Today was the annual Adelaide Foothills District Cub Pinewood Derby.
While Scouting person and I didn’t get to the whole event, Golden Grove Cubs placed 1st and 3rd overall in the event. This follows last year, when a Golden Grove Cub also took 1st place. Interestingly enough, this year’s 1st place is friends with last year’s 1st place winner.
All who took part enjoyed their day.
Today, a small but determined team participated in this year’s NavFest: Beach. This year, the starting point was at Point Malcom, Semaphore Park.
The team took part in some navigation and map planning activities before sitting down to plan their route. Deciding on team name provide to be challenging.
Eventually it was sorted (We are Here For The Ice Cream) and so was the planned route.
We headed off, but unlike others, the cubs did not run, and we think that was a bit of a relief. It ensured we were able to stay as a group from the get go.
Over the course of 2 hours, the group covered a distance of 7 ½ km, which included a stop for ice cream.
Once again, the team came in about the middle of the field, with a score of 460 points. Not a bad effort and certainly continually improving on the points gained, as well as improvement in their map reading skills. This alone makes doing NavFest a worthwhile activity and we are looking forward to doing it again next year.
Today is National Tree Planting Day. We attended a tree planting with Friends of Dry Creek Trail. They do some awesome work within our community.
By joining Friends of Dry Creek Trail, the Cubs are:
1) connecting with the outdoors,
2) learning from nature and
3) taking positive action for their local and global environments
Over all, it was another successful Day and the trees were again planted very quickly. This was not just due to Golden Grove Cubs attendance (although it helped!). There was quite a large group of public and other groups, such as Hillcrest Scout Group, all of which helped to get it done as well as we did.
A good day and well done to all.
Today, getting up was a bit later than yesterday. But it was a full night of sleep!
This morning’s main activity was the Tube Slide! It was certainly a great way to expend some energy.
Once the youth members had their fill of running up the hill with the tubes, and sliding down, we headed back to the Bunkhouse, to start packing before lunch.
While having lunch, and finishing packing up, Baloo was busy counting Camp Cash. This is the group’s camp version of patrol earing points to be the winning camp patrol. Baloo then makes a Camp trophy with the winning Patrol Name and patrol members listed on it.
Soon, parents were arriving and it was time to do the closing of camp. This included the announcement of the winning camp patrol. We are wondering how long it took for the youth members to fall asleep in the cars on the way home.
As expected, it was an early start to the day! First Day of camp, what can we say? Always an early start on camp!!!
Once we had sorted
breakfast, it was time to head over to Challenge Hill, done in the patrols they
were sorted into the previous evening. From there, we headed up to the top of
Cardiac Hill, to do some tree Planting. This had been organised by Woodhouse,
and our group had included it as a part of our group camp program. We think
they had more people than they had initially planned on, as the trees were
planted so quickly.
While the Cubs, Scouts and Venturers were tree planting, the Joeys were on a
youth led Joey Hike. They even packed their lunch to go. We hope they had a
awesome time
These two activities took us to lunch time, and we certainly appreciate the Parents who attended to help in the kitchen.
The Joeys returned not long after lunch and, in their patrols, they went out and did some orienteering around Woodhouse. We stayed back in the Bunkhouse, as we had a bit of a late-night last night, and this little sheep needed some rest to recover.
As a group, we attended a combined Story Telling and campfire session, run by Woodhouse at 4pm until 6pm. Agan, it drew a crowd, although I suspect our group was most of that crowd!
Once we had tea, the group headed back out to the campfire for the evening, to relax. Slowly over the course of the evening, the youth went to bed…
Tonight, we arrived at Woodhouse Activity Centre for the bi annual all section group camp. While it was cold, it was not raining and that is always a good thing. Better to be cold and dry, than cold and wet! Especially when putting up tents for those who opted to sleep outside. Others took the dorm options.
Surprisingly, it was a relatively early night for the Cubs and they were asleep a lot early (compared to some!) than Scouting person assumed they would be for the 1st night of camp. We are sure it is going to be a good weekend.
Everyone slept well overnight and there were certainly no early risers. But once the first was awake, it was not long before everyone was up and getting ready.
The Cubs cooked breakfast, and the weather was good enough to be able to utilize the grassed area outside for some knotting activities and a game before heading home.
Not a bad sleepover, in the ended and while we did not get to sleep in tents, it did provide an opportunity or the Cubs to get some aspects of their badge work sorted.
Today, we headed to the Scout Hall for a sleepover. The initial plans were to sleep in tents on the grass area. However, the weather was not playing the game today. Extremely windy and a LOT of rain.
As a result, the decision was made that we would be sleeping inside the hall, instead of outside in tents.
