Australia Chapter 3: Thanksgiving Down Under!
Key Takeaways
- The trip to celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia shifted from Christmas due to high flight costs.
- Friends and family prepared a unique Thanksgiving meal, including turkey and blueberry pie, using metric measurements.
- Despite Australia not recognizing Thanksgiving, the family hosted a multicultural celebration with guests from four different countries.
- The experience highlighted the importance of sharing cultures through holidays and sports, making connections across backgrounds.
- Cooking Thanksgiving dinner in Australia requires planning and adapting recipes to metric measurements, as traditional American ingredients may differ in availability.
This trip was originally planned to happen over the Christmas holiday, but during the research phase, as you may recall, flights ended up costing far more than expected. We pivoted and decided that celebrating American Thanksgiving over 9,000 miles from home would be fun. It’s Amanda’s favorite holiday, and celebrating with family on the other side of the planet while cooking using measurements in milliliters sounded exciting. It did not disappoint!
The Prep
In the United States, Thanksgiving is always the fourth Thursday of November. We decided to celebrate on the fourth Friday here, which was closer to Thursday (remember, it’s tomorrow here). That gave us plenty of time to prepare. We had all talked about it months earlier, and my brother and sister-in-law were nice enough to plan the logistics of it all, including ordering a turkey (usually reserved for Christmas here) and inviting a large group of people to celebrate with us. My brother and Amanda spent the majority of Thursday shopping for what they needed and picking up the turkey. He made a blueberry pie, which is a bit foreign here as pies in Australia, similar to the UK, are typically savory, not sweet. Amanda prepared and cooked the turkey, along with stuffing and gravy. My sister-in-law made mashed potatoes and a brownie dessert (both excellent). What did I do, you may be thinking? Oh, I did all the rest!… That is a lie. I bought the wine and spent the afternoon riding my brother’s bike to a nearby bar and casino and then Your Mates Brewery, despite it being well into the low to mid 30s (85-95 Fahrenheit). My contribution was staying out of the way, and I did it well.
Friday
Thanksgiving morning was upon us quickly. It was a relaxing one though. We (they) had done a lot of prep the day before, and just some final touches on things were all that was left. Amanda put in the turkey, and my brother and I made one last run to the store. Remember, unlike the US, Thanksgiving wasn’t a holiday. Stores are open and people work. Back home, people would start showing up around noon, football would be on, and apps would be served. Here was different. While it still felt like a holiday to us because family was around and we were all off, people started showing up around 5:30 PM. Friends and their family, along with some friends of friends, including one American who was here studying. In all, we had four cultures represented: Australia, the United States, Fiji, and South Africa. It was a great gathering. All of the guests were very thankful to be included in a special occasion, and we (the hosts) were very thankful they were willing to participate and celebrate with us. We all went around the room saying what we were thankful for, which sounds cheesy and a bit awkward, but it wasn’t. Stories were shared and laughs were had. Again, that sounds cliché, but it’s the best way to describe the night.
My Thoughts
Amanda and I have traveled a lot and spent holidays outside of the US. This, however, was the first Thanksgiving away from home. It is also the first holiday away from home where the country we are in does not celebrate it. For example, we spent Christmas in Mexico one year where it is also a major holiday. It allowed us, though, to bring a bit of our culture somewhere else, which is a rarity for the way we travel. We did learn a lot too. The stories shared at dinner and conversations around appetizers were meaningful, funny, and educational. I have learned that two things bring people together regardless of location or background: sports and holidays. If you take the time to learn about someone’s sport or team and participate in the cheering, you are often going to be invited into their real world. The same goes for holidays. If you have a mutual holiday you celebrate, you’re already there. If not, learn theirs and celebrate along. I was honored to be on both the teaching and listening side this time!
No, Australians do not celebrate Thanksgiving as it is an American holiday. In Australia, the fourth Thursday of November is a regular work day with stores open and normal business operations. However, American expats and visitors often celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia by hosting dinners with Australian friends and family, creating opportunities for cultural exchange and sharing American traditions.
Yes, you can celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia, though it requires advance planning since it’s not a recognized holiday there. You’ll need to order a turkey ahead of time (turkeys are typically reserved for Christmas in Australia), purchase ingredients from regular grocery stores, and plan your celebration around work schedules since the fourth Thursday of November is a normal business day. Many American expats successfully host Thanksgiving dinners in Australia by inviting local friends to participate in the tradition.
In Australia, you can buy a turkey for Thanksgiving by pre-ordering from butchers or supermarkets, though advance notice is essential since turkeys are primarily stocked for Christmas rather than November. Unlike in the United States where Thanksgiving turkeys are widely available in late November, Australian stores require special orders for whole turkeys outside the Christmas season. Contact local butchers or major supermarket chains at least one to two weeks in advance of your Thanksgiving celebration.
Celebrating American holidays abroad, especially in countries that don’t observe them, offers a unique opportunity to share your culture while learning about others. When hosting Thanksgiving in Brisbane, Australia, we brought together friends from four countries (Australia, United States, Fiji, and South Africa) for a multicultural celebration. The experience taught us that holidays and cultural traditions create meaningful connections across backgrounds, allowing you to be both teacher and student as you share your traditions while learning about theirs.
Cooking a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner in Australia requires converting recipes from US measurements (cups, ounces, Fahrenheit) to metric measurements (milliliters, grams, Celsius). Most modern recipe websites offer metric conversions, or you can use online conversion tools. Australian ovens display temperatures in Celsius, so remember that 350°F equals approximately 175°C. The biggest challenge is finding traditional American ingredients, though most Thanksgiving staples like potatoes, vegetables, and spices are readily available in Australian supermarkets.
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