We couldn't really leave Australia without some sort of visit to the Great Barrier Reef. That was the one place I wanted to visit more than any place in the bush I was slightly worried on the flight up that I might experience some pain on the decent as I'd recently had a cold and had trouble like this before. Unfortunately I was right. My forehead exploded in pain shortly after our decent into Cairns. It really felt like my head was being torn in two from the inside. It was agony. I was surprised to find myself still alive when the plane landed and I seemed to be ok twenty minutes later. Thankfully It turns out to be a real complaint and not some sort of stroke. We were staying in Palm Cove, a small hamlet on the beach half an hour up the road from Cairns that almost gives the appearance of one single private resort. We had a hotel room in a self catering place with a pool which was just as well as there was certainly no chance of swimming in the ocean thanks to the jellyfish and crocodiles. The weather was a constant 30+ degrees the whole time, and 10 minutes parked in the sunshine was enough to turn the car steering wheel to molten rubber. But despite everything burning in the sun the weather was perfect almost the whole time. Before our day trip to the Barrier Reef we had a couple of days to drive through plenty of tropical rainforest, both in the Daintree further north and Kuranda right next door. The countryside was a huge chain from Sydney and only familiar to me from movies; I either expected to see helicopters dropping napalm onto fields of sugar cane or gorillas among the forested hills beyond. We bought fresh mangoes from the roadside and I even ate my first crocodile burger (yes, like chicken). We were promised plenty of wildlife, or at least there were enough signs warning us on the way. Unfortunately the only wildlife we actually saw was confined to Bird World. However, in fairness to Bird World it was class. Every single parrot you could imagine and all cheeky enough to hop on your shoulders looking for any loose threads or buttons to nibble. On our final day we went to Port Douglas further up the coast an hour for our day out to the Barrier Reef. Despite being a Monday in the low season the tour was full and we were given free cups of tea and biscuits to munch on while we cruised the 45 minutes out to the reef. We had signed up for the basic tour but there were a million extras offered for a price - from scuba lessons to marine biology courses to helicopter rides. All of these extra which were advertised over and over gave the trip a bit of a sour commercial taste to it. However once out there, in the water and in our full length lycra suits to protect from any stringers, it was great. And though It was my first time snorkeling no amount of swallowed sea water (and there was a lot) took away from the experience of seeing, swimming with, all the fish and coral and giant clams. Unfortunately the day was almost over as quick as it began - leaving the reef at 3ish left time only for lunch, a quick spin on the glass bottomed boat and one good swim in the water. And that just left me hungry for more.

I went in to see the sun set behind the Opera house one more time, and see that bats wake up and fly out with the city skyline behind them. Some final things I noticed: There are actually quite a lot of car-wash cafes around; I'd never really noticed seeing as I'd never had a car much. Other things I noticed: There are more than 9 Japanese restaurants, 5 Thai restaurants and 6 Indian restaurants in my neighbourhood.

This speaks for itself so it's hardly worth mentioning. But I have to admit now that I'm leaving that Sydney must have one of the best climates on the planet. Even in the middle of "winter" I could often go out to get lunch without a jacket and in even in the worst of the summer heat you'd don't need to worry about sweltering humidity. And you can't beat being able to sit outside late at night in shorts and a t-shirt (especially as I don't have to worry about being burnt). By and large when it's not raining it's sunny, and when it is raining it can often be accompanied by some fantastic storms. Heading off to a Northern winter, where I'll have to spend December through to April (and possibly more) moaning about the cold and the rain is enough to remind how much I've taken for granted all this time here how great it is.

I should have mentioned this first. But I was only reminded by one particularly big roach coming in the window the other day and running behind the TV. Before coming to Australia I would have always associated cockroaches with filth but here you can see them running around on pavements outside at night anywhere. And plenty of times we've left windows slightly (or completely) open on hot summer nights only to have these thumb sized unwanted guests.

They still give plastic bags away everywhere, to the extent that I collected then faster than I could get rid of them. It's not just plastic bags though; plastic food cartons and boxes are used way too much and most of it just goes in the bin.

This is probably another one of those things that goes hand in hand with a nice climate. Lots of places selling mountains of gelato. As opposed to frozen blocks of ice cream.

Last day in work yesterday. Surprisingly, I've lasted longer in this job than in any previous ones. So to me it felt like a bigger goodbye. But part of that was undoubtedly that I'm just not going to "see you around" or have a chance to catch up to see how peoples career's are going; I'll probably never see any of these people again. So that feels a little strange. Also in the back of my mind is a constant reminder that I'm freely giving up a good job in a country with a good economic situation to move somewhere where there's neither. We've been lucky to get somewhere to stay for the two weeks since moving out of our old place. Moving out was threatening to be a disaster as the vacuum cleaner keeled over and died literally the night we were cleaning up and left us with no other choice than to clean the carpet with our hands. We've shipped as much crap as possible, thrown out tonnes of perfectly good clothes and towels and kitchen utensils just because we can't fit them into the one suitcase each the the airlines so generously allow us. But spending the last couple of weeks back in our old haunt was worth the short move. It's so much nicer here, the weather has turned all summery, as if the place is trying to get us to reconsider leaving. We have actually being trying to change our travel plans as we'd booked a few days in Bangkok on the way out but that's now impossible with all the flooding. This is the first time that I've used a travel agent to go anywhere and the first time to get full travel insurance so that's got to count for something. Anyway now that I'm finished work I've got a few more days to take those last photos of places I'm unlikely to visit again. It's not like I'm can casually drop by anytime soon.

