We are family....

I hadn't really thought beyond the point of finding the house of a cousin I had never met, the details of which  had been recorded in my mums address book, untouched for the past 16 years. However,  in her travel diary, which I  read last year documenting her trip to, among other places, Singapore and Australia with her friend Moy, mum had written with such affection for her visit to this branch of the family I had to at least try to make contact. 
When the man answered the door, I asked him to confirm the address I had written down,  which he did. I then asked him if he was Paul E and he replied yes. I was surprised. I was expecting him to say no or at least challenge me as to why I wanted this information which is what I would have done, but he was calm, softly spoken and v polite. So I told him who I was and that I was his cousin. He took the news quite well possibly because he had seen how nicely groomed I was!  I had even put a frock on. I gave Mr L the thumbs up and he pulled the Hippee Camper up onto the drive. 

We spent the next few hours drinking tea and catching up and as we talked I studied his features, looking for a family resemblance and was pleased to see glimpses of both my brothers in his face. 

Later, Paul took us out for a drive around the area and to the beaches he loves. He showed us where he (still) surfs and it was clear why he still lives in the same place after all these years - it's lovely. Then, he took us to the lake where my aunt and uncle’s ashes were scattered when they passed away -  a place where they regularly fished and both loved. It was such a peaceful spot.  He recounted his happy memories of mum and Moy’s visit and how much fun they were & we shared stories of when his mum and dad visited us in England. In the evening we met his lovely children and he cooked us delicious steaks and insisted we stayed the night. 
The following morning we said our goodbyes and exchanged details & promises of keeping in contact with a branch of the family I had known for less than 24 hours but who had been so generous and welcoming. It was quite heartwarming 

We headed back to the campsite to check out and collect the belongings we had left behind. Sadly the blue skies had gone and the sky was grey & full of rain. As we began to drive out of the site we somehow got caught up in a procession of vintage vehicles ,  when all the hot rod cars were leaving, heading to a rally in a nearby town. A small crowd of locals had gathered at the entrance to the campsite to admire the 50+  hot rods  however they weren't expecting the Hippee Camper that was sandwiched in between and so as we left the park there were peels of laughter and we got a huge cheer.

We were on the final leg of of our Hippee Camper trip heading down the M1 to a campsite on the edge of Sydney to spend our last night in the van and  get it scrubbed and ready to be returned. As if to remind us of the joys of Camper van living, the rain fell out of the sky making our last night a sleepless one. With over 4000 kilometres behind us and just 24 km ahead, we were excited to be hitting the big city at last and were looking forward to sleeping in a proper bed that had been so generously offered by an old school friend M & his wife E.