Our First Time on a Plane -- by Wilson Yip and Anson Chu

(From the left) Dickson, Anson Chu & Wilson Yip

Before we joined the Australian English Learning Programme, we asked our classmates if they had ridden on an airplane before and what the feelings were. The question may sound funny, yet we were the only ones in our class who had never been on a plane before.

We were very excited when we got to the Chep Lap Kok International Airport. We bid farewell to our parents and boarded the plane with the group and our teachers. It was our first time to ride on a plane and we were nervous when the plane took off. On the plane, there were a lot of passengers coming from different countries. There were Australians, Chineses and Africans. We settled on our seat and put our backpacks under the chair in front of us. On the plane, we met an Australian lady who sat next to us. She taught us how to choose the programmes on the mini-television and showed us how to pick the meals. She told us that she is a science teacher and teaches science in a boys’ high school.

At 6am on 12 July, the sun rose and we used our cameras to take the photos of the rising sun. The sunrise was so beautiful and both of us were amazed by the beauty of the nature.

Not long after, we arrived at the Sydney International Airport. We needed to transit to get to Cairns. But the domestic flight was 6 hours away so we gathered at the domestic terminal and took a rest there. After a short break, we went to get some snacks and drinks. In the bakery, we told the staff that we wanted to buy a biscuit but she said she could give us the biscuit for free. We thought that the Australians were very nice and we were very impressed.

After another 3 hours of flight, we arrived at the Cairns airport. It did not take us long to meet our homestay family as they had arrived on time. Our host dad is a lawyer and our host mom is an office clerk. The house is not far from the airport and we could get home in twenty minutes by car. The house is much bigger than our home in Hong Kong and the family there is very nice. Our host parents made us dinner and the food was delicious.

We hope we will enjoy this journey ad learn more about English in Cairns. This is our first time going to other countries and we will do our best to experience the Australian culture throughout the trip.

by Wilson Yip and Anson Chu