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.