The 'AAA Batteries' Won!!

 

 Friday 7th November, we departed for Scouthike 2008. We left the Sauppe’s on our venture to Mt Tallarook State Forest to participate in Scouthike.

Right from the start; when packing the trailer the weather wasn’t very good at all, raining steadily. On the way up the weather didn’t change much, although some parts along the highway it wasn’t raining and we were all hoping our destination wouldn’t be raining.

We stopped for McDonalds for a quick dinner then, after taking the trailer off the 4WD to reverse out of the car park and hitching it back on again were back on the road.

We didn’t arrive at Scouthike at about 9:30. After missing the turn off and turning down another road to turn around. Anyway, we went to headquarters to check in and get our  sleeping point. As we were trying to turn around we didn’t have any success, so another Scout leader offered to do it. After turning around, he stalled the car. This amused us all.

We got to sleep point 1, our first sleep point. By this time the rain hadn’t lightened by any means, and it was time to set up our tents. I don’t think any of us were looking forward to going out into the pouring rain to set the tents up, although we couldn’t stay and not do it. So, we unloaded the trailer and began the dreaded process. After we set the tents up we decided it wasn’t worth waiting around outside and to stay in our tents for the benefit of staying as dry as possible.

The next morning we awoke at 5:00, but didn’t leave our lovely warm beds until 5:30 to start packing. Just cruising along at our own pace we had everything packed by 6:30. It wasn’t until 6:50 that we went to sign out, and we found out information pack wasn’t at the camp.

The information pack, we were told firstly wasn’t at camp but was located at HQ, so the man in charge of the camp sent a message up to HQ to have it arrive. So he told us to go for a walk to maintain our heat. It wasn’t until about 25 minutes later that he told us it wasn’t at HQ, but was in fact either at or on its way back to Melbourne. With the pouring rain, we had been told to register Saturday morning. But by Saturday morning our information had been left on a bus, and sent back to Melbourne. We then decided, with approval, to use an envelope as our passport, and with an informative note written if we had any problems with it. So, now we were right to go, we had a make-do passport and our map had been marked out, ready? Not yet. Just as were about to leave an announcement was sent over the radios that one of the activities had been relocated, and we were told to wait another 5 minutes for the new set of co-ordinates. We were standing by the table, by that time annoyed that we had lost so much time with disorganisation, and the man hadn’t returned after longer than 5 minutes so we went and searched for him. When we found him, he was surprised that we were still around, as he thought we’d already left.

So we got going at about 7:50, with over 50 minutes of lost time, and got to our first activity soon after.

We then got quite a few activities done and we were averaging just over one activity per hour. Having no rests, except for at the activities we continued to excel onwards, until of course, time for lunch had arrived. We had a rest then, for the matter of getting our lunch, and we hadn’t taken more then 10 minutes until we were back on the track.

We continued to do as we had – hiking and completing the challenges.
 

We did one activity, ‘Q’, which was run by Venturers. This activity had absolutely nothing, what so ever to do with Scouts apart from fun. The first part was playing ‘Simon Says’ where we out-mastered Simon. Then while we were waiting for the next activity we did a roll-like-thing. We had to all get onto our hands and knees and hold the person in fronts’ feet, then we rocked to either side, and on the third we rolled over. This was good, apart from the rocks that we landed on. The next part was to fire ten tennis balls at targets, which we passed quite easily. The next part however was to make a human pyramid, 3 of us on the bottom, with Max and Angus kneeling and eventually standing on our backs. We later found out that we weren’t supposed to do all the activities, but it paid off because we got full marks – 110.

By this time of the day we had one activity left on the agenda for the day. We took the wrong track. But this worked out beneficial for us, because that meant we got two activities done instead of the one that we had planned. This gave us a total of 15 activities for the day and about 22kms hike distance.

