Category Archives: Scouts

4WDing, Family Life, Geocaching, Out and About, Scouts

Yorkes again ….

November 18, 2012 Scott Leave a comment

I have wanted to get back to Yorke Peninsula and clean up more of the ever increasing geocaches that are appearing there. This weekend was my opportunity with Rachael and the Bleden Venturers looking for transport across to Yorkes for a different sort of clean-up weekend.

The Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources (DEWNR) have a Marine Debris Survey Program that has been going for a few years and the Venturers offered to assist by doing a survey on Gleesons Landing and Daly Head Beach at the western side of Yorke Peninsula.

Gleesons Landing is well known to me as all shifts in the Metropolitan Fire Service hold a 4 day camping break each year although I haven’t been for a few years. It was good to get back.

We finally made it to camp at 11:30 pm and the place was deserted which meant we had the pick of the campsites. The kids spent about 30 minutes setting up camp and were soon in bed. I was ready in 3 minutes since I was sleeping in the roof top tent. This gave me a chance to go for a wander around to the point and grab a geocache. 🙂

Saturday morning and making sure the kids were OK, it was time to hit the road. The plan today was to grab finds and do a lot of the walking geocaches in the Innes National Park. The temperatures were in the mid 20’s so perfect for some long hikes.

Considering the walks, I made 21 finds for the day and saw some spectacular coastline in the process. I had made my way across to Stansbury and camped there for the night. It was a little windy but slept well.

There was only a half day to go geocaching as I was due back at Gleesons Landing to pick up the kids at lunch time. Still managed 16 finds in the morning.

After picking up the kids, it was a quiet drive home as they all slept – they must have been tired.

It was a good weekend for them and me as well. Even our Japanese billet enjoyed the camping experience and I am sure she will remember her stay in Australia.

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Family Life, Geocaching, Out and About, Scouts

Mount Cavern – five hours for one geocache ….

July 9, 2011 Scott Leave a comment

We have been heading to Mambray Creek for a while camping and hiking and there was always one Geocache that was atop Mount Cavern that was my nemesis. I always looked up and thought one day I would tackle this cache.

Today was that day. The weather was cool with misty rain every now and then so off I headed. I had no takers to accompany me 🙁

A few stops along the way to take in the view and I was at the summit after 3 hours.

Added a rock to the cairn, found the cache and took the steep descent to the north.

I am not sure what was harder the ascent or the descent. My legs were sore for days after.

Total trip was 5 1/2 hours but it was worth it with spectatular views both up and down.

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12 of 12, Firefighting, Geocaching, Home Life, Scouts

March 2011 – “12 of 12”

March 12, 2011 Scott

Doesn’t time fly – here it is again another 12th of the month.

Having had a Japanese Student (Yukari from Morioka), the happenings in Japan over the last 24 hours were of interest. Yukari was heading home to Japan today and with the Airports in Tokyo closed, it was unsure whether she would get home. We have had no contact with her parents since the Earthquake but this is more than likely because of no phones at the moment.

By midday, it was confirmed that Narita Airport in Tokyo had reopened so we bid farewell to Yukari and wished her and her family well.

This weekend being the Adelaide Cup Long Weekend, is also the Family Camp for the Blackwood Scout Group at Roonka. It is a great weekend away but I am also on call so Jenny took the kids while I stayed home with the dog (Molly) and budgie (Henry). Molly was hoping to go away as well and waited at the door expectantly while the car was packed.

Jenny’s travels up to the campsite were tracked with our Spot Messenger – unfortunately there is no phone coverage up at Roonka so I cant get here to turn it off now ……

With regard to on-call, I have been to 4 calls so far, so staying home has not been quiet although I have a lot of paperwork still to complete before next weeks, Clipsal 500 Motor Race.

There was a package waiting for me at the Post Office from overseas – it was my new pathtags to take with me on the Reno trip in 2 weeks.

Today is one of two Geocaching 12 of 12’s for the year, so I headed out this afternoon to grab a few caches:

GC25Y1W – Dead End

GC2N9A7 – Sitting A-Round

GC2MZ68 – Back to School: Craigburn

GC2MZ6D – Glen’s Dale

GC2NHWN – Reserve

GC2KW79 – Lovely Valley

GC2KJZE – Rocky Flagstaff

$Molly says \"Can I go too\"$

$GC2MZ6D - Glen\'s Dale$

$Keeping an eye on Jenny\'s Travels$

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12 of 12, Family Life, Scott at Work, Scouts, Work Life

November 12 of 12 …

November 12, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

Another month down and another 12 of 12. This month a bit of work and a bit of play.