Even though the weather was generally terrible, there were periods that allowed for activities to happen. As a result, we still managed to cover how to light a fire (and keep it going), cooked food on a BBQ and some games inside the hall to burn some energy off before bed. Everything that needed to be done outside was completed before the hail and strong winds came back with a vengeance.
We did have activities to do while inside of the hall. The leaders had back up plans for the indoors, for situations such as this. It was a part of their training, that they need to have a backup plan in case things happen (such as bad weather on camp).
It was not long before everyone was bedded down and asleep for the night.
Today was The Big Splash
Event, a branch activity for the Joey and Cub sections of South Australia. The
venue was at Port Malcolm, Semaphore South.
It was certainly a weather contrast to yesterday, when it got to 42C. Today’s weather was very windy, with showers threatening to arrive (Thankfully, they did not make an appearance).
Yet, even with the weather against us, I attended with Scouting Person and several youth members with their families from Golden Grove Scout Group. This allowed for social interaction between families within Golden Grove Scout Group, and a chance for parents to realize that Scouting does not just happen at Golden Grove Scout Hall.
The youth members were able to have a chance to do some orienteering, rock climbing (counting towards Vertical OAS L1) and water activities amongst other activities. Some activities, such as swimming were affected by the weather at different stages. But there were certainly plans to adapt, overcome and improvise as needed, which were implemented.
When the day had wrapped up, scouting person and I went for a nice long walk (6km). It was along the new (to us) trail through the Tennyson sand dunes. We had not done this previously, when we had walked between Semaphore and Grange. Today was the ideal chance to do it while we were in the area.
The walk was due to needing to get some km done for our March fundraising for Orange Sky, a mobile laundry service, started in 2014. Many of their clients are homeless people, and Orange Sky provides them a chance to was their clothes and have people to talk with. It is supported by volunteers and was the brain idea of two mates, who were awarded Young Australian of The Year in 2014 (or 2015) for their efforts in starting this venture.
They also go into disaster zones, such as fire zones (AFTER the main issues are resolved and it is safe to do so) to provide support there. So, we were able to use today’s 6km towards our March tally for fundraising efforts.
Overall, it was an enjoyable day and I am sure if it was run again, many of our youth members would be willing to attend it again.
This evening, the Cubs went
fishing at Largs Jetty. The weather was a lot better than our attempts late
last year, when we really had some awful weather which kept a lot of people
away. However, there were quite a few who attended tonight.
Not a great deal was caught tonight, apart from a few crabs, which needed to be
released.
Overall, a quiet, but enjoyable night at Largs Jetty.
"Look wide, and even when you think you are looking wide – look wider still ” – Lord Robert Baden-Powell
It is with this saying in mind, that today, Golden Grove several Cubs, a Scout and Venturer (as well as one Cub Leader and several parents) joined forces with Friends of Cobbler Creek, to do Clean Up Australia Day at Cobbler Creek Recreational Park.
It was the 35th year of Clean Up Australia Day and doing this as a scout activity is vital. By doing it, Scouts are caring for their environment – a long-standing part of Scouting. In addition, it is also about setting the example, being community minded and working with organisations whose goals overlap with several Scouting ones. Further, it ensures that Scouting is seen within the community, doing following up on doing what we say we do, and setting the example. It’s also about working with others.
While the site was going for several hours, we had set a limit of an hour, as this has been as long as the Cubs have lasted, before their interest and attention span starts to evaporate. Very much an experience thing. It also ensures we get a few in attendance, as an hour does not feel so bad and can feel achievable, and we are seen in public. This part is important, as often people often think Scouting no longer exists.
Overall, a successful day, and about youth getting involved with the community, and ensuring they are working in partnership with groups with similar goals.
Today, scouting human and I
headed to Seahaven. The purpose of the visit was to spend the day learning
about boats and sailing activities. It was a joint activity between the Cubs
and Joey sections of Golden Grove Scout Group.
It has been a while since I have been to Seahaven with Scouting person. I really enjoy it here, as it is so nice to be doing a camp, even if it is a dorm camp, instead of tents. But there are so many options of activities to run from this facility. Certainly, under rated as a city based campsite.
The day started at 9am, with a rush on ensuring everyone was there and ready to get the day underway.
There was a minor issue of a scared Joey, and I stepped in to become an emotional support sheep. We got him at least into the boat and settled enough for the boats to leave the pontoon / jetty.
It was a great day. Not much wind in the morning. It did pick up after lunch and speed on the boats meant they were moving much faster than they were prior to lunch.
We think the Joeys and Cubs had a great time. It is certainly an event that we will be wanting to do again. It also allowed for some Boating Outdoor Area Skills(L1) to be passed off, and introducing a outdoor activity the youth members they may not have gotten otherwise.
#OutsideIn25
