Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree
Eating all the gumdrops he can see
Stop, Kookaburra, stop, Kookaburra
Leave some there for me!
Australian nursery rhyme, lyrics by Marion Sinclair
If you know this nursery rhyme, you’re welcome for the ear worm. Before I got to Australia, I assumed a Kookaburra was some sort of Boogeyman and a gum tree was a magical tree filled with gum drops. As it turns out, a Kookaburra is a bird with a crazy maniacal laugh, and a gum tree is a eucalyptus tree. I kind of like the version in my imagination a little more, but the sound of a Kookaburra is something I never expected. We got a quick recording you can listen to if you’d like.
By the time we got to Sarah and Kieran’s home in Adelaide, there were still three items on our list of things we wanted to experience in Australia:
- See a real live koala
- Taste Vegemite
- Eat something from a real Australian barbie
Sarah and Kieran being gracious hosts were totally up for the challenge. In pursuit of the first item, we set off on a short walk down the hill from their home to Belair National Park to seek koalas. It didn’t take long to find one napping in the afternoon sun in a eucalyptus tree. Koalas are fairly common around here, and sleep an average of 16 hours a day, so catching one awake and looking at you from a tree is nearly impossible. They look cuddly and sweet but handling them is not recommended because the general population carries a highly infectious strain of the STI Chlamydia that can be transmitted through their urine. The general advice is to not stand under one for too long, just to be safe. One other interesting factoid is that they have fingerprints very much like a human. Theoretically you could pin a robbery on a koala if you tried hard enough.
Vegemite is a dark brown spread made from brewer’s yeast and beloved by Australians. We saw jars of it in the store as we came across Australia, but were not brave enough to buy a whole jar just to taste it. Kieran, an Australian, is a big fan of the stuff so he was happy to coach us through the tasting experience while Sarah caught it on video. The most accepted way to eat Vegemite is to toast the bread, spread a thin layer of salted butter on the toast then top that with the Vegemite. Many other recipes include Vegemite as an umami ingredient that deepens the flavor of sauces and stews. I will not be including Vegemite as an ingredient EVER, so you won’t have to worry about that when you come to our house for a meal.
We encountered many Australian Barbies during our time in the camper van but we were uncertain of how to use them. As it turns out, the public barbecues (barbies) are very simple to use: just push a button to start and add your food to the hot plate on top. When you are done, just scrape the grease into the grease trap and that’s it! While we didn’t try the actual Australian Barbie in the park, we did have an actual Australian cook us many delicious meals off his own barbie–so I think that checks off item number three. Thanks Kieran!
Aside from making sure we checked off all the items on our Australia list, Sarah and Kieran were our guides to the many other beautiful things around Adelaide: we had lunch and went wine tasting at Lloyd Brothers Winery in the McLaren Vale region, we spent a delightful afternoon on Sellicks Beach, and celebrated Easter morning with way too much chocolate and apple-picking in the afternoon.
Would we live here? If we can get an Australian to adopt us to make immigration just a little easier: yes! Would we visit again? For sure, especially if we can get some of you to join us!
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