After 26+ hours in planes and airports, we've made it to Kentucky. We are very proud of the positivity and responsibility the students demonstrated through the journey. The robotics family are looking out for one another.

Today we head to the competition venue for registration, driver meetings, and practice, before a Louisville Bats baseball game tonight.

Day two of competition brought some extremely challenging games for our teams, as they worked to adjust to the more aggressive style of play employed by many other teams. Both performed well, with the the year 11s' autonomous program operating smoothly and the year 9s demonstrating some excellent driving. But the competition was mostly too tough, with the year 9s winning one of their six games, and the year 11s tying one and losing five. After the competition, those students who were not too exhausted visited the Kentucky Science Centre, where they had a great time engaging in a range of teamwork, science, and engineering activities.

Both teams made a strong finish to the competition, with the year elevens winning both their last games, and the year nines winning one and losing one. While neither team made it through to their division finals, all the students represented themselves and Copperfield with admirable positivity, creativity, and teamwork. We all enjoyed the spectacle of the finals games, marvelling at the skills on display from the winning Chinese and American teams. After competition, the students enjoyed the much anticipated reveal of the VEX game for the coming year's competition. Strategy planning has already begun.... We then all hopped over to the Kentucky Kingdom theme park for the closing party.

On Sunday, competition over, we packed up the robots and headed out to visit the Speed Art Museum on the campus of the University of Louisville, before heading to the airport. Thunderstorms in Denver delayed our flight west, preventing us from making our connecting flight to Australia. As a result, we found ourselves with a day to spend in Los Angeles. We made the most of this, visiting the Petersen Automotive Museum, the LA County Museum of Art, and the LA Brea Tar Pits, as well as making a quick visit to Hollywood Boulevard. On Monday evening, we finally boarded a flight back to Melbourne via Sydney, arriving home lunchtime on Wednesday.