The Kookaburra House

Posted by Audrey Paige July 10, 2013

The Kookaburra House

A late Happy 4th of July to everyone!

I spent my holiday at The Kookaburra House with my Aussie family. The kookaburra house is the kids' grandparents house in the Gippsland region north of Melbourne. The house sits on nine acres with a pond, a huge playground, and a separate cabin. AND I must not forget the Kookaburras! They let me down the first two mornings but the last morning they were singing...or better said, laughing and hollering bright and early! In case you aren't familiar with a kookaburra, check out the picture below and click on the link to hear what they sound like!

Kookaburra Laughing

The cabin where we stayed while at The Kookaburra house

As with any holiday (and some regular days if I'm being honest) I spend abroad, I find myself riding this wave of mixed emotions. Anyone who has spent extended amounts of time abroad will relate. So on this particular 4th of July my thoughts alternated between "this is really neat that I get to have this new experience" or "today I kinda wish I was home with the good ole American July 4th traditions!" But any moment I happened to be longing for the American ways, we would do something or something would happen it seemed that made me laugh and happy to be spending Independence Day with this Aussie/American family.

Because they are a family of mixed and dual citizenship (Stephen, Claudia, Liam, and Veronica are all American citizens) they had no reservations in proudly flying the American flag to commemorate Independence Day and decorating the house in red, white, and blue. The day began with a red, white, and blue pancake breakfast! The kids thought the powder sugar and whipped cream were the best things ever to add to pancakes! They were quite delicious...I'll be making some next 4th of July! Now because it is winter during the 4th of July here there was no soaking up the sun and cooking on the grill, but I did have quite an interesting...and fancy!...dinner. The dinner was a potluck with family friends in attendance as well as extended family. (Side note: As we were preparing dinner and I may have been in the middle of one of my "wish I was home with the good ole American July 4th traditions" moods, Maria (the kids' grandma) completely changed that for me. They were trying to get the kids to sing some patriotic songs and I mentioned She's a Grand Old Flag at which she began belting out the words and beating on the counter as she sang! She knew more words to it than me! Anyways, that made me laugh! And, in case you are wondering how the song goes maybe this will help - She's a grand ole flag, She's a high flyin' flag, and forever in peace may she wave, She's the emblem of the land I love, the home of the free and the brave....) Anyways, back to the dinner. It was multicultural with people from America, Australia, and Ireland which made for some interesting conversations. A cultural bit for you, it is very uncommon to see women in Australia drinking beer, most drink wine or champagne. So as we sat down at the large wood table that seated 12, lit by candle light, with two dozen white roses as the center piece, and our plates atop gold plated chargers (see what I mean by fancy?!), I did notice that I was the only one with a beer instead of a strawberry adorned champagne or a glass of vino! The dinner was very nice though, even if I was with a family other than my own. A toast was made to "the family and friendship values of America" and "in God we trust!" I was told so many times throughout the night by the friends of the family that I could not have ended up with a nicer family in Australia than the one that I am living with and I don't think I could agree more! Although it may have been a unique 4th of July experience, I am glad to have been a part of it!