I woke up this morning at the State Training Centre at Brukunga as I was taking part in the first Senior Officer Bushfire / Emergency Management Forum. This involved the Chiefs, Deputy Chiefs and Assistant Chiefs of the Emergency Services (MFS / CFS / SES) and the Police Commissioner and Assistant Commissioners of SAPOL. The high level forum discussed the Victorian Royal Commission for the 2009 Bushfires and came up with some resolution on how South Australia will tackle bushfires in the fire season to come.

The forum concluded at lunchtime and it was time to head back down to work for a few more hours before heading out with the family and 500 other scouts to the Distinctive Home Dome to watch the Adelaide 36er’s take on the NZ Breakers in basketball. The Scouts had a promotion on tonight including a half time show with abseiling, tent pitching and sand buggies. The tickets for the game were free as part of the promotion.

The game was an exciting one with the 36er’s being down by points early in the game before levelling in the 3rd quarter but ending up losing by 3 points. Not bad considering the NZ Breakers are leading the NBL competition at the moment.

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Family Life, Scouts

Roonka Family Camp

March 6, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

The March Long Weekend is the normal weekend for the Blackwood Scout Family Camp at the Roonka Water Activity Centre north of Blanchetown. We missed last year because of some other group booking the site before we could but not this year.

This year brought a record number of families with 140 people camping the weekend. Most made it in on Friday although we nearly didnt.

We borrowed my brothers SeaDoo and the last time it was used was when we borrowed it for the Family Camp two years ago so some maintenance was required with a new battery and oil. This took longer than expected so we didnt get on the road until 6:30 pm.

This year the weather was a lot cooler than a couple of years ago with mid to high 20’s instead of the low to mid 40’s.

The first day (Saturday) was perfect river weather – not too hot or cold and only a light wind. The kids spent most of their time in canoes and on blow up matresses and I spent 5 hours taking kids for rides on the SeaDoo.

The weather soon changed once we had finished for the day with strong winds, heavy rain, lightning and thunder. All the better to sit back and enjoy the company of good friends and new acquaintances.

Family Life, Geocaching, Holidays, Scouts

AJ2010 – a day off …

January 10, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

Sunday the 10th was a “rostered” day off for most of the leaders of Troop 0404. The plan today was to pick up Jenny, take her to lunch then show the sights of Wollongong.

I picked up Jenny around 10:30 – it gave her a chance to do some washing. I had left Bradley in bed so that he could catch up on his sleep (there was no “Do Not Disturb” sign so I thought housekeeping may wake him up).

After picking up Jenny, we headed down to Cataract Dam as it was only a couple of kms down the road from Cataract Park and of course there was a cache. The dam was reasonably full and they had one of the pipes open to release some water into the Sydney Water system.

From there we headed back to Wollongong via the Bulli Lookout then back to the room just as housekeeping was about to do our room. Bradley was still asleep. Jenny woke him up then had a “real” shower.

Lunch was at the Mt Keira Cafe with a friend – retired NSW Station Officer Paul Baker and his son Jack. Paul had organised Table 21 (the one with the best view) as he had done some plumbing work for the owner.

The meal, view and company were great. We were not to know but Jenny was going to go back the next night for the Contingent Dinner.

Paul suggested a couple of spots worth checking out – Sea Cliff Bridge and Bald Hill.

The Sea Cliff Bridge is a bridge that was built out away from the cliffs due to road and cliff slippages. It is used a lot for car commercials. And there is a cache under it as well. I walked the bridge while Jenny and Bradley drove it.

From here we went up to Bald Hill where the local hang gliders and para gliders take off. There was a good crowd to watch and a lot of craft taking off as well. It is one spot that you wouldn’t want to fall off.

We took Jenny back to the Jamboree around 5:30pm and we headed back to the hotel. Not a bad day off.