We got back to Sleep Point 3, which is where Sylvia was staying, at about 6:30, gaining the 100 bonus points for checking in before 7:00. We then set up our tents, had dinner eventually and got everything into order. Because of Angus’s birthday on the 7th (the day earlier) Sylvia had make a chocolate cake for us, which we all greatly appreciated. It wasn’t until about 9:30 that we were in our tents, and while in our tents we were talking to this apparent Zimbabwean person in Max’s and Angus’s tent.

The next morning we had decided earlier to wake at 5:30, as this was the time we started packing the previous day, and it all managed to work. Our packs were packed by about 6:30 so some of us decided to attempt to dry our uniforms by the fire which the generous leaders had started for us.

It was about 6:55 when we hoisted our daring packs onto our backs and went up to sign out, got our site checked and off we went, first to leave the camp. We were headed for ‘M’, it was about 1.5k’s, and we managed to walk this in under 25 minutes. Which was good for our timing, but once we arrived we had to wait over 40 minutes until we could begin the activity. The time passed and we could begin the activity, which was to carry a stretcher with three packs on it around a course – which took us less then a minute. A long 40 minute wait for a short one minute activity, but I guess it was worth the wait.

We did all the activities planned for the second day – 8. This gave us a whopping 23 out of 24 activities for the weekend.

We were walking back to the finish when we got into our shirt and scarves. In doing this we gained yet another 100 bonus points.

We arrived at the finish and checked in early. Then waited over two hours, just sitting there discussing areas on the hike where we could have improved and how we thought we went. We then, after the signal to do so, put our packs in the trailer and went to wait for final presentation. It was at this time that Max, being as cheeky as he was, asked Sylvia if she would shout McDonalds if we won, and eventually she gave in, with our support, and agreed.

I’d have to say we were all nervous, with 23 activities (96% of them) and the 300 bonus points we thought we had a reasonably good chance of maybe getting a Gold Award. We then listened to all the stories that rambled on before the scores were ready to be announced.

Only the Gold Awards were read out, starting at 7th. 10th Ivanhoe, 6th 1st Ivanhoe. 5th, 4th, 3rd and we still hadn’t been called out. By this stage we were nerve racked. Could we really have got into the top 2 positions? By the amounts of activities completed we were still better then what had already been announced.

Finally. “With 23 activities, 2215 points, 1..” This was it. “..150SM” That was our Patrol number. We had been awarded second, and we were shattered. Then they announced the winners, and the entire Patrol got to go up to accept their Gold Award and trophy-like award. Winning only by 87 points. After the presentation had finished we went back to wait by the 4WD for Sylvia.

It was kind of good that we were outside waiting for Sylvia that we looked at our score stuck on the outside of the envelope. We noticed one section, for handing in our money and names by a certain date had been left empty, where as it should have had ‘100’ in it. So, Caitlin, Gareth and myself went back to query this, and why we hadn’t been given the bonus points. Turns out they had mucked up with the work, and hadn’t given it to us, although they knew we had done it. The two men that we asked were disappointed with themselves because this was the second year in a row that they had mucked up and awarded the same patrol - 1st/8th Blackburn - the award.  We then asked the question: “Does this mean we won?” We already knew but we wanted to hear it from the officials. They answered slowly: “Yes”.

We waited about a second, to see if they had anything else to say before we turned and ran to the 4WD to share the good news with Max and Angus. Although they had kind of guessed by our attitude and enthusiasm running back to them, they were none-the-less glad to head that we had won.  It wasn’t long until Sylvia came to the car impressed that we had taken out 1st in a state-wide event with 61 patrols competing.

We began our slow journey home, none of us quiet but all agitated with the excitement of success. Even though nobody else had known we had won, deep down inside we knew that we had taken it out. That all our hard work had paid off.

We got to Pakenham McDonalds and Sylvia shouted us, after attempting to get herself out of it all, with an ice-cream cone, which we all enjoyed and appreciated once again.

A big congratulation to those who competed: Caitlin and Gareth, Max and Angus, and Scott Marriott.

The weekend was a huge success. Thank you to everybody who helped out in any way, shape or form, including Leanne for all the hard work she has contributed.

An even bigger thank you to Sylvia for her work, transport, cooking, and luggage assistance.

