{"id":48574,"date":"2016-08-19T06:00:43","date_gmt":"2016-08-19T10:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/simplehomeschl.wpengine.com\/?p=48574"},"modified":"2026-01-28T16:03:40","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T21:03:40","slug":"australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/simplehomeschool.net\/australia\/","title":{"rendered":"Growing up in Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Growing<\/a><\/p>\n

D<\/span>angerous animals, fun expressions and more make up this family’s home – Australia!<\/p>\n

The Georges are a homeschooling family of 7 that lives in a caravan and spends most of their time in\u00a0Far North Queensland<\/strong>, although they are nomads. In fact, many people in their home country are!<\/p>\n

Kelly shares that and many other fascinating facts about Australia\u00a0with us today.\u00a0Check out her blog\u00a0Fearless Homeschool<\/a> for more inspiration from down under!<\/strong>
\n\"Growing<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Tell us a little bit about your family.<\/h4>\n

Hi! My name\u2019s Kelly, and I\u2019m married to Daniel. We have five children. Gabrielle is 12, Holli and Asha are identical twins and are 11, Rex is 10, and Forrest is 7. <\/span><\/p>\n

Daniel is studying nursing, I\u2019m studying nursing and running a website, and the kids are all homeschooled and studying the things they\u2019re most interested in.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tell us a little bit about where\u00a0you live and how long you’ve lived\u00a0there.<\/h4>\n

Right now we\u2019re living in a caravan!<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n

This is not uncommon in Australia, especially for people who have retired – we call them grey nomads. We call ourselves rainbow nomads, as we\u2019re not grey yet, and our caravan is very colourful. <\/span><\/p>\n

We spend most of our time in Far North Queensland as Daniel is studying here. It\u2019s a beautiful place-it\u2019s the only place in the world where two World Heritage areas meet (Great Barrier Reef and Daintree Rainforest). <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s crystal clear creeks surrounded by lush rainforest, sugar cane and banana farms, and beautiful beaches. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"kelly<\/a><\/p>\n

What do you think is unique and special about living where you do?<\/h4>\n

We have a very low population density. Australia averages 3 people per square kilometre, while the United States averages 35. <\/span><\/p>\n

Most Aussies live on the east coast. That combined with our climate means that we can spend a lot of time in nature (we call it \u2018out bush\u2019). There are places you can camp and not be able to hear or see another person. It\u2019s something that many people do regularly-the Indigenous Australians call it \u2018going walkabout.’<\/span><\/p>\n

\"kellycaravan\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We\u2019re also very multicultural.<\/strong> Just under a quarter of Australians were born overseas, and 43% have at least one parent that was born overseas. <\/span><\/p>\n

Growing up, I had friends who were Croatian, Vietnamese, Greek, Persian, Sri Lankan and Chinese. It was very normal to go over to a friend\u2019s house and their parents not speak English very well, and to get served unidentifiable but absolutely delicious food!<\/span><\/p>\n

Lastly, we have very unique animals. All of our mammals are marsupials, which means they all have pouches.<\/strong> The platypus and echidna are mammals that lay eggs – and the platypus is venomous too! <\/span><\/p>\n

When Captain John Hunter sent a platypus pelt and sketches back to England in 1798 they thought he\u2019d sewn different parts of animals together to trick them-they couldn\u2019t believe such a thing existed!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"kellyplatypus\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo by Matt Chan<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

We have an awful lot of dangerous animals too – we have 21 of the top 25 venomous snakes (including the inland taipan, the most poisonous snake in the world), the most poisonous jellyfish, crocodiles, sharks, bird eating spiders\u00a0…\u00a0but it\u2019s actually really safe here, promise!<\/span><\/p>\n

What languages are spoken there? If it\u2019s different from English, can you help us learn a few common phrases?<\/h4>\n

English is the only official language, and most Australians aren\u2019t bilingual unless they\u2019re immigrants or the family of immigrants. <\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s even a joke about it:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

What do you call someone who knows three languages? Trilingual.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

What do you call someone who knows two languages? Bilingual.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

What do you call someone who only knows one language? Australian.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

We do have our own special version of English though – here are some funny expressions you may hear in Australia.<\/span><\/p>\n