2025-2026 Perth Study Tour: Day 3

Day 3 - School Visit and King’s Park

Our students bounced out of bed, looking forward to seeing their Aussie friends again at Providence Christian School. 

Breakfast time at our hotel gave us a great chance to meet up and discuss the day ahead with our different Grandmont friends. We could exchange memories and stories with members of other groups. For breakfast we could choose many things such as bacon, sausages, hash browns, toast, fruit and cereal. There was also different drinks such as fruit juice, water and hot chocolate. There was even many yummy cakes to try. 

As we came outside, we saw that the weather was wet. In fact everyone in Western Australia had been watching the news and weather websites closely to watch the approach of a cyclone! A cyclone is what they call a typhoon in Australia. But they are the same thing. This cyclone was rare as it was coming down the west coast of Australia and the weather bureau was predicting that it would arrive in Perth! Which hasn’t happened in 91 years. 

But we are from Hong Kong and we know that typhoons/cyclones can be unpredictable. They can become stronger or weaker. We hope that it will become weaker and go out to sea. Not just so our tour can continue unaffected but so the people of Western Australia are safe. The cyclone they called “Cyclone Narelle” was so far away today that it only made the weather a bit rainy and windy. 

So you think it is strange that there is a cyclone at this time of year? Remember that in Australia, the seasons are opposite. So it is autumn now. 

We arrived at Providence Christian College to a warm welcome by their students and teachers. They remembered many of our names and cheered and called out to us. It was a joyful reunion. 

Students rejoined their Australian classes and continued to study art or computer science or STEM or even doing group projects with Australian students. This was a great time to get to know them and chat. 

Our students enjoyed “morning tea” with their classes (Which is what Australians call first recess. They also call it “Little Lunch”). Our Grandmont teachers got to meet the staff and teachers of Providence Christian College many times. They were very welcoming and interested in Hong Kong and discussing the differences and similarities of our teaching styles and philosophies. We enjoyed a special “Harmony Day” morning tea which celebrates the cultural diversity of their school. The teachers each brought some special food or snack from their culture to share. There were snacks from Scotland, Great Britain, India, China, South Korea, South Africa and many more. There were snacks from Australia too such as vegemite sandwiches, Tim-Tam chocolate biscuits and hot-cross buns. Hot-cross buns are a sweet bun with raisins and spice. It has a cross on it because it is always eaten at Easter time. These are very popular in Australia and come in many flavours these days. Similar to how our mooncakes now come in many new flavours. 

It was the perfect time to visit the school because they were celebrating their multi-culture. It was amazing to see so many children who may be born overseas or whose parents came to Australia to live. Because of this the classrooms are full of kids who can speak different languages or have cultures from countries and places including South Korea, Africa, India, Indonesia, Japan, China and many more. It was amazing and surprising. We loved it. 

The families of the Australian children were so welcoming as well. A group of mothers who can speak Cantonese came to visit and spoke to our teachers and we even got to meet their children later in the day when it was time to go home. 

Before we left, there was an assembly to say goodbye. They gave everyone a special certificate which had a lovely photo of their school campus. Two of our students were very brave and made us all very proud. Agnes and Bonnie got up and sang a song in front of everyone! They made a good choice and sung “Count on Me”. It was meaningful and it was very touching. Many student could sing along. They also both shared some sincere words of gratitude to our hosts at Providence Christian College. It was a real highlight of our trip. 

Saying goodbye was emotional. We had only known our new friends for two days but it felt like longer. We saw lots of high-fives, handshakes, group hugs and gift exchanges happen around us. Our new friends were so kind-hearted and generous. 

We traveled in our bus to King’s Park. King’s Park is many things. Most of all it is a beautiful memorial garden to remember those who died in wars. Our tour guide told us a lot about the different trees including one called the “Boab”. This tree is also known as the “upside down tree”. It looks like it is from another planet! The most amazing thing about King’s Park was the amazing view of the Perth skyline and city buildings. The park is high so we could overlook the city and the Swan River. We had to fight the wind and rain with our umbrellas but it eased enough for us to take some lovely group photos. 

Next it was time for dinner. And we travelled to Aussie Ribs restaurant where we ate a delicious steak dinner with chips and cola. Mr Newman was excited to see football being played on the big TVs. Which is a very popular thing to watch in Australia. In Australia they call football “footy”. But there are four popular types of football. In Perth they love AFL which is Aussie Rules football. We played AFL when we visited Providence Christian College during PE lessons. They also showed NRL on the screen which is also called Rugby League. Mr Newman could watch two teams from his home city, Brisbane. Sport is a very important part of Australian culture. 

Finally, when we returned to our hotel we were told that we can sleep-in the next day. Our Grandmonteers were happy to rest and spend some more relaxed time with each other. 

We are very proud of our students for showing such maturity and good spirits during our trip. It makes our hearts soar.