Tomorrow is my very last day of being a nanny! I am supremely happy about this. Granted, I enjoyed it most of the time and I'm still happy I did it--I would never have been able to stay in Sydney as long as I have, perhaps even in the country. But I'm looking forward to being independent from a family unit...and travelling, of course.

Last Friday was the last time at the Mercantile with Kate and Shaylee. It was good times and everyone I know who is still left in Sydney (not too many) was there. It was pretty empty, however, due to the shocking weather (hehe, "shocking" is my new favorite Aussie word for bad). Lord it's cold. Good thing I bought a winter coat. And it was only $49 at a boutique in Newtown! Man, Newtown rocks for cheap clothes...cheap everything really. Sarah helped me pick it out so some credit goes to her.

Speaking of Sarah, Saturday night we went to see "The Lord of the Flies" as a stage play. It was excellent! All the boys were played by men, but it was really believable. The acting was fantastic. It was such an intense and disturbing experience, but in a good way. It really worked well as a play. I recommend it to anyone who is still in Sydney if they want a great theatre experience. Not for the faint of heart, though.

Yesterday, Matt and I took the train to the central coast to visit the Hunter Valley (the wine region of New South Wales) and stayed overnight in his hometown of Wamberal. We drove from Gosford to Wollombi, which is in the lower Hunter Valley, and had lunch at this amazing restaurant that looked like it was straight out of Provence, France and where we made our own gourmet pizzas. I felt like Kramer in that Seinfeld episode where he proposes the idea of a pizzeria where people make their own pizzas. Except we didn't really make it--they prepare the crust for you and you just put the toppings on yourself, then you give it back to the chefs to wood-fire it for you. But still, it was fun and it tasted amazing! After lunch, we drove around some more--some great scenery--and visited a winery where I tasted a few wines and bought a bottle of 2003 Semillon. We drove back to Matt's house and had a nice dinner while chatting with his mother and brother. They are really nice people, I felt very welcome in their home. That night we watched "Help!" one of The Beatles' movies. What a terrible film that is. It's pretty much the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. But it's great fun and if you're a fan of The Beatles, you'll get a kick out of seeing them run around like idiots. Today, Matt showed me a bit of Wamberal and we walked to the beach. Gorgeous beach! Although, the weather was shocking again and a bit rainy.

I said goodbye to a few people this weekend. Sarah went back to Liverpool today, Angie leaves for Central America tomorrow and I probably won't see J until this December when he visits New York. I'm super excited for New Zealand but unfortunately I don't get any mobile reception in Middle Earth. So e-mail and LJ will have to suffice in terms of communication. I'll be back in Australia (and have phone service) on June 27.