This week my family is visiting from the States to celebrate Thanksgiving with me and explore the country of Australia. Two years ago, my older brother studied at Weerona College at the University of Wollongong in New South Wales. While at Weerona, my brother became friends with Jack who was also attending Weerona at the time. The next fall, Jack went on exchange to the University of Connecticut, where he spent a few months, including American Thanksgiving and Christmas, with my family. Therefore, when my family came to visit me we decided to spend a night at Jack’s farm to celebrate with his family.
Jack has a family farm located about three hours west from Sydney in the small town of Yass. On the way to Yass we stopped in the historic village of Berrima, about 1 hour outside of Sydney, which had many historic buildings to investigate. At the center of Berrima is The Surveyor General Inn. Established in 1834, The Surveyor General Inn is Australia’s oldest continuously licensed inn. It is a great stop for many travelers headed up the coast to Sydney and offers amazing history about Australia’s bush rangers. After exploring the quaint town and eating some delicious meat pies, we were back on the road again to Yass.
After another two hours of driving through the pleasant rolling hills in the rural portion of New South Wales, we arrived in Yass. Yass is also an historic town and is populated with many longstanding family owned farms. Driving through the main street served as an illustrative example of a historic Australian small town and get a break from Sydney’s city life. Passing through main street, Jack directed my dad to a small road that cut through acres of farm. Driving parallel to a train track, the road ran through the farm land and we were greeted by the calls of the cows and sheep that meandered through the sun-drenched fields in search of shade. After a passing over a bridge, we turned right on a dirt road towards Jack’s farm. Once passing through the estate’s gate, we were welcomed by a herd of sheep who were running along either side of the car. Eventually we pulled up to a lovely brick house isolated in the center of the surrounding farm land. We were greeted by Jack’s mom and his sister, as well as their friendly black lab Snoopy. We unpacked our bags at the house just down the road, which used to serve as the shearer’s quarters and had glass windows on all sides. After settling in, Jack’s mom welcomed us with a huge feast. In an attempt to resemble an American Thanksgiving, she prepared sandwiches with turkey meatballs, brie, and cranberry sauce as well as a pumpkin salad. These were absolutely delicious and reminded me of the Thanksgiving meals I was unfortunately missing. They also grilled up Kangaroo steak and sausages for our feast, which is more of an Australian tradition. The Kangaroo was surprisingly tender and delicious. After we all stuffed ourselves, Jack’s sister brought out the Pavlova. Pavlova is an Australian meringue-based dessert usually made for special occasions, such as Christmas. It is made out of egg whites and sugar, covered in cream and an assortment of berries. This cake was decorated tenderly with kiwi, strawberries, blueberries, passionfruit, and mango. The crisp outside and soft inside mixed deliciously with the fresh fruit. This feast was a great mix of Australian and American meals and it was a surreal moment to experience Thanksgiving with both of our families. I was so happy to get to spend the holiday with my family, and it made it even better to share this experience with Jack’s family. I realized how lucky I am to be a part of this moment and further connect two families that live on opposite sides of the world.
After dinner, we decided to hit some golf balls from the back yard into a field that was divided by a small creek. We had a little friendly competition to see who could hit it pass the creek and it ended up being a fairly even matchup between team Australia and Team USA. The rest of the night was spent telling stories, playing cards, and laughing between families. Once it was time for bed, my family took a flash light and walked up the dirt path to the other farmhouse where we had left our bags. On the walk, we were rewarded with a fantastic view of the stars, including Orion’s Belt, a view I do not get to enjoy often while living in Sydney. This was the end to a Thanksgiving Day that I will always remember.
The next morning Jack gave us a short tour of the farm, showing us the chicken coop and where the working dogs stayed. These were two sheep dogs that help herd the sheep, and are not too fond of Snoopy, the pampered house dog, who was frolicking alongside us. The farm is very active and self-sustainable; and the family utilizes a pumphouse near the creek to pump water to the house to run the shower and flush the toilets. Additionally, two large cisterns are connected to the house and collect rain water to be used in times of serious drought. I enjoyed touring the farm and experiencing what life is like outside of the city environment I had grown accustomed to. After a quick lunch of leftovers from the previous night’s feast, we said or goodbyes and packed our bags to head back to Sydney.
Our trip to Yass was a great experience not only to see another part of the country but to share the Thanksgiving holiday with Jack’s family. I was so happy to spend time with my family, and it was even better to share our culture and history with others. Connecting two families who live across the world with great food and laughter was a truly amazing experience.