In almost every pub/bar and in many cheat-eats places once you've ordered your food your given a beeper to take to your table which then buzzes and beeps when your food is ready for collection. Why isn't this everywhere?

I was pretty surprised to be hassled by security guards leaving a shop when I first got here, asking me to open my bag so they could check I wasn't shoplifting. When there's someone standing sentry at the door to a store you can be pretty sure he'll be stopping everyone leaving and having a look in their bags. I didn't think shoplifting is such a big problem over here. But the hassle of it all has been enough to make me think twice about entering somewhere just to browse if I have a bag on my back.

I was surprised to see that schiztel was a popular food here (maybe something to do with wartime immigrants?). Anyway, while probably not as large as those from more germanic speaking locales, I will miss being able to order a giant wiener-schitzel for a reasonable price.

Good idea for cold beer in a hot climate. And still comes in a manly pint-style glass. Also will miss: twist top beer bottles - simple and saves a lot of dental wear and tear. And also on the topic of beer, I will miss Coopers.

Complete with ye olde' time squat bottle and ring pull cap, this certainly does his the spot on a hot summer afternoon of which there are many.

I know meat pies are originally from the UK, but before coming here I'd hardly every had one and I'm pretty sure you can't get them at all in Ireland. But whatever about their origins they're firmly established in Australian culture and this particular chain (popping up absolutely everywhere in Sydney recently) has been pretty good to me on lunchtimes..

Having spent most of my time as a predestrian, I absolutely won't miss the ability of cars to turn across junctions during a green pedestrian light. This results in car traffic creeping closer and closer to people walking across junctions to intimidate them to run to the other side. I've had cars honking at me because I was apparently walking to slowly across the road even though I'd barely stepped onto the road for 30 seconds. Stupid rule and stupid drivers.

This probably comes as a necessity in water-scarce Australia but they're a simple addition to the humble loo and save tonnes of water.

I was a little surprised by the level of courtesy you can generally expect in any shop and department store here from retail staff. Plenty of "How are you going?" (not How is IT going) pleasantness and a genuine friendliness that I initially thought was just an Aussie automated "Have a nice day", but soon realised was a little more when I started observing customers having a real chat with staff all the time. Staff genuinely seem to treat customers with something other than contempt, which something I probably won't get much of where I'm going..

I was originally going to write that I'll miss having food courts everywhere. They serve huge portions, are found in most major buildings in the city, usually underground, providing a million different places to eat. Having been here three and a half years now though, the novelty has worn off (especially for the $5 boxed lunches that consist of fried rice cooked that morning and are barely edible). When I go to the one in the shopping centre next to my office for lunch its hard not to think they all share a huge kitchen out the back from which every similar-tasting meal is served.' But what I will miss is the easy access to Asian food many of these places provide. I can pretty much walk in to any food court or down a restaurant-line street in Sydney and be guaranteed the availability of a bowl of Laksa, Bibimbap, Pho, Ramen, Gyudon or a million other dishes I haven't had the guts to try to pronounce yet alone order. The quality will vary a lot but it's easy to find a place serving the best of it.

Thongs as they're called here. Worn as just regular footwear, 365-days a year by plenty of Sydney residents, regardless of the weather. How do they not mess us they're feet badly?

No, not sheila's. Birds. And Aussie birds are the best - even the ones who ruined a full months sleep. Kookaburras, Lorikeets, Ibis(s?), Galah's, Cockatoos, Lyrebirds...they're all class. So many crazy looking parrots with every possible colour. And the ones that just look brown and boring have the most amazing songs or cackles. Even the common-as-a-pigeon Aussie magpie sounds great. There're plenty I've only ever been able to hear, and listening to some Whipbird or Kookaburra with the strong smell of eucalyptus in the air after the rain makes Australia feel so authentically exotic.

This is more specifically about the main commercial networks here. The ABC and SBS networks are actually pretty good; they show international news, good programming from the UK sometimes, and less mainstream movies. But the more popular channels - 7 and 9 in particular are just awful. They compete with each other for the worst kind of sensationalistic tabloid "news" magazine shows (even copying the theme music from American counterparts) - Today Tonight and A Current Affair are the worst - "what YOU need to know about welfare cheats!..and the NASA designed bra that can make you look 10-years younger!" The non-news content consists of showing either one of a long list of reality-TV derivatives (Australia's Got X-Factor Talent MasterChef Home Renovator!, or one of the versions of NCIS/Law&Order/Criminal Minds over and over and over. On the odd occasion they show a movie I'd actually like to watch the deliberately start it 10minutes late! All the feckin time. Update: An ad for Today Tonight that somewhat shows what I'm talking about. And an article in the Sydney Morning Herald that agrees with me