Wairakei Camp, Taupō (Green Contingent)

Written by Rosie & Calvin - Bosuns of the Green Contingent

Day one: Everyone woke up quite early and drove over to the scout den still half asleep. Once everyone had arrived we started to attach the boats to the cars and sorted out who was going in what car. Once everything was done we started to drive up to Wairakei primary school. On the way, we stopped at Taihape to stretch our legs and have some lunch. After we got to the school everyone helped set up tents and unpacked all of the gear. Next, we ate the lovely dinner that the Venturers had prepared for us and went to bed ready for the days of fun and excitement that were to come. 

The stop in Taihape for lunch

Setting up camp at the school

Day two: We had mountain biking. We were to split into groups of three or more and were then free to explore the variety of trails that the park had to offer. Most people had lunch on their own time by the maps (where the cool box was), or in-between trails. After mountain biking, everyone was thoroughly hot and tired, so there was a trip to AC Baths in the afternoon where everyone had an amazing time before heading back to camp for a good sleep. 

Hamish, Magnus, Charlie and Ethan in various states
of excitement for the mountain biking

Day three: We woke up at around eight and had some breakfast. After that, we got all of the stuff we needed and we drove over to the scout den and started to rig up some boats. Once all of the boats were rigged up everyone made lunch and then sorted out the crews. After that, we put the boats on the water and went for a relaxing sail. Sadly it wasn’t windy enough and it was going to take too long to get to the Maori carvings so we just went back to the den de-rigged the boats and went for a swim.

Ethan & Ciara & crew sailing on Lake Taupō

After dinner on the 31st, it wasn’t long before the Venturers had thrown a full-on new years party for the scouts and leaders, complete with glow sticks, balloons, and youtube just dance. 

The Venturer hosted New Years Party

On New Year’s Day, we used the inner tubes to float down the Waikato River for a few hours, it was a really fun, chill time which we needed after the amazing party the night before. Near the end of the float, we also stopped to sit in some of Taupo’s famous hot pools for a while and had a great time with that as well. All in all a wonderful day. 

Sitting around in the hot pools

Day five: Everyone woke up at around eight and started to get ready for the day ahead. Once we were ready we had breakfast, made lunch, and drove over to the den. Like day three there wasn’t much wind so we just went swimming and used the boats as bombing platforms. Other than that we didn’t do anything else. It was just a nice chilled-out day at the den. 

Sailing races when pride is at stake,
but the wind is not co-operating

Day six: We packed our bags ready for an overnight trip to Rotorua, where we did the Redwoods Treewalk and later had a fun stop at a lake for a while afterward. Later on in the evening after setting up our campsite we went to see some glow worms and took the Treewalk again before a nice, early bedtime of 2:00 am. 

The light show in the Redwoods at night

Day seven: We all had a long sleep-in before we got started on our way back to Taupo. On the way there we stopped at a lake to go swimming and cool ourselves off. The only problem was that the lake was horrible, it was filled with duck poo, fish, algae, and other stuff that no one would want to touch. So instead we went to a river. The river was nice and cool and it had a big enough drop-off to be able to bomb into. After our swim, we came back to camp and just hung out for the rest of the afternoon. 

Day eight: Whitewater rafting & swimming 

On day eight the camp woke up early for breakfast in preparation for the drive to Tongariro for whitewater rafting. Scouts 13 and over were allowed to do level three, while under 13s went on level two. After rafting, we had lunch at a park, drove to Taupo scout den, swam for a while, and had dinner there. 

Top left going forward: The guide, Ash, Ruby & Hamish
Top right going forward: Neil, Hamish Brown, & Bronson

L-R: guide, Rosie, James, Angus, Jesse, Magnus, Sean

Top left going forward: guide, Matt, Grant, Emyer
Top Right going forward: Kalina, Dougal, Ethan

L-R: Kym, Amelia, Annaliese, Charlie, Ciara, Gabi

Day nine: Our last day on camp. Everyone woke up early, packed up everything, and then had breakfast. After that, we hopped into cars and drove back to the den with a few stops along the way. When we got back to the den we unpacked everything and had a talk about the many thousands of things that we did. Once that was over we all went home knowing that we had an amazing camp.

Final debrief

Wairakei Camp, Taupō (Leaders summary)

60kg or rubbish and 40kg of recycling were some of the measurable outcomes of this camp, however, what is not measurable is the experiences gained and life lessons learned.

