Frescoes and family in Melbourne, Australia

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Two days before we left New Zealand I received an email from a man called Kyran. The gist of it was “I'm your dad's first cousin... It'd be nice to meet you...you're welcome to stay here if you want”. While I had heard of him in passing before, I had never met him. Then I thought, hey, we are on the other end of the world, why not?! So I rang to introduce myself. I was overwhelmed by his generous offer to collect us from the airport and lodge us for the duration of our stay. And when I told him that I had already booked our first night of accommodation in a hostel in Fitzroy there was no talking him out dropping us to the hostel. After all, “we are family”.

And so it was, after a short Jetstar flight we found ourselves searching through the sea of faces in Melbourne airport arrivals hall, looking for a man to match the photo that Kyran had emailed me. I quickly spotted him and was surprised by his similarity to one of my uncles! He welcomed us warmly and led us to his car. On the trip into town we chatted and got to know each other. As he dropped us at the hostel we agreed that he would pick us up the next day to take us to his house so we could get our bearings from there.

In the hostel we laughed at how good it was to have a bed that you didn't whack your head off the roof when you woke up or need to slide open a door to get out of bed. We unpacked and went for a walk around the area, finding ourselves on Brunswick Street, the cool place to be seen for the alternative crowd in Melbourne. After beer and pizza in a groovy café we went back to the hostel to check in with the parents. Our evening being their morning is something I still find difficult to compute.

The next morning Kyran picked us up as planned and took us to his lovely house in the suburbs. Once we knew where we were staying we took the train into the centre of town and did the walking tour of the town as suggested by the Rough Guide. After 5km of walking we were ready for a beer. Sitting outdoors in the sun at a café we agreed that Melbourne would be a great place to live (if only it weren't on the other side of the world!). The day wasn't over yet though, as we made our way to the Eureka building for a stomach churning lift trip up to the 88th floor that took just 40seconds. From the observation deck we had a great view of the city. I was proud of Philippe as he continued to defeat his fear of heights by walking outdoors - only protected from a nasty fall to the earth by some measly chicken wire.

To complete our excursion to Melbourne we found ourselves attending the Leonardo da Vinci Anatomy to Robots exhibition. It's certainly a tad more cultural than we are used to, but it sounded interesting. I thought it was going to be an exhibition on his art pieces, but it went so much farther. As we wandered through the makeshift exhibition hall, we saw excerpts from his personal books together with very realistic model interpretations of the various anatomical principles he was researching. Continuing around the exhibition we saw how his understanding of anatomy led him to apply it to mechanical principles, resulting in early robots made from woods and strings on pulley systems. Further on in the exhibition we saw his anatomical lessons can be seen in his painting and sculpture. By the end of the exhibition you are left in no doubt as to the genius of the man, and I couldn't help but wonder where he found the time to do all that he did!

We caught the train back to Kyran's house and as he was preparing a scrumptious dinner we were introduced to a real Aussie. Rob was Kyran's neighbour and told us all about Tasmasnia, his homeland. Over dinner we discussed everything from stories about my father and grandfather that I had never known to the great technical debate of Microsoft vs. Apple (Kyran is a devout Mac convert).

The next day we all rose early to make the most of the day. Kyran kindly drove us out the ocean road to Sorrento and we got our first taste of Aussie Beach Life. The water was too chilly to risk a dip, but it was a pleasant way to pass the morning. After lunch outdoors in a pub garden full of sunbathers, we continued our drive North to the Dandenong Mountain Range. By the time we reached the area we only had time for a short 50minute walk but it was enough to appreciate the change of scenery and beautiful nature around us.

Back in town we had a date with a 74 year old retired priest. Andrew is a friend of Kyran's and had reserved a lovely restaurant for us in his neighbourhood. As we learned of Andrew's early days in a monastery (and even earlier days in Dublin), we realised he didn't match our preconceptions of a stuffy old Irish priest. In fact he was more modern than many people I know! We passed a wonderful 2 hours eating good food enjoying good company before retiring for the evening where Kyran and Philippe again took up their ongoing challenge to convert Mac files to Microsoft (or something like that...)

On Sunday we had a sleep in and then went off in search of the Melbourne F1 racing circuit, again kindly chauffeured by Kyran. As we drove around Albert Park, I could see Philippe replaying the race in his mind's eye. He hopped out to examine the pit lane and the starting line, finding the race lines that had been blacked out for normal day to day usage. On the way home we stopped off at Victoria Market and had lunch in a nearby shopping mall.

Back at the house Kyran had the afternoon to himself as Philippe and I tried to catch up on our holiday research. We really hadn't planned much past New Zealand! With the campervan booked and a tour in Alice Springs to look forward to we had dinner and attempted to repack our bags. The rucksack are veritable tardis' at this stage. How so much can fit in a bag so small continues to amaze me.

Chatting away we eventually had to call it a (kind of) early night as we had an early flight in the morning. Kyran drove us to the Airport and as I bid him thanks and fairwell I was amazed at how well we had got on with a man I didn't know three days previous. There really must be something in when they say blood is thicker than water!

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