Medal Tally - Best ever!

Just a quick note to let you know how proud I am of the team. The boys have done extremely well in the competitions.

Connor - Silver
Andy - Silver
Nat - Bronze
Callum - Certificate

We are just off to the city for a few hours and when we get back with update you with footage of the medal ceremony

Anna"very proud" Wilson

Connor's first post - Geo Park and Taipei 101

Yesterday we did a lot of sightseeing, we went to Yehliu Geopark in the morning and then Taipei 101 in the afternoon. Sadly on this of all days iI forgot my camera but the others have taken pictures and added them up here.

The geopark was really cool; we had to name a new rock formation and reach the lighthouse. We used GPS to prove we had been to the sites and we named our rocks 'grandfather's teeth'. We had lunch at a local restaurant and had sandwiches and muffins along with a million other random drinks and some nice asian dishes.

Taipei 101 wasd quite a distance away but well worth the trip. It definitely lived up to all the hype, with views of all of Taipei and great architecture both inside and out. In the evening we had the second part of the cultural presentations, that was fun and we spent a while hanging out with the other teams. Iwent to bed the earliest at about 3 am, some people were still up at 6.30.

Not very long left now which is a shame but we have all had a great time.

Watch the video below and see Lex eat a bug! The boys dared him $100 Taiwanese Dollars about $4 NZ

Last test done, time to relax

Callum blogging it up here, this morning we did the final marked part of the trip, the multimedia test. We were assigned a computer to work through the questions. All the native english speakers finished pretty fast, i dont think the others had the joy of quick understanding. After picking A B C or D for 40 questions we were done. That means an end to the competition and time to really enjoy Taiwan.

Day Trip to Central Taiwan - EQ Museum

Sunday: We started the day on the bus at 7am as we had a busy day ahead. We were treated to a tasty breakfast box - sushi, sandwich, banana, roll and juice. We travelled for 3 hours to the an Earthquake museum. This was an amazing place as it was build in a former school where a 7.3 earthquake had hit at about 1am on the 9th of Sept 1994. Over 2,400 people were injured. We all took some great photos and saw a 3D show about the earthquake.

Callum and I were impressed by the signage there - some was in Maori!

Wow wow wow - we have been busy

We have just arrived back from the center of Taipei and obviously have a few things to update you on. I will get the boys on to this when they have free time in the morning after they have their last test - Multimedia :)

Video of Ka Mate by the team

Cultural Performance

Last night we were entertained by 13 other countries. Callum was a contestant with Croatia's tie tying competition and the boys all participated in some cultural dances and quizes.

It was our chance to shine too and the boys did an excellent job performing Ka Mate and explaning the meanings behind the dance. Thanks to Haydon Huriwai who came and spent time with the kids teaching them.