What is also a fact is that we went through screeds of sunscreen.  With temperatures regularly hitting the 30’s and our activities almost exclusively outdoors, the scouts were applying 3, 4 and sometimes 5 times a day.  And even with that we had some who had some very red patches.

As with any camp, there is a team of very effective leaders making it all happen: Neil, Rachel, Grant, Kym, Dougal, Angus and Robin.  A huge thank you to them all.  And also to those other section leaders, scout helpers and associates who also stepped in to help: Megan, Dene, Nicki and Ross.  When next you see them, please acknowledge the effort they put into this camp.  It has been massive.

Setting up camp when we arrived

We also had support from 

• Wairakei Primary School – Thank you fcor allowing us to use the school grounds and hall buildings.  They were absolutely great for this camp and provided a great base for all of our activities
• 1st Taupo Scouts – Thank you for allowing us to use your Sea Scout Ship (Den), Boats and other equipment including the electric winch for pulling the boats up the ramp.
• 1st Ngongataha Scout Group – For the use of their Scout Den near Rotorua for our overnight stay there, and the advice on what would be suitable activities.

We will let the scouts tell you about their experiences, but the main activities consisted of:

• In Taupo
• White Water River Rafting
• Mountain Biking
• River Float on the Waikato River
• Sailing, Swimming, and other water activities on the Lake, including sailing to the Maori carvings at Mine Bay

Rose and Hannah at the Maori Carvings in Mine Bay

• In Rotorua
• Redwoods Treewalk
• The Blue Lake in Rotorua
• The Mud Pools
• Okere Falls
• Waiotapu Hot Pools / Kerosene Creek

Hannah on Rose and Hamish on Kalina at the Blue Lake in Rototua

Blue Contingent at the Mud Pools of Waiotapu
Back Row L-R: Robin, Grant ash, Sean, Emyr, Jacob, James, Kym, Megan, Sam Rose
Front Row L-R: Ruby, Kalina, Annaliese, Hannah, Alex, Bronson, Jesse, Lily, Toby, Hamish

From left: Emyr, Sean, Lily, Sam, Alex, Ruan, Toby, Jame, Ash - Looking out over Sulphur Point

Ruby & Annaliese enjoying ice blocks at the 1st Ngongotaha Scout Den where we spent the night

We were more people this year than last year at Whakaipo Bay.  48 of us left the den to head up to Taupō and enjoy 9 days of great adventure.  As per last year, we were unable to accommodate the whole group at some activities, so split the group in two and went separate ways in contingents (Blue – lead by Jesse and Bronson, and Green – lead by Rosie and Calvin).

As per last year the weather played a big part in what we did.  However, rather than wind we had to contend with sun and heat.  Looking for shade and water to cool down became a theme and the ring of “Have you put sunscreen on?” is probably still echoing in some scouts ears.

This year as per last, we had to arrange an anchor watch for the boats.  They were left in the water overnight for three nights and the scouts each did a 2 hour shift over the hours of darkness keeping an eye on the boats, as per the Taupō Harbour Masters request.

The boats at anchor outside the Sea Scout Den

The campsite this year was at Wairakei Primary School, a little way outside of Taupō and not a place where we based any activities, so everywhere was a drive to get to.  Our meals were made there and we all ate together in the hall.  The big playground made an excellent soccer field and a lot of the scouts used their downtime to play or simply wander away in small groups.  The climbing frames were another good escape.

Soccer played on the school field

My personal opinion is that this camp was better than the last, although the heat put a damper on things a little and being longer, it was more tiring.  I think if you ask the scouts it will be this camp, hands down, that they will remember for the longest.

Now looking forward to the next camp ...

Link to the collections of photographs: https://photos.app.goo.gl/6QCWji4Z3KVMcuPM8

Link to the collection of white water rafting photographs (Warning, there a lot of them): https://photos.app.goo.gl/hhJqJsm5M8rJuN2y5

2021 Easter Survivor Camp

Easter Survivor Camp was our first urban camp roaming far and wide across Wellington. The camp was Scout lead by all of the 24 Scouts present and with the help of Rachel, Neil, Grant and Cath we all survived and had a great time.

Here’s a summary by Calvin, Freddie, Trinaya, Rose, Gabi and Amelia.