Scott nov 08

LEADERSHIP SPEECH

Over my time in Scouting I have had to deal with quite a bit of leadership.

From what I remember I got a kick start into leadership when I was elected straight to Patrol Leader. From here I got more into the swing of things, learnt what to do and then progressed onwards.

Leadership can be applied to all sorts of situations. From being in charge of a group to suggesting your opinion, everybody has their own opinion of what leadership really is and how far these boundaries reach.

A lot of responsibility is relied upon leadership: to make the right decisions and to organize various things - but don't let it scare you. As long as you know what your doing and how to go about it, it should all be ok. Even if you don't know how do go about it experiment, and you'll soon find out. And if things didn't work out last time, you could persist with the same method or change to a different style.

In my opinion leadership mainly comes down to decision making and giving the right advice. And sometimes making the right decision can be an uneasy thing, I've had

experience there. The aim of it all is to make the right decision for the situation on hand.  Making the wrong decision could lead to drama but it's all part of it and your not learning if you don't make mistakes. Mistakes are not always a bad thing either, sometimes making the wrong decision can turn out to be the better option after all.

If you're asked by a fellow Scout a question you may not know the answer to, what are you going to do? Would you tell them an answer that may be incorrect? Or would you strive to deliver them with accurate information? Would you go out of your way to help those in need? This depends on the type of person you are. Leaders should be caring, responsible teachers.

Scott  Sep/ 08

SCOUTS OWN

 OPENING PRAYER:-

Dear Lord, You know what it was like to speak the truth and be doubted, to try your best and to be scorned, to help those around you and to be misunderstood. Those trying to do their duty today often find themselves belittled by others, laughed at, and rejected. Help us lord to do as you did, and to persevere, happy in the knowledge that we do your will. Amen.

Coming together is a beginning.

Thinking together is unity.

Keeping together is progress.

Working together is success.

God will not ask your name or race,

Nor yet demand your birth,

This only will he ask of you,

What have you done on Earth?

CLOSING PRAYER:-

Lord, Help us to remember that the Scout Law is the foundation on which the whole Scouting program is built. If we're really going to be Scouts, then we need to build our lives on the high standards which Scouting puts before us. Grant that the Laws may be more to us than just words which we maybe can't even always remember. May they be a real code for living which we practice in our daily lives. We pray in the name of your Son Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Go out into the world in peace. Be brave; keep hold of that which is good; never pay back wrong for wrong; encourage the faint-hearted; support the weak and the distressed; give due honour to everyone. Be always joyful, pray continually; give thanks whatever happens; for this is what God in Christ will do for you.

                        Amen.

Scott

German Pfingst Camp

 I am a 13 year old scout from 1st Yinnar, Strzelecki District, Victoria. During my recent visit to Germany I visited the Stamm Adler (a Scout troop from Friedrichstahl Stutensee). We were going to a Pfingst camp near Treeberg at the Black forest. This a 5 day (10th to15th may 2008) region camp and several Scout groups from the region attended.

 On Saturday Morning we got in the car and drove to Friedrichtahl, near Karlsruhe. As soon as we got there I didn't really want to go anymore because I didn't know anyone. We left in a big bus just after we packed everything in the trailer and bus. About 2 1/2 hours later we arrived in the south of the Black Forrest, it was very warm but we managed to get everything set up before dark, some Scouts played magic - something like pokomon cards. On Sunday the program started, we had to go to our first activity at 10 o’clock. It wasn't very easy for me because you had to match the names to the states in Germany, the next activity was a bit easier, because all that you had to do was smell and guess the substance, these activities ran through the whole day, they were good, only problem was that they were tiring. After dinner we had a campfire in the tent and sang songs and played games, I went to bed only half an hour after the cubs. The second day we were all awakened by the loud trumpet and bells that the leaders played, they were so loud that they woke up the whole camp, not just our troop. The other leaders banned Olaf (the Leader) from playing it too early! After I finally got the hike pack that one of the leaders promised to lend me, we went hiking with no tent. I was in front of the others nearly the whole way, at about half past 3 we arrived at a barn house to ask for direction, but because it rained too much the owners let us sleep there for the night, it was very different to my usual hikes. The forest had a different character, I never slept in a house on a hike, we cooked all together (at home everyone cooks their own hike meal) So that my group wasn't too early back we had a very big rest about 1km from camp, the other group came back to camp about 2 minutes after us. Later, I was very pleased that my feet didn't hurt (as in previous hikes). The next two days were just like Sunday, although on Wednesday some other groups put on a show, I also got invested into The Adler Stamm, so now I have a scarf of the "Bund Deutscher Pfadfinder". I was very pleased. On Thursday it was time to pack up (unfortunately). It kept on raining for a couple of minutes and then it was sunny, that happened about 5 times but in the end it wouldn't stop- we still had our Kitchen tent up. Finally we managed to pack it all up and go home.

