School of the Air-Worlds largest classroom

   Another big attraction we went to while we were in Alice Springs was "The School of the Air". I know it sounds to you like a boring school, I had the same intention. But this school is for the Aboriginal children in each Australian state (One for each state except Tasmania), and it's just amazing. I'll tell you more about it.
   It started in 1951, and still going today. It is a short wave radio station that gives lessons to children all over each state. Since the Aboriginals have their own way of living, they can't really send their children for 6-7 hours of school every day! So, to get educated, this radio station has lessons playing all day long, for the Aboriginal kids. The kids only need one hour a day, and have direct contact with the teachers via modern technologies.
   We went on our 7th day in Alice Springs, was only a 10 minute drive, and it was pretty cool. We had our tour at 1:30, and we were there 'till 2:30. The tour was 30 minutes but we stayed for another half hour, to just explore ourselves.
   We got to see where they talk to the students and got to see part of a lesson with a group of 6 students on the other line.
  
That was the last of what we did in Australia :(. We were really sad to leave, and we went to the school the last day and the next day was our flight to the Philippines, and Japan. The next day was Vancouver. And the day after was our flight back to Quebec. Our flight back was only 3 days that time, kind of rushed. I wanted to stay FOREVER...:)

The School's Logo

See the computers? Those are used like Skype, so the teachers have contact with the students and can actually see them.

Last Stop, Alice Springs!

   After our LONG train ride to Alice Springs(2 1/2 days!), we started to wonder why we didn't go from Port D, to Alice Springs then Sydney, Alice Springs is closer to Port Douglas. Well, you know what they say, "Live and Learn"!
   Continuing our tradition, we got to the Double-Tree Hilton hotel (yes, I know, AGAIN), and ran to the pool. But the staff through out the hotel was extremely  nice, the pool was okay (looks bigger online), we got another free cookie :), we were lucky to get a good view, but the breakfast was horrible. I know I am a bit picky with my food, but even my mom and Isa agree- it was gross.
   We had the cutest little cube car! It was a kind of rusty blue color, and it was adorable! We had it for the whole stay while at Alice Springs/an awesome place that I won't tell you until down below.
   As for restaurants, OH MY GOD, Sporties was to die for! Yeah, it's no sea food, it's like a burger place, but it was so good! I had the 'chicken Admado' with prawns. Even my mom's smoked salmon sandwich/burger thing and Isabelle's pasta was amazing. After we tasted each other's meals, we just shared it all because we couldn't get enough! If you are in Alice Springs, GO TO SPORTIES!!!
   Our main activity, while our stay at Alice Springs, was going to Uluru (Ayers Rock... I'm trying to call it that now)!! We actually stayed at the little resort they have there, for 3 nights (After a long drive, you kinda want it to be a longer stay!) And we saw the beautiful color changes at sunrise and sunset. And also some cultural tours, a helicopter ride over it (it was AWESOME!), some sort of 3 wheeled motor cycle riding, and a really messed up dinner (It was some romance thing... it was AWKWARD!). You might just think of Uluru as a big random rock in the middle of nowhere, but it's history, and it's beauty is more than you can believe. It turns out that Aborigines have lived by Uluru for over 10 000 years! And that the name has been officially changed from Ayers Rock to Uluru. Our tour guide was extremely nice, and we were lucky because no one else showed up for tours at the same time as us, so we had the tour all to ourselves. Except for the cultural tour, there was another group of people who joined us.

Here is a pic I took from the helicopter tour! Awesomeness!

Ayers rock at late sunrise from a distance

Sporties!

Our hotel from the "Pool's View"

This is where Alice Springs is, you can see Ayers Rock.

   

Sydney!

