Groups of year 7, year 8 and year 9 students coped well with an early start, as they boarded buses at school at 6am on Monday morning.  Loyal parents dropped them off, and then stayed to wave as the travellers set off to the airport.  Year 12 had stolen a march on everyone by setting off the night before and therefore having already arrived at their destination - Cambodia.

Delayed flights proved a minor irritation, but everyone got underway soon enough, and the different yeargroups were en route to their various destinations.

Y7: Yangshuo

Year 7 arrived safely - after a short flight delay - and are installed and ready for the day tomorrow.  There's no getting away from school though.  Lucas and Kelly are taking a break from the hard work of being on the trip by sitting Maths exams.  They both qualified for the next round of the Maths Olympiad, so we've had it shipped to them in Yangshuo!  The weather is treating the group to warm, humid showers - a great improvement on last year's torrential rain.

Y8: Hainan

After successfully retrieving the passport left behind on the plane - this is the kind of thing that makes these trips so entertaining - the group have had a 'fun afternoon on the beach'.  The weather is very hot and sunny, so everyone has enjoyed some team building games and a swim in the very warm sea.  They're just about to go out for dinner.  Surely the trip can only get tougher from here?!

Y9: Ziyuan

Year 9 recovered from the hour's flight delay and, after a safe flight, set off on their coach ride to Ziyuan, north of Guilin.  The lunch stop offered good local Chinese food, although lots of students still had 'stockpiles of food from home!'

Local scenery has been stunning, with bamboo, rice fields and vineyards to choose from.  The group  played team building games, had tea and then an early night ready for an active day tomorrow.  Overall: tired, but happy, and there's no rain.

Y12: Cambodia

The only update so far from Y12 is a report that they arrived safely in the early hours of Monday morning, and successfully made it to the hotel.  Mr Brown offered a very short but cheerful view of the trip so far: "we've arrived, checked into the hotel and all is good".

(Update: there's now a full report of day one in Cambodia and some pictures)