This Camp was different to any other camp I was on before, the tents are Black and in a different shape. I’ve never slept in a Kote before or had fire in a tent like we had in the Jurte. The tents where easier to put up, you just had to stitch it together.

The language was German and it was sometimes tricky. All age groups from Cubs to Rovers Camped together.

                                    I am very glad to have gone on the camp and till next time (= =)

Max

Baw Baw – Walhalla

By Scott

On Friday the 7^th March at 5:30 Colin, Gareth, Angus and myself met at the Yinnar Scout Hall. Where we all piled into Mr. Halls ute, on our way to Mt. Baw Baw. Along the way we stopped at Moe McDonalds for a quick dinner. And shortly after that left to continue to Mt Baw Baw car park where we arrived at 7:40. After 20 minutes of discussion we started walking through the little village to find Village Trail. We came to a spot, just after the town where there was a snow blower, and Village Trail, so we followed that until we found an alright campsite. There were tables, trees, Pete Bogs and it was fairly open and very soft, squishy grass. Marked by a wooden sign saying ‘20’. After setting our tents up, and having a little talk we went turned the lights out at about 10:00.

Saturday morning we got up at 7:00 and packed our bags and had breakfast then left camp at 8:27. Walking along Village Trail there’s an intersection where we turned left. Once we turned we could see Loy Yang and Yallourn Power Station to the right. Walking a little bit more we came to an intersection where we turned right which brought us to another intersection where we go straight ahead. At 8:42 we came to a boggy swamp like area that was very open, with a sign post to the left. At 8:45 we had a 4 minute rest to remove our jackets and to have a little breather. And as we started walking we soon came to Pudding Basin. Then the track was a bit overgrown at 8:55 and at 9:00 there was a sign to the left. 9:05 came and there was a sign to the left where we went straight ahead. There was a wooden bridge at 9:13 where we went straight ahead.

At 9:21 we came to an intersection. Left is Mt. Baw Baw – 2.3km. Right (The way we came) leads to Mt. Baw Baw – 2.5km Straight ahead is a narrow hiking trail only that leads to Mt. St. Phillack. Our next rest was at 9:28 at a grassy venue on the side of the track with a nice log to sit on. Surrounded by small gums and 1m-1.5m high shrubs. At 9:28 we started walking again. At 9:40 we came to an open flat with the Tanjil Creek running through it. Which is safe drinking water. And within 1 minute later we met a wooden sign to the left. And another minute later we were walking along a narrow track uphill. 10:00 came and we decided to have an 8 minute rest on the right side of the track. Where there was no grass, small bushes and was rocky. Shortly after that rest we came o an intersection where Mt. Whitelaw was to the left and Mt. St. Phillack was to the right – we turned right.

St. Phillack saddle was open, grassy, windy and had a nice view. 5 minutes later we left St. Phillack saddle and came across an alright campsite that had no water. and another 5 minutes later came across what would make again, an alright campsite with no water. At 10:28 we came to a sign that said ‘Mt. St. Phillack – 1556m’. Nearby was a rock cairn and large rocks. We stopped there for about 13 minutes. When we started walking again we came to a wooden sign to the left. ‘Baw Baw Village – 5km. Mt. St. Gwinear – 1km’ it said. We came across what would be a nice campsite if it had water at 11:09 that was grassy and bushy. At 11:19 there was head height bushes and possibly safe drinking water. We also met a St. Joseph’s school group. Then had a 14 minute break at 11:32 on the side of the track where it was sheltered and had small bushes and sticks on the track. At 11:54 there was an open plane to the right which was grassy.

