Presentation Video

Kia ora all,

Here is the video of the team's presentation on Saturday. I will post up the actual outline when I have an official digital copy of it but the general outline of it was along the lines of:

In an abandoned library, four classic books come to life. They don't know how they got there and they want to be part of the real world. A saviour arrives and must give each book a quest to complete to see if they are worthy of living in the real world.

Teams needed to show the characteristics of the books in their presentations.

Enjoy!

The team in action at Darwin

Day 3 - The Main Event

7:30am - bags are packed and they’re ready to go! An early checkout and straight onto the bus towards Charles Darwin University. The general consensus from the students was that they were ready for the day and no nerves were tugging yet.

Rach and I had to leave the kids as they were taken away to their preparation room at 8:30am. We eagerly anticipated their reaction when they were released and hoped that their spontaneous challenge was everything they hoped for. It was 12:20pm before we saw them again.

We saw smiles on their faces and they said they felt confident in what had been accomplished. As their facilitators, we had no idea what their challenge had been and they were forbidden to discuss this until after their presentation. So after lunch in the shade we filed back into the presentation hall and wished them all luck. Raroa was the final team to present after 7 other schools from around Australia. As they moved onto stage we received some confident thumbs-ups and some nervous smiles and we begun to be amazed at the costumes they had created during their prep time.

We will post a video of their performance but it is fair to say that the team did an amazing, funny and creative performance. They really made us proud and we could imagine Lynne their with a beaming smile and thunderous applause.

When the presentations were complete we were bussed to Nakara Primary School for dinner. Our team earned their food with a basketball game against one of the Northern Territory teams. There was music for all ages, fortnite moves galore and lots of celebration from all the teams which was awesome to be a part of. It built up the festivities and excitement before the award ceremony and closing of the tournament - but we’ll leave that all of that for the next post.

It’s 10pm and the bus is about to pick us up for the start of our journey home. Bring on the 1am flight to Melbourne!

Day 2 - Ceremony, Crocs and Collaboration.

Day two was all about the first taste of the ToM international competition for everybody. We met in the hotel lobby with hoards of other teams from all of the Aussie states, Hong Kong and Thailand, often hearing “OMG they’re from New Zealand” from other excited teams.  Students quickly started receiving requests to swap tournament badges - something they would receive frequently throughout the day. Before the tournament officially begun our students had swapped all of their badges and were proudly displaying badges from other locations.

A quick bus ride took us to the Darwin convention centre for the Opening Ceremony where teams were first sorted into their disciplines. A quick welcome was made outside before all participants took part in a ‘Smoking Ceremony’ in which they walked through clouds of smoke to wash away negative energies. Inside the convention centre the 500 students and their facilitators were welcomed again, this time in traditional aboriginal style and the ceremony got started.  The ceremony surrounded the different seasons present in Darwin and how these are characterised throughout the year. We are currently experiencing the ‘Build Up’ season, characterised by extreme humidity and high temperatures until the rainy season in November. Each of the 7 seasons was explained through audience participation (the kids would love to perform for you - Rachel too), dance and music performances by local schools and speeches. It was an interesting, creative and educational opening ceremony.

Morning tea was followed by the first official activity where our students took part in the ‘Thinking Carnival’ - a thinking session with Lee Watanabe-Crockett. This session surrounded problem solving and ideas the teams would need to embody to be successful in their lockdown challenge. They brainstormed ideas, collaborated with other teams and were given lots of great information from Lee. Lee’s ideas linked really well to the Design Thinking Process and Wabisabi learning which the kids could relate to from their work at school.

The first session lead to a quick lunch then another bus trip, this time to Crocosaurus Cove! This was an awesome experience with HUGE crocs seen up close and lots of reptiles too. The kids were able to hold baby crocs and an albino carpet python. There was plenty of excitement around and a feeding show which showed the power behind a crocodile bite. Luckily the crocs that some of the kids fed were much smaller. The gift shop provided the final excitement for the kids at Crocodile Cove and this was the end of the official ToM activities for the day - good timing as we were beginning to see some tired children.

It was time to relax and unwind d so it was back to the lagoon to swim and play. I think the kids had spent too much time watching crocodiles though as they spent a good amount of time submerged in the water stalking their teachers. At 6pm we left the water and got some dinner before heading back to the hotel to get ready for the next day. The kids were keen for bed as they knew they had a big day ahead of them. It will be an early start and a long day but the team is ready for their big challenge.

Day 1 - Sunhine, Swimming and Sweat.

What a great first day! The kids were up and about well before the 9am meeting time and were rearing to get out and about. We started off with some breakfast sandwiches then burst out into the wall of humidity and headed down to the Darwin waterfront. The kids were quite thrilled when 15m our the door they found a lizard - so obviously many photos ensued.

Our first major stop was the WW2 Oil Storage Tunnels - 170m tunnels beneath the city used during the Darwin bombings. A great piece of art created a 3m tall man using metal from old bomb and ships. From here we strolled to the man made lagoon (free from jellyfish, sharks and crocs!) where the kids spent a fair amount of time swimming around, playing games and burying people.

Lunch followed at a local bakery with a bit of down-time back at the hotel to revitalise the energy levels. After ice cream in the shade (Rachel picking the Goth Coconut, black ice cream), the highlight of the day was then the 90 minutes spent on the inflatable water park. Slides, a rodeo ball and jumps from high ledges kept everyone very entertained and some even conquered their fears with the heights. The kids had heaps of fun and afterwards we could see the energy levels start to dwindle as it was around 9pm NZ time when they got out of the water.

We found a delicious place for a pizza dinner and then it was back to the hotel to plan the following day and unwind. The kids even opted for a documentary about animals rather than The Bachelorette. It was an awesome and relaxing first day where the kids could recharge and be ready for their tournament.

We’re meeting at 7:35am on day two to catch a bus to the opening ceremony then off to start activities for part one of the ToM tournament - Crocosaurus Cove, here we come.

Arrived and Rested!

Kia Ora team!
Thursday morning and the team is still running on pure excitement! Everyone did well on the flights and all the kids even got some sleep on the second leg! Slightly dazed and exhausted when we arrived in Darwin last night but excitement soon showed again when we arrived at the hotel around 1:40am.

This morning everyone is finding their ToM goodie bags and getting prepped for some adventures in the 34 degree weather!

No doubt they will be looking forward to the wave pool later today!