Ambassador Team Building in the Bay of Islands

Our Amazing Race Team Building event finally took place last week including visits to many of Paihia’s iconic locations such as the flagstaff lookout with views to Waitangi and Russell flagstaffs, the seascape mural by Erika Pearce, Horotutu Park, Paihia Wharf and Williams House.

Getting all our student ambassadors together in Covid times isn’t easy and between lockdowns and bad weather, this was our third attempt at running this team building event in the stunning Bay of Islands.

Ambassadors were from Whangarei Boys High, Whangarei Girls’ High School, Huanui College, Kerikeri High School and Springbank School and 11 different countries. As it was school holidays, many students brought along their host siblings to join in the festivities, adding another cool layer to the event.

Comments from students & host family

“Good times and crazy friends = amazing memories”

“Simone enjoyed the experience and was delighted her team came in second”

“The amazing race was a great day out, thank you”

“Thank you so much for inviting George on the Amazing Race, he had a great day and would definitely go again. George and Guide are over the moon with their Flying Kiwi Para Sail prize”

It was fantastic seeing the teams of four work together and become friends with students from different schools many of whom they hadn’t met before. We were hosted at the awesome QRC Halls of Residence, complete with pool table, table tennis and swimming pool and assisted by QRC students during the race too. As well as fact finding on their race around Paihia, students had to build a creative Kiwiana sand sculpture and use $5 to buy and put together a vegetable animal with toothpicks.

The winning team, consisting of Cream, Malindi, Guide and George received 4 vouchers for a Flying Kiwi Parasail Adventure in Paihia (watch this space).

We finished the day with a ferry ride to Russell for some Kapiti ice-creams from Delish Coffee & Ice Cream and some downtime to hang out on the beach and waterfront with new and old friends.