We stopped for lunch at 12:08. We stopped upon a large rock that was part of the track. There was no grass, and only a few bushes. We started walking again at 12:47 when Angus had realised after Colin strapped up his foot, he’d put the wrong shoes on the wrong feet. After a bit of walking we came across what, again would be a nice campsite but had no water. And 4 minutes later another one amongst a rather large clearing. At 1:20, after 15 minutes of walking we met two hikers who said it was only 50 minutes to Mt. Erica. After talking to them we had a quick 13 minute rest on the side of the track. Sitting on a large rock we declared the track was getting steeper.

Once we got to the top of Mt. Talbot and over the peak. We came across an old, large, stone and mortar fire place and chimney that was about 2 metres tall standing among same rocks and logs. There was a track from this ruin towards the creek, which went nowhere. it must be a track people use regularly when camping in this area. It would of been a good campsite with water.

To get back on track we had to back-track a little bit to a path with 2 small wooden bridges crossing Hut Creek. We stopped here at 2:45 and restocked our water supplies. As we were about to leave we met some walkers walking to the ruin for a day trip, and we got talking to them for a while and left at 3:00. At 3:00 we started walking up the slopes of Mt. Erica and at 3:10 came to a wooden sign that said ‘Mt. Erica 1509’ where we had a photo opportunity. At 3:40 we met three more hikers and at 3:45 had a small break where the day-trippers walked passed us. And at 3:50 we got walking again.

At 4:30 we had a 5 minute rest on the side of the track. And at 4:58 came to a little creek of possibly safe drinking water to the right of the track about 100 metres below of the car park. We came walking into the car park at about 5:00. Where we stopped and sat on a table near an information board. Where we got talking to some hikers walking into The Rocks and shared some information with them. We then decided we needed to start getting into camp and started walking along the road to an intersection. Straight ahead leads to Monarchs walk and left was Mt. Erica road. We turned left. About 15 minutes after the intersection we called a 5 minute rest on the side of the road. Then walked to where the trail continued. This is what we called our campsite for Saturday night and we arrived at about 6:00. It was a little opening, with a silver Nissan parked in it. About 75 metres away from a good water source.

As we started putting the tents up we realised the ground wasn’t too soft after about 5cm of small clay clumps with a thin layer of grass growing on top, but it was too late to do anything about it, so we found a rock and tree root and used them as hammers to hit the pegs in, and they turned out hanging in there. At the point of the campsite we were 16km away from Walhalla. As Colin had arranged earlier, Katrina was dropping Caitlin off at this opening. So we lit a small signal fire to make it easier to be seen. When Katrina came Caitlin’s luggage was unloaded and Angus’s was loaded in. We’d decided Angus, after rolling his ankle, had had enough and was going to go home. So at 10:45, after 5 minutes of her being there, Katrina left. And, after setting up Caitlin’s tent, lights were off at 11:00.

Sunday morning we arose at 7:00 again, had breakfast, packed and were ready by 8:15 we had started walking to Walhalla. Just after we started we had a steep decent and there were a few complaints about how this impacted on them. And it could be slippery if it was wet. At 9:37 after a few rests here and there we crossed the creek near O’Shea’s Mill Site. Where there was no bridge, and was slippery. At O’Shea’s Mill Site there was another St. Joseph’s school group walking in the opposite direction to us. And there was a group of people camping there. We stopped here until 10:00. We walked up to the drop dunny and turned right to get back unto the trail. This time the trail was a fairly steep accent and we rested at 10:27 on the side on the track where we all gulped down some water and started walking again at 10:35.

