An arrival of sorts...

Well folks, we are here. In Melbourne. Wow. In some ways it feels so normal but at the same time seems like I lived here in another life. The grounding for me has been seeing my family again. The anticipated arrival at Melbourne Airport was a slight anti-climax i.e. no screaming family or nephew running across the concourse for a hug. No, for once my entire family took my advice and arrived later than they normally would have. They camped close to food and coffee - the airport cafe - to wait out the 45 minutes I had told them it would take us to get through security and customs.

So Ian and I finally arrive, after months of eager anticipation and scan the crowds outside the Hello Gates looking for familiar faces. After a few minutes, much searching and decreased adrenalin levels I conclude that they are not here yet. So we move towards the back of the crowd and continue scanning. All the while I can hear what sounds like my nephew's voice over and above the babble but, as I can not actually see him, deduce that I am just hearing things.

Eventually we consider pushing our enormous pile of luggage over to the cafe for a coffee. We head off into the general direction and there, standing by a table is a little boy in an England t-shirt whose eyes are getting bigger by the second. Ian runs towards him and Dante, in a rare moment of abandon, rushes into his arms. My sister turns around, looks at me and in typical Said Family understatement shouts "Bloody hell are you here already?!". We hug, we laugh while my dad, who has been standing in line for coffee shouts "I'd hug you but I'll lose my place in the queue" ...