Arriving in Melbourne we were very lucky to be met by Mark and Lynne, a couple that Katie had met and remained in contact with since her last visit to Australia 8 years ago. We had been invited to stay with them, even though they were in the process of moving from an apartment they had been living in for 2 years back to their house that they had been renovating for that time. The builders hadn't quite finished the multiple little details, and on top of that Lynne was about to give birth any day to her third child. The other two Hunter, 5 and Leilani, 2 ½ we met later after school and daycare. In the mean time we caught up with and got to know Mark and Lynne during the drive into the city, and over lunch at the apartment. Lynne treated us, and particularly Paul to a wealth of information about how childbirth really is, including all the gory details, some of which Paul definitely seemed to think he didn't exactly need to know!
That afternoon we rested up and the next couple of days were spent planning and arranging our onward travel in Oz, as well as spending time with Lynne and the children. We got very good at playing with Bionicles and Dora the Explorer, as well as hosting the early morning, overexcited antics, which seemed to involve Hunter leaping around the end of our bed trying to kick himself in the head… oh the taste of things to come!
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival was on so it was only right that we thank our hosts by taking them out for a Saturday night act. We managed to get tickets to see Rich Hall as himself and in character as Otis Lee Crenshaw, and it was a great act, very funny. There was a slightly uncomfortable time on the way back to the car after the show when we all thought Lynne was going into labour as she couldn't walk more than a few steps without contractions, but it turned out to be not more than some hefty practice contractions and they eased off once we were back at the house.
The next day we had arranged to meet up with Tom and Rachel who had abandoned Sydney to try Melbourne for work and had flown in the Saturday evening. Mark had been kind enough to lend us his car for the day so we picked them up from their hostel and drove the 1 ½ hours out east to Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary where many of the victims of the recent bush fires had been or were being treated, as well as some longer term residents. We spent the whole afternoon there and were treated to close ups of much of the wildlife native to Australia. We even fed carrots to Kangeroos. The highlight however was probably the birds of prey show where we got to see magnificent birds including the huge Wedge Tailed Eagle fly freely around the area, swooping down with perfect timing to snatch scraps of meat out of the air.
That evening we had got tickets to see Arj Barker, and American comedian Paul and I had seen before in London. The four of us went along to the big venue at the Town Hall and it was a fantastically funny show. We had a few drinks at a bar after because this time we were saying good bye to Tom and Rachel for the last time. (In the Southern Hemisphere anyway).
Since we were flying out on Tuesday afternoon we spent rest of our time doing touristy sight seeing, taking the tram down to St Kilda and walking the city in search of the only surviving original piece of Banksy street art in Melbourne. We found it, thanks to Marks careful directions and got to admire some of the cities other street art, much of which was really talented and unique stuff.
Lynne drove us to the airport on the Tuesday and it was a very sad goodbye for me. They had been so wonderfully welcoming again, just like the last time I was in Melbourne. I don't know when we can see them again but I hope we can meet up sometime in the future.