At 10:39 we came to a gate with an Australian Alpine Walking Trail sign on it. And a minute later we we’re crossing a bitumen road – the Thompson Valley Road. To the right of us there was a road called Southface road which goes down to O’Sheas. We crossed and went down Fingerboard Spur which was steeper then what we’d walked that morning. We came to a sharp bend and met some hikers with dogs discussing which way the track went. So we helped them out and they told us they’d seen a snake on the track they’d come along and we were about to go on. So at 11:15 we started walking, keeping our eyes on the watch for this snake, that nobody saw. Also along the spur we saw three other hikers. Then walked along a very poor track for about 30 minutes.

Then the track stopped and we came to a bridge – Poverty Point. This bridge is 40 metres long and 1.8 metres wide. And stands about 12.8 metres above a usual summer flow of the Thompson River below. This spectacular bridge was built in the 1900’s and has new handrails. We stopped here for a short break and at 12:04 we started walking again. And came to a track on the right which we continued to walk past. Then we met 12 walkers over a period of 15 minutes, all going down to look at the Poverty Point Bridge. We stopped at 12:38 for some water from a run off. This water was beautiful to drink and very fresh. And 9 minutes later started walking again.

At 1:11 we stopped for lunch at the top of Killer Hill. Only 4km to Walhalla from here. We dried most of the perspiration from our shirts during our 50 minute lunch break. And after throwing a few rocks, we learnt that the Buda religion believes that everything, every rock and stick has a soul, and that over time, it works hard to get in such a spot with a good view, and by throwing it off, it may take millions of years for it to get back to this spot. So we decided to help the rocks and throw some uphill a bit, to save them the time in waiting.

After 45 minutes of walking the Walhalla Train Station came visible from the trail. And 5 minutes later we could see the Cemetery from the trail. We stopped for a 15 minute rest on the side of the trail at 3:11. And at 3:21 we were walking down the stairs, into Walhalla opposite the general store. We had finished 38kms of walking in 2 days. So after Colin had finished his milkshake we went down to the swimming hole and dipped our feet in the fresh, cool, creek, where Colin cracked his Coke open. Soon after, our transport, Sylvia and Mum arrived and we were on our way home.

Scout Hike...... One golden hike ........

 

On the 9^th – 11^th of November (last weekend) 4, scouts went to mount disappointment to participate in the scouthike. We first got private transport to sleep point 4. Our patrol was the first ones in and the first ones out. We planned to do all of the activities. We were going at a fairly fast speed the whole way and overtook a couple of patrols. When some people started to run a couple of people got left behind, but caught up very quickly. On the first day (Saturday) we walked through 13 of the checkpoints, completing them all. We didn’t get to the last checkpoint; Y. unfortunately we didn’t make to the finish sleep point (6) in time to get the 100 bonus points. When we got there in the end we checked in wile, a first aid person had a look at Max’s foot witch was starting to slow us down. That night Max went to bed early without any dinner, the next day was going to be a big day. On Sunday we Got up early and packed, we left 10 minute after 7:00,we were still the first patrol out, we got a free bar for being early. We were the last ones in and the first ones out. The 2^nd day wasn’t much faster than the 1^st day. We completed 5 activities and arrived at the 6^th activity, we had much less time than the second day than the firs. When we were on the poisoned post track we nearly got lost, we went turn off too early it wasn’t marked on the map. The last 2 activities were T and S. We ran to s and completed the activity as fast as we could, then we sprinted, While Gareth went ahead to tell the people from T that we were coming. When we got there we were too late and could only get the travel points. We didn’t think that we did too bad in the competition and we weren’t wrong. When we arrive the finish line we checked in and got 100 points for being in full uniform (Angus borrowed some one else’s scarf from another group). It took a very long time to get the results, we thing that it was because of the person talking to another person. Whit the awards Yinnar go called up to get their gold award, we came 8^th out of 57 other patrols. In total we visited 19 out of 24 stations.

The activities had letters for different countries; U was for United Kingdom…N was for New Zealand. They were all based about their countries. The leaders didn’t talk these languages though.

By Caitline