Melbourne Zoo on a 35-degree day? Really?
"Apparently they want to see a kangaroo," says the media advisor to Christian Porter, the Minister for Social Services. Ah, it all makes sense. 
Meet the Butti family. They are among the first refugees to arrive in Victoria as part of an intake of 12,000 people fleeing the conflict in Syria and Iraq that are being resettled in Australia.
The Australian government under Tony Abbott was forced to act and announce the one-off resettlement program after growing global outcry about the Syrian crisis and flow of refugees into Europe.
The heart-rending image of Aylan Kurdi, the Syrian toddler lifeless and alone on a Turkish beach, prompted calls from state Liberal leaders, the opposition and Greens and the public for Australia to do more.
As part of their official welcome, the Iraqi family - parents Osama and Hanan and their children Saif, 14, and Mina, 12 - had their heart set on seeing a kangaroo.
And so to the benign lawns of the Melbourne Zoo, covered in toddlers and seagulls, under a powerful summer sun.
In the company of Mr Porter and a handful of his be-shirted, sweating staff, the Butti family fed the kangaroos and even met a koala. All a far, far cry from refugee life in Amman, Jordan.
Mr Butti hugged his wife and beamed as he thanked Australia: "Everything is very beautiful. This is a very beautiful country, this is the dream of every person who would like to live a new life, and a decent life."
The media was told to avoid questions of a personal nature, but one did ask Mr Butti if they had to leave everything behind? "Yes, sure, and I do not regret", he said.  
The Adult Migrant English Program (AMES), the main resettlement service for new arrivals, has helped the Buttis navigate the vagaries of Centrelink, Medicare and finding a house to rent.
Mr Porter said it will take a couple of years for the 12,000 refugees to arrive in Australia, describing the offshore process - managed by the United Nation's Refugee Agency - as "stringent" and procedural.
Victoria usually takes about a third of the 13,750 refugees that AMES settles nationally each year, said the service's chief executive officer, Cath Scarth. Australia's intake will increase next year.
The service meets new arrivals at the airport, provides them with community guides who speak their language and has a network of real estate agents to find private rentals.
Ms Scarth expects the same split with the Syrian arrivals, and said most will settle in the north and north-west of Melbourne, where there are existing Syrian and Iraqi communities.
They will be granted a permanent protection visa, which gives them permanent residency with all the benefits; full Medicare, education, employment services, and the option of citizenship after four years. 
There has already been strong interest from the public in helping the arriving refugees from the Syrian conflict, particularly through the service's volunteer unit, she said.
"For many people the lack of connections is the biggest barrier for finding work, so volunteer mentors can provide that link," she said.