Thursday 9th May: The AUSSEF team came together from Darwin, Brisbane, Perth and Sydney to journey to Los Angeles for ISEF 2024. Thanks to QANTAS for a safe and comfortable flight, we arrived at our stunning accommodation, the Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites, excited to be together and our work ahead. After a quick dinner and a stock up on snacks, we were all grateful to have some jet lagged sleep.
Friday 10th May: Making the most of our trip to the USA, we spent today participating in some American culture. Visiting the La Brae Tar Pits was like stepping into the Ice Age. Seeing gas bubbles pop out of active tar pits, fossils from Mammoths, Sloths, Saber-toothed cats, Dire wolves and more. How brilliant to see palaeontologists cleaning a Sabre-Toothed cat skull! What is a trip to LA without visiting Hollywood Boulevard? We walked the street taking photos of all of our favourite celebrity stars. Journeying up the hill we had lunch at Griffith Observatory. What spectacular views and awe-inspiring exhibitions. But our key focus of today was picking up our posters. Thanks to FastSigns for their support and quality printing. Our team is set for stunning displays. We finished up the evening with an excursion to Downtown Long Beach where we had a long walk to find a long beach, but gosh that is a lot of beach! After dinner and a long train ride home, many of us were starting to have some very long blinks. Time for bed and a well-deserved sleep.
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Saturday 11th May: Today is down day. The calm before the storm. A solid sleep in and a big breakfast set us up for moving our brains from culture absorption to academic prowess. Time to put the finishing touches to projects and begin to prepare for presentations and interviews. This involves a trip out to the shops for final display items such as lighting and batteries. In the afternoon, those of us who declared 26degrees warm enough for a swim stretched out their muscles for refreshment. A team dinner and early night ready for our first trip to the convention centre tomorrow for our first taste of ISEF 2024.