I left with a suitcase of 14 kilos (~31 lb) and came back with a suitcase of 17 kilos (~37.5 lb). 3 kilos of souvenirs then? Wrong. I carried most of them in my backpack on-board because I was worried my suitcase would be over the 20kg limit.

I bought a lot of books and Tim Tams (those are mostly for work). I was planning on a big “post-Australia survival kit” but ended up getting only a big bottle of Ocean Spray’s Ruby Red Grapefruit which I raved about for a long time (and sometimes still do) after my previous visit. We only get the cranberry juices in Finland (as far as I’ve been able to find) which is unfair. (We also only get the subs in Subway so I’d like to see them bringing the wraps into their selection.) I was planning on getting some yummy raisin toast but it’s expiration date was soon (in fact, yesterday) and they gotta have something similar in Finland, right? They have to. My friends had very kindly bought me a package of Tim Tams so I didn’t have to buy them for the kit.

Well then, what else? I bought an anniversary edition of Lord of the Rings. I haven’t read it (I have it in Finnish) so maybe now I will. The book contains nice appendices and footnotes and things. I also bought a couple of cookbooks: Women’s Weekly “Just Four Ingredients” booklet (recipes containing max 4 ingredients. Excellent.) and “The Essential Soup Cookbook”. Also a 500 Casseroles recipe book. In addition to those, I got Bill Bryson’s Neither Here nor There (about his travels in Europe) — I’m starting to have a bit of a collection of these. Oh, and I got Dan Brown’s newest, The Lost Symbol, from Frankfurt airport. Then, music: Prodigy’s “Invaders Must Die” and Fall Out Boy’s “From Under the Cork Tree”. And games: Lego Indiana Jones :) and the newest Prince of Persia. I found Tomb Raider Underworld, too, which was on my list but it was still quite expensive.

Then, to the proper souvenirs: from Taronga Zoo I got a commuter coffee mug (I would’ve gotten a regular mug (although it may not have survived the trip so this was probably better) but I didn’t like the designs or colours), a kangaroo necklace, and a kangaroo clutch pin (I sort of collect pins) and from Featherdale I bought a cute kangaroo bookmark. I could’ve bought soooo much more from those places but decided to hold on to my wallet.

That’s pretty much it. Darn, I had room for 3 kilos more…