Caches for the day include:

GC130KN – Cataract Comedy

GCM3EX – That’s Tops

GC1B9KB – Grand Pacific Cache

GCT02F – Eyrie

GC1REGR – Gateway to Heaven

GCF28E – Number Game in Wollongong

GC14608 – Nun of This

GC1YEF4 – Picnic in the Gong

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Family Life, Scouts

AJ2010 – Visitors Day

January 9, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

Today Bradley and I made the trek up Bulli Pass to Cataract Park not sure if we would make it as the car was working on fumes as I had forgotten to fill it up. We made it OK but would we make it home?

Our trip today was to the AJ2010 Visitors Day to catch up with Jenny and Rachael after their first week.

It was a warm day (35C with about 70% humidity) which made for close conditions with plenty of sweat and keeping up fluids.

We managed a car park very close to the entrance (our arrival time was 11:00 am) and they had finished sending all the cars down to the dam and were filling up spaces that were left. Through the entrance was quick and we were on site within 5 minutes. Seemingly those that had entrance times at 8:00am only got on site about an hour before we got there.

The thing with Cataract Park is the walking and distances. Of course Troop 0404 was not the furthest from the entrance, it wasn’t far off. (1.3 km from the entrance).

Jenny and Rachael were happy to see us and we had a quick look at the cap then headed to Sub Camp 4 Market Area then back for lunch with all the other family members that had made the trek across from SA. Meat and Salad Rolls for lunch today.

After lunch, the kids disappeared, and I headed off to the Geocaching Event that was scheduled for today on site. They introduced Geocaching as an activity for this Jamboree and it was being taken up by many with a number of temporary caches set up on site. I caught up with many cachers from Australia and NZ. We exchanged tips, pathtags and travel bugs and headed on our way.

After walking around some more, taking in the Contingient Tents, we went to Sub Camp 2 to catch up with Liam and Lochie McHenry who were attending their first Jamboree. An exchange has been set up for Tuesday night where Rachael’s patrol will dine at 0224 and Lochie’s patrol will dine at 0404.

After another meal with Troop 0404, Bradley and I made the trek back up to the car and into Appin to get fuel (we made it).

While in Appin and on the way back to Wollongong, picked up some caches of course.

Caches for today were:

GA1702 – Jamboree Scout Geocacher Get Together

GA1691 – Where the wild things used to be

GA1747 – Scouts, Why Knot?

GC10F0X – Cataract Scout Park

GC22ET3 – Ferals

GC22ERZ – Eye Spy

GC13R02 – Appin Gateway

GC21KRZ – Barefoot in the Park

GCYJ6N – Da BOM

GC1A9BY – Copious Caches on the Coast #2

GC101VK – Dharawal Gateway

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Family Life, Scouts

AJ2010 – Troop 0404 Departure

January 2, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

It was 12:30 pm and all except 1 family were waiting at the Blackwood Primary School (the missing family were at the Belair Primary School wondering where everyone was). We were wondering where the bus was. It didn’t arrive until 1:00 pm.

Once the bus arrived, bags were loaded on and kids found their seats. It was then back off the bus for the departure photos, final farewells and then it was time for Rachael and Jenny to depart for the AJ2010 at Cataract Park for the 22nd Australian Jamboree.

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12 of 12, Family Life, Firefighting, Geocaching, Scott at Work, Scouts

December 12 of 12

December 12, 2009 Scott 3 Comments

Today was an interesting and varied day for a 12 of 12.

The day started out in the early hours of the morning with a 3rd alarm fire at the old Julia Farr building at Fullarton where I attended as a Safety Officer.

After a pretty broken sleep with the pager continuing to go off every hour or so, it was time to head up to the Blackwood Scout Hall to assist the Scout Leaders to pack the pallecon with the equipment for Troop 0404 attending the AJ2010. After packing the 2 trailers with the last minute bits and pieces we headed down to Gillman to start packing.

When we saw the size of the pallecon and the amount of gear to fit in, we were not sure of whether it was possible. Many of the other troops packing also were of the same mind and kept coming over to see how we were going.

After 2 hours all but 2 water containers (they will go in the bus) made it in and the pallecon started its journey to Cataract Park.

It was then time to do some geocaching in the Gillman area.

Caches found today are:

GC1KKCT – Sister of the South

GC1NXH0 – The Fifth Element

GC1BBEX – BIC

GC1FYQV – Come Chase The Bunny