   The second city we visited was Sydney. Come on, you can`t just go to  Australia and NOT go to Sydney!
   It was hard to leave behind the beauty of Port Douglas, but while we were on our train to Sydney, we just couldn't wait to get off and explore! But the train ride was almost 4 days! Hope we don't regret it. We arrived at The Sebel Manly Beach (our hotel) around lunch, so we ate and then went to the pool. The pool was pretty nice, the rooms were big, the beds were comfortable, but there was that special something that was missing to make it feel like home. Well, we had  a beach right under us, you could just literally just jump off our balcony onto the sand, but don`t... it`s kinda far down.
   The rooms did not have WiFi, which sounds terrible, but actually turned out great!We were not spending our time texting our friends or whatever, we were enjoying ourselves. And if we needed WiFi to search for restaurants and stuff, there was some in the lobby.
  The most amazing thing we did there was shark diving. It does sound scary, but it's very safe. It was in the northern area of Sydney, but I don't remember exactly where... Anyways, we had a 2 1/2 hour stay, which had included the safety instructions, a tour, and half an hour of diving! Isabelle and I went, but my mom didn't want to go, mainly because she doesn't know how to swim. The most extraordinary part of it all was the diving. There were huge sting rays, beautiful sea turtles, and Gray nurse sharks. There were other fish and stuff but that was the best!
  My favorite restaurant we went good to in Sydney was The Fish House. We shared baby calamari as an entree, and I had fish and chips! It seems that the sea food in Australia is AWESOME so far. 
  As we did in Port Douglas, we rented a small car to travel around in. 

Our hotel from the beach view. The little building on the left is our hotel!

This is what we could see underwater!

Just in case you don't know where Sydney is.

Port Douglas- that means GREAT BARRIER REEF!

  We're here in Australia! We went from Quebec to Vancouver to Japan to the Philippines to Australia. It took five days to get here, but I'm sure it's all worth it.
   The city we visited was Port Douglas (Queensland). We stayed at the DoubleTree Hilton Hotel, it's four stars and it deserves it. When we arrived, we were welcomed with delicious home-made cookies. Our room was on the 7th floor, and compared to other hotels I've been to, it's really nice. The beds are the right size (for once), the bathrooms were really nice (and BIG!), and it was all nicely furnished. 

   Our little tradition that my family does is to right away go to the hotel's pool. The pool turns out to be pretty clean, and there was almost no one there, so we pretty much had it all to ourselves. But the hot tub was disappointing; it wasn't very hot, and the bubble things you turn on didn't even work! But it didn't matter, we are down the road from the beach, and unless it's bad weather (which the forecast said it wouldn't be) we will almost never be here.

   Since we got there around three in the afternoon, we just stayed at the hotel and chill-axed ;D. The breakfast in the morning was pretty good. You got to choose what you wanted, kind of like a buffet, and it was so good! I recommend you stay here.

   While we stayed in Port D., we just HAD to go snorkeling! Where? THE GREAT BARRIER REEF! I never thought I would actually see it, and it's bigger than you think. You are under there and all you can see for miles is coral reefs and fish!!! It was beautiful. (I even took a picture,with my water proof camera, it's posted under.)

   

   As for restaurants in the area, my personal favorite was the Salsa Bar and Grill. We all shared garlic toast, and I had the so called 'Sand Crab Cakes' and it was AMAZING! Well it kinda has to be, the seafood off of the reef is expected to be extraordinary.  

   We rented a small car to take around with us while we are in Port Douglas.

The turtle in the back is actually very far away, it's just HUGE!

My favorite restaurant so far!

Port Douglas is the little red star... If you are wondering.

Our hotel room! It was very sunny when we arrived...

I'm going to Australia!

As it's pretty obvious, I'm going to Australia! I've always wanted to go. They've got beautiful beaches, the Great Barrier Reef, Ayers Rock, and of course the fluffy little KOALAS!!
I'm obviously not going by myself, so I'm bringing my best friend in the world (Isabelle Hurley) and my mom, I promised her that she would come. 
We're going over the Christmas holidays, so it will be summer over there. 
I'm so excited!