Selfie Treasure Hunt

Libby Inwood here talking about the selfie treasure hunt in Vienna.

Teams were Yan Hao and Sarah, Jonty and I. There were twenty different points around the city we were required to take a selfie at. Jonty and i decided it was a good idea to run most of the way so that we could finish the quickest - a great idea when temperatures reached mid thirties.

The hunt took us all around the city from Parliament to the Museum Quarter and finishing off at the roof top of 25 Hotel.

When not able to find the spots on our own we were forced to speak to locals and try and communicate a way to get them to point out the directions.

Jonty and I ended up running in circles, not going in the correct order and having to back track quite a bit. Sarah and Yan Hao finished 16 minutes after us with 13/20, Jonty and I finished with 17/20 making us the winners!!

Visit to the NZ Embassy in Vienna

Hey it's Jonty here! On the morning of our second day in Vienna, we were lucky enough to visit the New Zealand Embassy. Here we meet a New Zealand diplomat and the New Zealand ambassador.

We spent a good couple of hours discussing NZs position in Austria and how they work with UN on issues such as nuclear power and weapons. This unique experience would definetely be a highlight to me for our time in Vienna.

Our time in Vienna

Hi, It's Yan Hao here. Our second day in Vienna was spent on the 'hop on and off bus.' We spent the first half of the day touring the city centre on the red line, seeing the sites and cobbled inner-city streets. Being up on the top of the double decker buses really gave us an elevated perspective on the city. The day was a scorcher and the air flow on the top of the bus was a real treat.

The red bus line circled the central 'area 1' district and we really engaged with the stunning architecture of Vienna. Some highlights of mine included the Stadtpark (city park), Hunderwasser house and Museum Hofburg. This route also crossed the Danube river and we saw the magnificent Danube Tower. Coming back towards the central city, we had decided to switch to the blue bus route and go see Schonbrunn palace, the city's primary tourist attraction. This must of been the most photographed attraction in Vienna, and it wasn't hard to see why. The castle was absolutely massive and the complementary gardens also proved to be a absolute treat. The temperature had truly soared by lunchtime, and several drinking taps gave us some welcome relief from the heat. I had a nice wee shower under one of these taps and after a few pranks on Simon, we made our way our way back to the bus where we hunted for a seat on the crowded upper level of the bus.

The Vienna city tour buses had truly given us a comprehensive summary of all the major tourist sites Vienna has to offer. It had been an absolute stunner of a day and we made our way back to our Airbnb  as very happy tourists.

Pictures from our travel to Vienna

Massages at the airport in Bangkok (above) and the team as we went to board our flight in Auckland to Bangkok 

We made it to Europe

We left our home towns on Friday morning (some earlier than others) and met up at Auckland Airport for our flight to Bangkok. It was great to reunite with the team as we haven't seen each other since the April training camp.

The flight to Bangkok was pretty good as the flight was only 2/3 full so we had a bit of space to spread around the cabin. Some of us were a bit to excited to sleep :) On arrival in Bangkok we headed and had a massage, snack, shop and another massage and raced to get on our plane. 

The flight from Bangkok to Vienna was pretty full and we mostly all slept on this flight. 

We arrived in Vienna at 5am ish and headed to our Air BnB Apartment in town. All feeling pretty good and keen for a shower 

Our poster is ready to go

We are preparing for our departure on the 28th of July and have finished our poster for the presentation happening in Serbia. 

2017 iGeo Team Training Camp

From the 6th to the 9th of April the iGeo Team flew into Wellington for our training camp in Raumati on the Kapiti Coast. It was a chance for the four students - Libby, Sarah, Yan Hao and Jonty to get to know each other a bit better and for them to work on some of their preparation for the camp.

 Over the weekend we worked on our poster, cultural presentation and some team building activities. The students did an awesome job at a mystery dinner challenge creating a three course meal from scratch for the whole team.

 Here are some pictures from our weekend.

Libby, Yan Hao, Jonty and Sarah out and about working on their fieldwork 

Amazing fried rice from the dinner challenge 

Jonty's amazing chocolate brownie 

The Team following the Easter Sandcastle competition on the beach 

On our way home to Wellington to stopped at the top of Paekakariki Hill Rd to check out the amazing view