Friday Afternoon By Calvin:

Everyone had arrived and the leaders told us to grab a seat. Then the leaders told us that they had planned nothing on the scout camp and they only had food for one day. Also, the shops were only open on Saturday. Each person had to pay $150 to go to the camp and there were 28 people. We were allowed to organize anything to do as long as it stays in the budget and we do a RAMs form 

After a while of planning, we were allowed to go play outside on the playground. Everyone ran over and started jumping around and using the equipment. Later people realized that there was a huge grass hill and you could roll down it. Not long later almost everyone was rolling down at full speed laughing their heads off.

Finally, we went back inside and started to plan again and did some voting. In the end, we had a plan that everyone could agree on. A little later we made nachos for dinner and headed off to laser tag.

Friday Night by Freddie:

On Friday night we went to Laserforce in Wellington. We paid so that we could have access to all the arcade games and as many games of laser tag as we wanted. We had access to them between 6 and 10pm. It cost us about $20 per person.

We decided to walk to Laserforce so that we would have more money. I think it was about a 15 minute walk and 2.5 km mostly along flat ground with just a little bit of uphill.

We arrived at about 6:30 and watched the short 5 minute film about the rules of laser tag. Then most of us went in to play a game of laser tag while a couple of other people went off to play arcade games. The way to win in the laser tag games was to get the most points. You scored points by either hitting targets or hitting other players. Hitting another player gave you 100 points and hitting targets gave you about 1000 points. There were four targets for you to hit and one for you to defend.

Everyone was split into two teams. There was a red team and a blue team. People in the blue team had to defend the blue target and hit the other four and the people in the red team had to defend the red target and hit the other four.

Some of the arcade games included a basketball shooting game, a few luck games, some car racing games and a coupl
e of shooting games. The most popular game was the basketball shooting game the highest score anyone got in that game was 70 points.

So all in all, I think that it was a very good idea to go to Laserforce. I really enjoyed it.

Saturday Morning by Trinaya:

The time now is 8:00am in
the morning and Neil is going around waking everyone. We are going to do all our shopping now because the shops will be closed tomorrow for Easter. A group of girls are going to be making breakfast today. There is a Countdown, not far away from the Southern Cross Den, so we're walking there. We waddle across in one big group and soon we are on our way back with a couple of our groups carrying what they bought. Breakfast was cereal and after a while, the breakfast group served some delicious choc chip pikelets (like pancakes).

Our first activity is the Fear Factory. The timings are : Group one =11:00, Group 2 = 11:30, Group 3 = 12:00 and group 4 = 12:30. Everyone is so excited! We break apart into Groups of 6 and go exploring with one of the leaders. If you are not doing Fear Factory then you would be doing a hunt, a bit like a scavenger hunt. We had to decode the riddles and take pictures of stuff it said. For example, I look like candy floss, but I'm in the sky. What am I?. If the answer was clouds (which it is), then we took a picture of the clouds. The Fear factory was petrifying. A couple of groups didn’t finish (but I wouldn't blame them). It was seriously, bone chillingly scary. There is no word to actually describe how it felt. We had to go in a dark tunnel in a tight conga line. Real actors were in the tunnel, scaring us half to death! We took turns being in the front and in the back. By this time it was afternoon.

Saturday Afternoon by Rose:

We walked in groups to Te Papa after going into the Fear Factory. At Te Papa, we went into the outdoor space to sit down and have lunch. For lunch, we had sandwiches, after lunch I went down to the front because I had a watch and all the people who had a watch had to go and pick one or two people to go into the museum and be back at a certain time. I chose Rosie and we went into Gallipoli. We wouldn't have been able to go in if I hadn't told the lady at the entrance that I had been in there loads of times. The big statues were amazing and the detail in them was on point and so accurate! We learned about the big war, who fought, and when it was. It was amazing! At last, we had to go back into the outdoor space and headed back to the den. Saturday afternoon was a good sunny, warm day and it was very fun.

After we went back to the Den we got all our gear and packed away then walked to Jumperama. It was very fun. I played mostly in the dodgeball area and sometimes in the foam pit.

Saturday Night by Gabi:

The Survivor Wellington Camp was great fun but personally my favourite bit was the movie. Everyone tired out after a long day trekking around wellington finished off with some pizza at the den. The movie that was chosen was High School Musical 1 which to be honest only about 5 people wanted yet when we looked around the room everyone was glued to the screen. All Together it was a great night with lots of karaoke and fun!

