Got up at 5:15am, showered and finished packing then rang a cab. The driver was Chinese and took us down a dead end street. “Gee” he said when he realised his mistake. When we told him we were going around the world he said “roun’ the world? Gee.” The bus left at 7 a.m. and cruised up through the Blue Mountains after taking about an hour to clear the Sydney suburbs. We tried unsuccessfully to ring Alex all the way up. By about 9:30 p.m. the bus it emptied out and we were both able to stretch out over two seats. We arrived in Brisbane at 11:40 p.m. and got a taxi out to Alex and Peter’s house. 
CurseOfTheTraveller 