Jour 10 Le départ

Day 10: The morning was spent with homestay families who took students back to Collège de Plum ready for departure at midday. After a few teary farewells the coach pulled away for Tontouta Aiport. We filled in our time at the airport spending our last few Pacific Francs and finally took off for Australia at 4.30pm. The views of the the islands were breathtaking and we could easily see the huge UNESCO listed barrier reef beneath us. We finally touched down onto Australian soil at 18.05 and after a few quick checks of our gifts at customs we hopped onto the minibus - tired, happy and with plenty of stories to share.

Jour 9 C'est le week-end!

Day 9 - Today students spent their day with homestay families. There were lots of exciting things planned including relaxing on the beach, boat trips, nature parks, camping, shopping, music festivals, high ropes and horse riding. We're looking forward to hearing about everyone's adventures tomorrow. Mme Richardson and Mr Ebneter spent the day at Anse Vata beach. Just a short hop across the bay in a water taxi and we arrived at the Ile aux Canards (Duck Island). Not a duck to be seen but plenty of fish and coral. Back on dry land we decided that we had better try out the Quick just for future reference. We are spending the evening with our host family and getting ready for our departure tomorrow. Hopefully we will manage to get everything in our suitcases!

Jour 8 Dernière journée au collège

Day 8 - Today was our last day of school at College de Plum in Mont Dore. Our students were excited about getting together with their fellow Grammar travellers and seeing some of their new school friends for the last time. While the students seems refreshed and excited, Georgie and myself are a litte exhausted and ready for some R and R!!!!!. Our students accompanied their billets to their usual classroom lessons in the morning before a lunch of hot chips, a meat pattie and a cornetto ice cream.
Before our meal had time to settle, we were ushered off to the sports complex for the international sporting rematch where again national pride was at stake.
Basketball was the chosen sport today but little did they realise the ability of Jackson Carter, Steph Bragg, and Alex Knesl. After a slow start the Grammar students had to come from behind to win another close but hard fought game. A highlight of the game was a 3 point shot to seal the win from the ever reliable Steph.
The rest of the afternoon was taken up with Madame Richardson assisting students in the school library to write thank you notes, showing them the Blog and all the photographs taken so far.
As their host students finished school today (any where from 2pm -4pm) our students said goodbye to College de Plum for the final time and welcomed the weekend where they would be spending time with their New Caledonian families. We are looking forward to hearing about the students actitivies and sightseeing over their last couple of days in New Caledonia.

Jour 7 Baie des Citrons

Meeting the students at 7.00 am again before their first class it was pleasing to find all well and any homesickness seeming to to have dissipated as students feel more at ease in their homestays. The day started off a little overcast but by midmorning we were once again blessed with glorious blue skies.Today we experienced the public transport system of New Caledonia as we travelled from Mont Dore to Noumea and finally arriving at Baie des Citrons.

The tourists surprised Mme Richardson with a giant birthday sundae while we were enjoying coffee on the esplanade. Being quite large, all the students helped Mme R to demolish the sundae after an Australian rendition of " Happy Birthday" . Waffles, ice cream and some more souvenir shopping was next on the list before swimming in the beautiful crystal clear water of the Bay of Lemons.

Another stop at a supermarket for some supplies of lollies and chips before doing the bus shuffle back to Mont Dore and College de Plum just in time for the end of classes at 4.00pm. It was nice to have a relaxing day together before our last day of school tomorrow.

Jour 6 C'est le mercredi!

Day 6: After another night with homestay families, we all met up briefly this morning before going off to lessons. It is probably fair to say that the learning and teaching style is a little different to what we are used to! I went along to an English lesson with Mr Lasserre (my host) about Ned Kelly and Jackson, Tahlia, Tenniele Lilly and Chandler were also there. It was interesting to see how the Year 9 students from College de Plum were taught English and Tahlia and Chandler did a good job of helping them understand some of the trickier vocab. On Wednesday afternoons there aren't any lessons although some students stayed behind after lunch to go to different clubs. It will be interesting tomorrow to catch up and see what everyone got up to for the afternoon. A bientot!