Sunday Morning by Amelia:

On Sunday morning we got up and started to make a delicious breakfast of pancakes and bacon! We then packed up, got out our swimming stuff and walked (and ran a little) to the Paremata Train Station. Luckily we got there in time! We then walked from the Porirua Train Station to the swimming pool. The pool was a lot of fun. We went in the pool for a while then headed back to the den to have a short review of the camp before going home.

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Despite all the fun things we did and the yummy food we had, the Scouts stayed well within their budget for camp and each Scout will be receiving approximately $28 rebate.

2021 Whakaipo Bay (Leaders summary)

This was definitely a camp to remember.  Grant is already plotting to do it again in two years time, while the Venturers are off at Venture and the scouts have a year off from national events.  I thoroughly support this idea.

The plan was to split the group into two so that no one particular activity was overwelmed by numbers.  At our peak we were 37 people so you can imaging the mountain biking or river kayaking equipment would have stretched us.

As such the contingents were formed (Green - lead by Hamish & Purple - lead by Ciara).  These two have written their own reports for their groups as I was with the Green Contingent and really did not know what the Purple one was doing other than what I was told.

The first day was supposed to be a River Kayaking and Camp Day but with high winds and lots of chop in the bay is was decided to postpone this programme day to the free day on Sunday and use this as our free day.  We went for two walks, one about 9km in the morning and another about 8km in the afternoon.  

The first was just in the campsite.  We walked down along the side of the bay out to a small beach near the head.  It was all bush and the beach was so small we couldn't all get on it.

Emma collected a bunch of weta skins on the
way in.  Amelia was admiring them.

Charlie, Sean, Will, Liam, Ollie and Hamish

We spent the afternoon watching the Aratiatia Dam open and flood the downstream basin from ...

... this ...                               ... to this ...

... in under a minute or so.

We then walked up the side of the river up to Huka Falls.

Gabi and Ciara with Kym

Quinn, Bronson and Matt

All in a row watching the dam open

We followed all this exercise up with a visit to AC Baths to get clean and cool down (sic - it was a hot pool at 36 degrees Celcius)

Zoe, Amelia and Emma chilling together

Rosie in action, doing a dive bomb

The next day was in line with the programme and I will let you read about it in the other posts.

Through all this we had a 7am swim every morning which was compusory on the last morning.  It was exhilarating.  We also had a sunset swim on one day.

Beautiful evening for a dip in the lake

Ciara & Will keeping Dougal company on a morning swim

All together on a morning swim

While we were there, we could not beach the cutters.  The centre case is of a size that means that pebbles get stuck into the casing and the centre plate can not be used until they are removed.  Therefore it was decided that the boats would anchor.  The consequence of this however was that the Taupo Lake Harbourmaster required us to maintain an "Anchor watch" over night.  All the scouts were involved in this and did a two hour shift each from 10pm every night through until 6 am the following morning for the three nights that the boats were on the water.  The scouts set up a bivouac to sit in while they were on duty and the gazebos were set up nearby to sleep in. (not that many of them did, sleeping "al fresco" was the order of the day)

The Bivouac

The boats looking a little pink in the sunset

The boats looking eerie at night with their anchor lights

There were plenty of similar activities, 

• we went to AC Baths on Sunday night as well and had dinner there
• we took a photo at a large blue chair positioned on the road side
• we played cards at night
• lots of cricket, swing ball and football were played in the camp ground
• and some scouts even got some pioneering work done

Never a dull moment!

The whole camp (except Connor)

Tree house with swing built by Calvin, Rosie, Zoe and Emma
(It even had a secret staircase behind it)

Freddy and Toby built this bridge over the ditch
for the venturers to be able to access their campsite
in the bamboo stand behind them

The Blue Chair

Hamish & Ciara lead us through all our Flag parades

Quinn, Hamish B, Matt, Roaise and Emma upstairs
in their sleeping area

Amelia preparing dinner with Robin

Gabi goes in to bat

Vanessa taking on Nathaniel with Ruan looking on

This has to go down as one of my favourite camps I have ever done with scouts, and I really do feel for those scouts who did not get to sail back to Acacia Bay and see the Maori carvings on the way.  I am sure all scouts who came to this camp feel the same way.

Looking forward to the next one!