I arrived in Sydney on January 3, 2007 at 6:23am. My dad and brother were there to pick me up and it was great to see them. We headed towards the Qantas Freight terminal to pick up a box of books and personal effects. Then it was a three hour wait to clear customs and have the box quarantined before heading back to my parents' place in Guildford. It was surreal to be back in the house that I had not seen in about eleven months. It was also great to see my double bed!

Jessica came over and we exchanged stories of our travels over lunch.

I then snoozed for an hour. I have been averaging only three hours of sleep per night for a whole week... so you can imagine how lethargic I was at that stage.

My sister and mun arrived from work at 4:30pm and after handing out some pasalubong and going over the CDs and DVDs that I had purchased, my family and I, along with our dog, Mase, travelled to Greystanes to visit my sister's home. I was so happy to see and walk through my sister's very charming house... almost a teary moment... especially sitting down around the lounge room with my entire family, watching the 5 o'clock news and enjoying a cup of ice-cream... I felt right at home!

I then met with Divya at Stratty station. We grabbed a drink at Bar Ace with her boyfriend, Amit, before heading to Equilibrium at the new World Square complex. It was here that I surprised Deepa, whose birthday it is today (Happy Birthday Duppa Puppa!), and met up with Nita and Sash as well as having the opportunity to meet Deepa's boyfriend, Sam, for the first time.

Wilson arrived shortly after and we all headed to Casa Asturiana, where we shared some tapas, paella and some good ol' steak. Esther and the twins then arrived at about 10:30pm... It was great to share some dinner with some of the Sefton crew.

After dinner, Wilson drove myself, Divya, Deepa and Esther back to Deepa's house in Stratty where Deepa's mum, sister and aunty had prepared a cake for midnight.

By 1am I was exhausted and was ready to hit the sack... but only after setting up my laptop and the editing equipment for the following day.

Before I forget I wanted to thank my uncle for seeing me off at the airport in Manila. To Micah, Prince and Fanny for visiting me on the morning of my departure and to everyone who called (Calvin, Adler, Ansel and Kaiser) and texted before my departure.