"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." Albert Einstein Video Conferencing St Peter's School and Opotiki College I flew to Rotorua on Tuesday with Michelle McCormack from the British Council and we drove out to meet our intrepid InterLinkers at Opotiki College. What a day! There were major flood warnings across the whole of Northland and the road from Rotorua to Opotiki seemed to be included..... it rained and rained and rained.... took us about an hour longer to get to Opotiki than it should have done because I was driving like a snail! We finally got to the coast just outside Opotiki and the clouds lifted - it looked so beautiful we just had to get out and have a look - Michelle dressed in her best posh suit for the occasion. We went for a little wander on the beach, I was taking photos and Michelle was collecting shells - and we weren't exactly paying attention to what the tide and wild seas were doing........ Until a HUGE wave came roaring in towards us - I saw it, scrambled up the bank away from it, yelling to Michelle to "look out!!!!" - but it was too late - she was enveloped in swirling seawater - up to her waist in the waves! I rushed along the bank and pulled her out - she was dripping wet, her new shoes were full of sand and squelched as she walked, her jacket was wet, her shirt was wet, her skirt was soaked... and she left a little damp patch wherever she sat down....

Fortunately for us, dear reader, Michelle McCormack has the best sense of humour of anyone I know..... we sat in the car and laughed our heads off - then drove into Opotiki with the car heaters on full blast, drying Michelle off as we went. A few more minutes in front of the dryers in the restrooms at the Opotiki bus station and she was as good as new - phew!

We had a wonderful afternoon at Opotiki College - we met Faithe Hanrahan and Maurie Abraham, the two teachers who have been making InterLink happen there - and we met our truly wonderous class of InterLinkers, together with six older students who are part of Opotiki's kapa haka group. They were going to help us with the whaikorero (speech) and waiata (song). We watched them practice (the whole class had learnt the whole song that day - good going, guys!) and it sounded absolutely beautiful.

Then it was back to Rotorua in the rain, a quick stop for something to eat, and then we descended on Rotorua Polytechnic to prepare for the video conference.

I guess we were all a bit nervous - none of us had ever done a video conference before, but we had ultimate faith in our tech dude, Tim Whiston, who had everything ready for us. A quick change into our costumes, a run-through of the waiata - it's almost 8pm in New Zealand (9am in Britain) - "Can we just try a call to Ireland now Tim, just to see if it's working???"

Tim made the call - it's just like making a phone call except that it goes along a very fast wire called an ISDN line - and suddenly on the TV screen we could see the St Peter's boys, with their teachers, Raymond Logue and Kevin O'Kane!!

"Can you hear us, St Peter's?"

"Yes, we can hear you!"

Wow - we just couldn't believe it - for the first time, Opotiki and St Peter's could see and hear each other - after all these months of communicating by email virtually every day, our InterLinkers were finally able to see what their new friends looked like, and listen to how they spoke.

Faithe's mum did the karanga (the call), and then we all sang the waiata while one of the older boys made the whaikorero. Our CWA camera crew was there to record the event for posterity, and if they had been watching me, I think they would have seen me wipe a tear from my eye - it was such a moving experience.

St Peter's greeted us with a speech from Raymond in Irish - the first time any of us had ever heard the language being spoken, and two of the St Peter's boys played an Irish folk song on the piano accordion and penny whistle - again, the first time many of us had ever heard these instruments being played.

We spent the next hour or so telling each other about our lives, what we like to do, how we spend out time - there was "show and tell" from both sides - Opotiki showed St Peter's their All Blacks rugby gear, surf boards and silver ferns, St Peter's showed Opotiki photos of their beautiful city of Derry, and talked about some of the places they would take us to if we visited them.

We took time to ask each other questions - "Do you get Shortland Street  in Ireland?" (the answer was no) and "Are there volcanoes near where you live?" (yes!) - and we talked about how difficult it was for the New Zealanders to understand the Irish accent - we were concentrating SO hard! St Peter's thought it was easier for them because they watch Neighbours  and Home & Away  (even though those are Australian!!).

Both teachers and students agreed that InterLink had been a brilliant project, and they want to carry on with the link between their two schools - even after the project officially ends.

All too soon our time was up - I think we could have carried on all night if we'd been able to! Opotiki sang Pokarekare Ana  and St Peter's farewelled us with another folk song and when Tim pressed the button and disconnected our link with St Peter's, a great "ohhhhhhh" went up from us all - we were so sad to say goodbye!

A huge big thank you goes out to the following people who made this link possible:

• Telecom New Zealand - who paid for our use of the videoconferencing facilities at Rotorua Polytechnic and who sponsored the linkup to Ireland;

• University of Ulster at Coleraine - who gave St Peter's School free use of their videoconferencing facilities, and fixed it so that St Peter's could use the facilities at the Derry campus;

• Cassandra Rivers and Helene Hogan of Telecom - for making it happen in New Zealand;

• Tim Whiston and Rotorua Polytechnic - for making it happen in Rotorua;

• Dave Simpson of Ulster University - who made it happen in Ireland;

• Faithe Hanrahan, Maurie Abraham and all the Opotiki College InterLinkers in 3G1 - and the Kapa Haka students - for all the hard work they have put in over the last six months - and for getting their videoconference presentation sorted out in less than a week;

• Our lovely bus driver - who got the InterLinkers to Rotorua and back in one piece;

• Raymond Logue, Kevin O'Kane and all the InterLinkers at St Peter's School, Derry - for all the hard work they have put in over the last 6 months - and all the wonderful emails - and for getting their presentation sorted out in less than a week, too!

• Michelle McCormack, The British Council and The British High Commission - for coming up with the idea and the funding in the first place and for talking to the right people at the right time;

• Our intrepid film crew in Rotorua - for being there instantly when required and for being such smiley people;

• CWA - for making the whole project happen.