I suppose I should make a closing post.

The more perceptive of you may have noticed that this blog came to a rather abrupt end, with me promising photos, and then not delivering. Well, what happened was that my camera was stolen on the last day of my time in Estonia, and all my photos went with it. This took the wind out of my sails somewhat, since I was a bit gutted to lose all the photos from the whole trip. Despite the fact that Greg gave me a CD with all his photos on it, it still disappointed me somewhat, and thus I never got round to updating the blog.

The remainder of my time in England (some 3 weeks) was spent in and around London - I caught up with everyone before I left, as well as a friend of mine, Ash, who had come over from Australia for a holiday.

But now, I'm back in Australia, and thoroughly convinced that I made the right decision to leave when I did. It was time to leave England, and I left without any regrets or things unfinished.

Flicking back through this blog it's interesting to see how it changed over time - it started out as a wide-eyed expose into international travel, and I followed the time in America with great interest - each and every day there with Dad was magical, and it will remain with me until the day I die as one of the greatest months of my entire life. There's the trip to Italy, my initial exposure to England, the pain of not being able to get a job, delight at starting work and the misery of the long winter in England, overworked, cold and underpaid. There's the trip back to Oz, the Gregory River canoe race, and then finally the time spent travelling in Europe, which was also a once in a lifetime experience.

I think that's the best part about this blog - the fact that it will serve as a reminder of the days that I spent abroad. For example, I couldn't remember every single day in America and the goings on of each day, but the blog instantly reminds me of what happened on a particular day, whether it was getting stuck behind a tractor, Dad demonstrating his ingenuity with the freezer, the crazy old man routine on the Californian freeways or the bedlam of driving into New York, to name but a few.

The 18 months I spent abroad was a fantastic time for me, and the blog serves as a fantastic reminder of it. That's the beauty of it. I don't suppose anyone will actually read this last entry, but just in case, I'd like to extend a few thank-you's.

I'd like to thank anyone and everyone who read this blog over the time I updated it - in particular those of you who commented.

To the guys at HCI - thanks for making London such a pleasant place to work. We had good days and bad days, but the good days definitely outweighed the bad, and it was a pleasure working with such great people.

To the crew at the Badger - thanks to you for continuing to put up with me even after I moved out. Christmas at the Badger was great fun, and the best way possible to pass what would have otherwise been a very lonely and boring week.

Particular thanks to Dan, Nick, Karl, Greg and Christian - you guys put up with me for the whole time in London, whether it was playing computer games, poker, drinking vodka in Poland or suffering an attack of depression on New Year's Eve.

Thanks to Wendy for being awake at 3am Aussie time due to her baby, and giving me someone to talk to on MSN during the week when I would otherwise be bored out of my skull at work. It was always good to catch up on news at home and the band.

Finally, thanks to Laurie, Dan, Glen, Nye, Ken and Gerald - you guys commented thoroughly on my blog, and made it the sort of blog that gets blocked by the German state web filter. I thank you.

And that's as good a note as any to end on.