entertaining and an impressive magician too. After the show, we all headed back to Em's house for drinks & nibbles. I ended up crashing there, surrounded by pole dancers. It's a hard life.

I wanted to catch up with my friend Jackie, whose flat I lived in when I first moved to Melbourne back in March. So I called her and we tried to arrange a day but it just wasn't happening before I had to leave this week. But in transpires that, in a bizarre twist of fate, we've actually been working literally next door to each other for three months!! She works in the office next to Great Engineering in Port Melbourne, where I spent many a happy hour trying to drum up interest in labelling machines. But never once in all that time did we bump into each other. How unlikely is that?

I've sent a bunch of stuff home in boxes. We'll see if it ever arrives. But there was no way I could hope to get it all through as luggage on my plane home without paying a hefty amount for excess baggage charges.

My last night in my house was marked by a small gathering of friends, mostly Brazilians who weren't too interested in the night's Big Event: Australia's nail-biting victory over Uruguay in (proper) football, which sees them qualify for the World Cup for the first time in 32 years. All Australia is thrilled by this! And I'm happy for them too.

Among the guests was Mauricio, the Peruvian guy who has moved into my room after Kate advertised it in the window of Readings bookshop (which is how I found the room in the first place). It was weird to meet my replacement. It heightened the finality of my departure from my little home on Argyle Square. Luckily he's a nice guy, so I didn't have to feel sad on behalf of the house or its occupants.

And then, almost before I realised what was going on, I found myself in Sydney, staying at Johannes' flat in Woolloomooloo again. The sun was shining - just as it had been in Melbourne for my departure - and despite having a streaming cold I was happy to be there. Johannes whisked me straight out to meet friends of his for beers at a lovely pub just by his house.

Later that afternoon I headed over to Newtown to catch up with Audrey & Bridie, who I met in Borneo at Uncle Tan's jungle trek. We ate and drank and talked and talked and talked. It was lovely to see them both. We had a wonderful meal at a restaurant called Catfish Gotta Eat, comprising seafood and fish prepared in wonderful ways.

Then, after my meal, I caught up with Johannes, who was with Tom & other friends at a pub in Newtown. Overall, my alcohol consumption on day one in Sydney can be defined as gluttonous bordering on excessive. Ah well, a man's got to do what a man's got to do.

Friday day was a day of doing nothing. I felt like twenty kinds of shit - no it wasn't just the booze; my cold was really peaking and I was coughing on average every 30 seconds. I spent the morning asleep, the early afternoon reading indoors, and the late afternoon on the rooftop sunning myself (got to work on that tan, to impress the Europeans upon my return!)

In the evening I went out and had drinks with two sets of people: these guys I met when I was in Cairns who are English but live in Sydney; and my mate Ian, who coincidentally is up from Melbourne visiting friends this weekend, and his friends Chris & Andrew. I felt like such a social butterfly as I flitted from group to group in the pub. It was great!