Monday 6 May 2024

Atiwhakatu Beginners Tramp

Holdsworth is a great place to go tramping and while it is about 2 hours drive away, it never fails to make it feel worth while. This year we had a smallish group of scouts wanting to learn the skills and experience the feeling of an overnight in the bush - some were experienced, but for others it was a first time.

The trip over was an experience. I have a scout play list in my car, given to me by the Venturers. The scouts I had in my car loved it and in a lot of cases were singing along (despite some of the songs being Taylor Swift - Sorry Harvey)

Some of our more experienced scouts lead off and set a good pace. We did the walks in and out in very short times. We were in to the hut quite early and did the usual of dropping our packs around the hut and heading off to collect firewood. A LOT of firewood was collected for such a small group. We had teams on collecting, breaking up and also packing the firewood into the stores at the back of the hut.

Dinner was whatever each group wanted to make with the ingredients that they had. Cous cous formed the based and most went with adding some of each ingredient for interest sake. Peppers, Chorizo, Cheese, Tomatoes, etc, all in one pot. A standard feature of these hikes since we discovered it a few years ago is Chocolate Mouse desserts. Whip it up and leave it outside in the cold and Voila! You have dessert.

The evening following dinner was about the fun games and exercises that Nick had prepared. Lots of learning while still having fun. A family with a small baby were sharing the hut with us and also took part in the fun.

Next morning was breakfast of porridge and fruit. Some scouts find this a challenging meal for some reason.

Tidying up and packing up took the best part of an hour or two before we could set off back to the parking lot. The hut looked spotless and all the scouts played a huge part in making it so.

The walk back was brisk with no issues. Even swing bridges were just fun. We stopped at Donnelly Flats for lunch and retired to the the river where it runs close to the track to have it. The river bank was comfortable and dry and we all settled down a variety of wraps, noodles and soups according to each groups desire.

The trip home also involved a lot of singing in my car, and I believe this showed that all had really enjoyed the trip.

Feel free to check out more photos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/NkG6cU5aqRAMUrjv5

Saturday 27 April 2024

Ellie and Trinaya Chief Scout Adventurous Journey (Ellie)

Chief Scout Rimu Award Adventurous Journey

by Ellie Beaumont

Maddy's Chief Scout Adventurous Journey

Chief Scout Rimu Award Adventurous Journey

by Maddy Knapp

My camp was a biking camp. We started met at Pukerua Bay scout den when we dropped off our stuff and bikes. My mum drove us to Paekakariki and dropped us off at the Fisherman’s table carpark. We walked back to the Pukerua Bay den along the coastal road. When we got back to the den we completed our Antarctica badge and conservation badge. After that we cooked dinner, ate dinner and then played Ps and As.

The next day we packed up and biked to the movies in Pauatahanui with Ellie’s group. We watched Kung Fu Panda 4. Then we biked to Ngatitoa scout den. In the afternoon we did badge work and derigged boats and build bivvys. We cooked dinner and slept in the boats.

On the last day we biked to the pirate mini golf in Porirua. We played golf and then we biked back to the den. We packed up and did a review and left.

My reflections…..

Things that went good

good decision to go to the movies with Ellie’s group as it helped fill in spare time
we biked good. We stayed together as a group
organisation of gear and transportation was good
my camp wasn’t overpacked
we completed all the badge work we planned to do
we did everything we planned to do
meals turned out well
we were very under budget

Things that didn’t go good

Over estimated badge work because I scheduled to muchtime
forgot the meat patties in the freezer in Pukerua Bay scout

den

I felt stressed when I was told Mel was coming. I knew I didn’t have enough food for another person and I knew I didn’t have enough money in my bank account for the golf

Next time….

I would schedule more activitites because we had time for more things.
I would do more biking
I would do less time for badge work because I put to much time

More photographs available here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/dmHUmaUfCVy8nRTi9

Trinaya and Ellie Chief Scout Adventurous Journey (Trinaya)

Chief Scout Rimu Award Adventurous Journey

by Trinaya Bharath

Day 1

Ellie & I reached the den at 4:30. That's when the last of the food prep happened. Rummaging through the scout food then biking down to New World to buy something for breakfast the next day.
Tara & Maya reached the den.
After quick checks of the bike we explained the route.
We started in a single file line so we don't lose anyone. Ellie at the front and me at the back. We biked calmly for 25 mins till we were halfway through the Ara Harakeke pathway. By this time it was extremely dark. Ellie didn't have a torch so I went in the front.
5 mins later, I noticed that there were only 3 people. Maya was way behind us. She had stopped and no one noticed. So I went in the back again, Tara went beside Ellie to provide some light.
As we entered Pukerua bay, Maya’s bike started acting up. The pedals were jammed. The rest of us got off our bikes and spent 10 whole mins trying to fix it. We turned it upside down and tried spinning it. Suddenly it just started working again!
Soon we reached Pukerua bay den. We met Livvy, Maddie & Ruben there.
After getting all our things inside, we sat down together and looked through oceans badge things. Watched videos about deep-sea trawling and questions about how that was bad. E.t.c
By this time it was 8ish pm. The rest of the night was spent playing cards and chilling

Day 2

We woke up to maddie’s stunning alarm blaring at 6am.(note the sarcasm)
At 6 30 was when we actually started getting up. By 7 30 breakfast was finished.
During the tidy up, everyone was kinda slacking but since we have a small amount of people, we still got things done quite quickly.
Our plan was to start from Puk Bay at 8 and at we were exactly on schedule. I was in the front and livvy was in the back. Every few minutes, i would check to make sure i could see Livvy so we didn't lose anybody.
Unfortunately parkrun was on at the same time so we had to navigate through a bunch of runners. But I saw my dad!
We biked calmly without any problems for the next hour until we reached the lighthouse cinema. We were were 45 mins early. We learned that that it only takes and hour to bike to the cinema. In our spare time we were talking and made a stop at the airy to buy snacks for the movie. At 10:15 we were allowed inside so theatre so we went and made ourselves comfy. A couple mins later we saw kirsten’s family and Cath and Amelia.
The movie was pretty good. Ellie fell asleep near the end. ;p
The bike ride back was way faster. I think everyone was rejuvenated after the movie.
We reached the den around 1:40. After 15 mins on relaxing, me, Ellie, Tara & Maya grabbed some gloves, paper bags, a grabber thing and we set off to the beach. For about an hour we walked on the sand picking up all the rubbish we could see. There was a surprisingly large amount of plastic there. We managed to fill up both the bags to the brim.
Afterwards, maddie taught some level five biking skill things.
Now we had a lot of free time. I learned that we should have probably planned a few more things. In the middle we helped the leaders rig/derig boats.
Then we made dinner and watched another movie.
The leaders then called us for a review.
We ended up changing some of the plans for
As we were about to go to sleep, Derrick came in and started spraying us with red, glitter hairspray. My scalp was sticky and red was 2 WHOLE DAYS after that!