Time for goodbyes...

The day came eventually that I was so eagerly looking for, talking of course about my last day in Finnesse. 11 months of hard office work behind and 3 months of holiday ahead in the places I could only dream of a year ago. But before I introduce my travel companion and our destinations more in details lets go back to my last days in Sydney. (picture: Antto,Piritta,me and Petteri)

On Friday 11^th May Petteri (the guy Im travelling with) arrived in Sydney. I went to the airport to pick him up. We were both a bit curious how our embrace would go as we only knew each other for 4 days when we met in Sydney in January. Exciting, but also a bit scary… This is probably the craziest and by far the coolest thing anybody has ever done for me: To come all the way to Sydney from Finland to travel for 3 months with a person who you only met for 4 freaking DAYS! crazeeeyyyyyy =) (pic: me and Petsku)

That night I also had my farewell party for my closest friends in a
Spanish restaurant (Encasa) I picked from www.eatability.com.au <- a great website that lists most of the restaurants in bigger cities in Australia. Well the number of my closest friends exceeded my expectations and eventually we were 21 people eating tapas and drinking wine. Such a great night and I was so happy that everybody came… meant a lot to me. From Encasa we continued our night to the Rocks and checked out a new club called Argyle. Groovy place and nice that most of the people stayed around as it sometimes might be a struggle with such a big group.
(Picture: Farewell party at Encasa)

The next days we took relaxed with Petteri and I showed him the city a bit more, went to movies (if you haven’t seen Jim Carey’s number 23, I highly recommend to hurry up!), also we went to see a 3D movie (which I wanted to see already for months), did a walk from Googee to Bondi etc. (pic: Piritta, Minka, Chris)

The last days in Finnesse I could barely concentrate. My mind was already too focussed on our coming trip, packing, saying goodbye to everybody and leaving Sydney. 11 months, god it feels that it went in a flash of an eye.

Tuesday was my last day at work. VERY strange feeling! Even now, after a week from that day it still feels like Im on a holiday and returning back to Sydney and Finnesse in a while… I guess it takes few weeks to realize everything what has happen. Anyway, back to my last day. (pic: from left; Ritchie, Rach, Antto, Elias) My boss, Satu organised a farewell party at 6pm in Firehouse (restaurant next door) and I got to invite the people I had been working with the past months. It was so nice to have a chance to say goodbye to all the people face to face. Later Satu also took our Finnesse team for a dinner to Milsons and also Petteri came along. Great meal with colleagues sealed the last day of my internship nicely and I also got a beautiful bracelet Im wearing every day when travelling (Santos; protecting me from the dangers) and Satu had wrote me such a great poem of my days working in Finnesse… very emotional. (pic: Claire,me and Sean)

The rest of the week I spent cleaning and packing… Can’t believe how much stuff I have gathered in 11 months! On Friday we had my second farewell party and I said goodbye to my Aussie mum as we were flying out from Sydney on Saturday morning. It was very strange feeling to close the door of my flat the last time, not to mention sleeping in my bed the night before. (pic: from left; Pete, Mauricio, Antto) The last night in Sydney started out with a dinner in a Korean restaurant, after we headed to the Opera Bar and along came the other friends. From Opera Bar we continued to X with our team Finland and ended up having a after party at McMahon’s Point where Antto and the other guys live. At six in the morning we started to make our way home, slept for few hours and started our holiday with the flight to Noosa!










(Above: Allan & Hanna)

(Above: from left; Rach, Aleksi, Ossi, Re)

Running out of time!

Heyyyyy…long time no news!
Well my days here in Sydney are almost done and the departure date is becoming closer every minute. Today I have one more week work left and then my days in Finnesse are over forever, jeaaaah!

So what has been going on lately… mmm, well have been trying to see my friends here as much as I could. Last Friday we had a family dinner at my place and finally I got to meet Bret Lee (the famous Australian cricket player) and his wife Liz (the niece of my Aussie mum) who were great fun. Their baby, Preston couldn’t make it unfortunately. Talking about babies. I have been babysitting few time an 8 months old boy called Finn, and even tho he is such adorable sweetheart, he is a handful :) going to take few more years before I even consider to plan my own. (picture: Minka and me; girls night out)

Last Saturday we had ‘girls night out’. Minka, Jo, Piritta and I headed to the city to have a big one and went to Hugos and Dragon Fly in the X. Fun night, except drank a bit too much and the next day wasn’t feeling like a champion. (picture: Piritta & Jo)

This Friday Im going to have my farewell party in one Spanish restaurant for my friends. Also Petteri is finally arriving from Thailand. For those who are not following… Petteri is a Finnish guy I met here in Sydney in January and he is now coming back to travel with me for the next 3 months. One month in Australia, in East Coast and Northern Territory and 2 months in Asia (Singapore, Bali, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. Yep, going to be my dream holiday adventure! (Picture: Karoliina, Maha, me, Minksu, Pirre)
But will keep on writing this blog, so you can follow our trip :)
Btw. Im flying back to Helsinki 13th of August. So see you then!

Kisses and hugs! Oh, and remember to cheer for Finland in Eurovision song contest! We are having a big Finnish crowd here in Sydney to watch the contest! Go Hanna Go! Also Happy happy birthday to Katri aka MAMA and to Pinja! Luv you lots!






Picture above: AFL; Sydney Swans











Picture above: Baby opossum in our terrace