Jour 5 Collège de Plum et Plage de Carcassonne

Day 5 Another stunning day in the south pacific greeted us at the midway point of our French exchange. Our students met at the front gate of Collège de Plum at 7am in preparation for a 7.15 start to the school day. They briefly and eagerly exchanged stories and experiences of the first night with their host families before they were ushered off to class with their host students. At 11.15, students break for lunch and proceeded to the dining hall where they filed through for a sit down meal again. Lunch is provided to all students and the teachers each day.

As a side note, the teachers are paid very well in New Caledonia , teaching 38 weeks of the year , with 18hrs contact time each week, no pastoral care duty, no playground duty and no assemblies or administration duties. Teachers are free to arrive as their lesson starts and leave as soon as they are finished.

After lunch our students were invited to a Physical Educational lesson where they were challenged to an international game of "Ultimate Frisbee" where our students were asked to wear the Harlequin shirt with pride and represent their School, State and Country with passion (as seen in the photo with Mr Ebneter!). When the final whistle blew our students were victorious with students of Collège De Plum demanding a rematch. Basketball is scheduled for Friday!

After the game, we headed to beach at Plage Carcassonne which is walking distance from the school where the students had a chance to wind down and relax for the afternoon. We headed back to school in time for students to be collected by their billets and taken home for their second night of their home stay. More installments tommorrow. Stay tuned.

Jour 4: Au Collège de Plum

Day 4 Today we travelled to the rural township of Mont Dore which was a 45 minute bus trip south of Nouméa.

Collège de Plum is where our students met their host billets for the first time and experienced total immersion in to the French culture. Students were nervous and excited as their billeting families have a varying range of english speaking abilities.

The school has 600 students enrolled and caters for students from grade 6-9 with a good mix of Kanak and European backgrounds and many students coming from the nearby French military base.

Students were welcomed by the Princial and Senior staff before joining classes with their host billets. Lunch experience at Collège de Plum was very novel for our students as the school provided lunch in the school canteen which is very different from lunch time at Grammar as you can see by the attached pictures.

At the end of a long tiring day our students headed home to their host families and we are looking forward to sharing some stories on Tuesday afternoon.

Jour 3 Le phare Amedee

Day 3 - Perfect weather greeted us again for day 3 in our South Pacific paradise. Today we had the opportunity to experience the outer reef of New Caledonia and it's famous lighthouse . After 45 min boat ride to the Amedee Lighthouse with a quick bit of whale watching, we arrived at Amedee Lighthouse that guides ships around the world's largest lagoon and the 2nd biggest barrier reef in the world. Today we had the opportunity to swim, ride in a glass bottom boat, see a Polynesian floorshow that included dance singing and sarong tiring and staying out of the road of the land based sea snakes (also known as snea snakes).

We arrived home at around 5.00pm and had a great dinner at our hotel . We are off early to bed in prepartion for our home stays that start tommorrow.

Jour 2: Je fais du shopping!

Day 2 of our New Caledonia experience started with a less hectic start than the previous day with a leisurely breakfast. This was followed by a scenic walk along the esplanade to the local produce and craft markets. While the walk was a little longer than expected it followed the spectacular shoreline as we passed people engaged in water sports (out rigging, windsurfing swimming, sailing etc) marinas, hundreds of boats and some stunning houses overlooking the harbour.

After spending some time at the markets trying to find some bargains we again trudged through which could be described as the lower socio economic end of town. A real eye opener. We ended up city centre and la Place de Cocotiers where we had the opportunity to have lunch in a real french Cafe and do a little shopping in Noumea.

The students met a few interesting locals and bought some of the local artifacts to stuff into their suitcases on the way home.

A bus trip home saved our weary feet but then it was off the beach for a swim. A floating pontoon in the bay soon turned out to be place to be as the photos show.

Following a quick freshen up we then caught a tourist train (like a yellow nut mobile) around the city's tourist spots with a photo opportunity around each corner

Dinner at the restaurant was again great, followed by some necessary education experiences before the student were sent to bed and tucked in tightly.

Jour 1: Centre Culturel Tjibaou

After a pretty late arrival (2am!) we finally got settled into rooms for a few hours sleep before being up for breakfast at 7am. Today we visited the Tjiabaou Cultural Centre to find out more about the Kanak culture, It was a VERY VERY IMPORTANT day!!! The day included making bogna the traditional meal as well as the bowls to serve it on. We came back to the hotel in time for dinner and were suprised by a some special evening entertainment.

OH MY GOD!!!! SOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!