Ross woke at 3.30am because he heard a mouse rustling through our pantry supplies in the kitchen near our bedroom. Jess woke at 4am because a different mouse was rustling through the food she had in her room upstairs. Our plan was to be at the bus with bags packed by 7.20am, which was quite achievable given our lack of sleep and keenness to not share our accommodation and food with rodents any longer!

Luke had to return the 17 seater bus by 12pm, but wanted to drop us and our luggage to the hotel in Victoria, London first. We had chosen the bus based on pictures showing a decent-sized boot, but the reality was a little different. The people had to be packed into the bus first so the luggage could be placed around us, and we had to stop it rolling around for the three hour trip from West Ashton to London.

Traffic, roads and Google maps worked in our favour for a change, and we made it to the new location in plenty of time for Ross and Luke to return the bus as required.

Once we had checked in, we walked up to Buckingham Palace and Green Park. Zac didn’t feel well so Ross took him back to the hotel by taxi so he could lie down. The rest of us wandered down to Trafalgar Square and the Westminster area, before trekking it back to the hotel once our rooms were ready and we could unpack.

Zac is quite crook, so I spent the afternoon in our room with him while Ross and Sam took all our washing to a laundromat. It took poor Ross hours to do! He needed change for the machines so bought Sam fish and chips for dinner to get some change, and once they checked on Zac recovering in our room, they went and joined the rest of the boys at a local pub near our hotel for dinner, so Sam had two dinners!

Meanwhile, Jarrod went to meet Liam and another friend from school, Ben, at Covent Garden for dinner, while the girls had a night out at dinner and the theatre! I booked tickets before we left Sydney to The Devil Wears Prada, a new musical premiering on the West End at the Dominion Theatre with music by Elton John.

Beck meanwhile booked us a table for dinner at a restaurant in Leicester Square, Steak and Co, which had a two course set theatre menu. She also worked out which bus to catch at the hotel front door to get us there in time for our 5.30pm dinner, to ensure we were in our seats for the 7.30pm show. It was a lovely night out for us, and the show was great.

By the time we got home everyone was in bed. It is the latest night we’ve had here! Because the sun goes down by 4.30pm each day, we have found it easy to go to sleep much earlier than we do at home. Ross is hoping I keep that up when we return home!