Narara Valley High School has proudly supported the Gosford Sister City Association over the years by hosting students from Gosford's sister city Edogawa, a precinct of Tokyo, Japan.

Again this year a wonderful group of students from Edogawa Youth Wing travelled to Australia on the 24th July 2007 and stayed with Narara Valley High School families and all reports are that both Aussie families and Japanese students had a fantastic time.

After a long overnight flight from Narita Airport in Japan and a bus ride from Sydney Airport to the Central Coast, their first stop was at the Australian Reptile Park where they got their first introduction to Australian wildlife. Next stop was Narara Valley High School to meet their new school buddies and host families for the next 10 days.

After a day of touring Gosford area and meeting Gosford City Mayor and day of school life, a Thank You dinner hosted by Edogawa City was held at the Caroline Bay function centre at  the Gosford Regional Gallery & Edogawa Japanese Gardens. During the evening the NV's performed superbly for the Edogawa students and their accompanying members,  Gosford City Council officials including Councillor Robert Bell, Narara Valley High's principal and host families. Everyone was also treated to an excellent performance of Edogawa's students singing and dancing during the evening. One Edogawa student demonstrated  his exceptional talent with the Abacus showing amazing speed and accuracy adding and subracting nine figure numbers quicker than a NV band member could say them!! - Check out the video by clicking here

Edogawa students experienced Australian culture with their host families and school buddies in the following days including attending sporting events, music lessons and band practise. Some students saw the Pelican feeding at The Entrance which turned into a great Japan vs Australia soccer match on the park Check out the video by clicking here. One NV band member had to brave the cold waters to rescue the ball a number of times after a few wayward kicks.

A visit to Sydney's Taronga Park Zoo in perfect (but chilly) weather gave Edogawa students a great experience of our famous zoo and  a perfect view of Sydney's Harbour bridge and city skyline where may photos were taken.

As part of the Edogawa students stay, they cooked a meal for their host familles after a visit to the local Asian supermarket. The delicious meals they prepared were Miso soup and Okonomiyaki, which is a pan-fried batter cake, with ingredients such as  shredded cabbage, cuttlefish, pork and prawns.

The Japanese students visited Port Stephens on one day of their visit to Australia to go dolphin watching (unfortunately only a few dolphins were seen) and a 4WD safari tour where they all had a great time.

After a few more days of experiencing Australian school lesson's and culture, time had finally come to a farewell BBQ hosted by Gosford City sister city association and Gosford City Council social club where emotions were riding high on the impending goodbyes for the following morning.

The NV's and host families sadly farewelled Edogawa Youth Wing members at school on the morning of Thursday 1st August where they were going to spend the remaining day in Sydney visiting the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Aquarium and The Rocks until catching their overnight flight back to Japan.

Close bonds were built up over the 10 days the Edogawa students spent with us and will continue into the future. Thanks to Mrs Margaret Hardie from Gosford Sister City Association, Mr Andrew Eastcott, Principal Narara Valley High School, Mr Mark McConville, Deputy Principal Narara Valley High School, Mr Brent Walker Cultural Affairs Narara Valley High School and Mrs Deb Arnison for organising the 2007 Edogawa student visits.