I’ll be honest when we arrived at Gosford, I thought it was just a normal camp except we weren’t in tents. I was excited and at the same time I wasn’t sure if I had actually made a good choice in going, but oh was I wrong. It turned out to be one of the best weekends of my life (no exaggeration).
We had gone believing that there was loads of food for each meal. That sounded great to everyone I’m sure. But once all the different troops had arrived, we were lined up and told it was all a lie there was no luxury food or anything like that. The minute everyone was told the mood changed as you could imagine. We were put into tribes which was to be our new team for the weekend. At first it didn’t seem great, I didn’t know anyone in my tribe. I was worried we wouldn’t get on but everyone was great and after what we went through, they’re definitely friends for life. They made it so enjoyable; everyone did from all tribes. We were like one giant family at the end.
Our first task was to go to a specific location marked out on a map. That was where our tribe rations where. Of course it was my tribe which never found the ration box, after searching for 4 hours – like how!?
Well when we got to camp everyone had set for the night in their given space and had eaten some of their food for dinner. We couldn’t do that however. 😀 Luckily for us another tribe happily fed us some rice to do us until the next meal and that’s the things that really stand out. They didn’t have to feed us but they did anyway. Everyone just looked after each other it was great.
The next morning was great; cleaned up camp and got to know everyone a bit more. Around lunch we then set off for some activities. There were four different bases for each tribe to go to and they were great. They were knife skills (which I seemed to have some trouble in 😀 ), squirrel and pigeon skinning which was great. I didn’t expect it to be so interesting; the animals we skinned was to be our dinner later as well. There was also fire skills where we were shown how to use a bow drill and a proper piece of flint and some steel; it was so fun. It felt like we were getting in touch with our inheritance. Then there was archery that was good fun; it had been made into a competition between the two tribes at the base. Which ever tribe hit the most chicken pictures was to win a chicken for dinner along with the squirrel and pigeon.
When we arrived back at camp we were given some time to relax and do whatever we wanted. Then came the bush tucker trials; these were on another level of hard and funny. It became competition from this point on as each tribe could win gold coins and whoever had the most at the end was able to get a Chinese or whatever fast food they pleased.
The trails were brilliant if you weren’t the one up for your tribe. You had to eat a plate of whatever was given and finish it quickest for maximum gold coins. There were things like a whole can of dog food or a few raw onions. That was definitely a challenge! We were then left for the night to cook dinner and do whatever. It was so nice to chill. On Sunday we had more challenges, all different teamwork skills were needed. It was really good and tense as these were the final moments were you could gain gold coins for that Chinese. They had a challenge to test our physical and mental capabilities. It really made us bond and get even closer to our tribe.
I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend away. It was amazing! In the end after battling for gold coins we were all rewarded with a Chinese! The weekend ended with a bang; literally all the Ventures pulled the roof of a marquee filled with Scouts, Cubs and Beavers with fireworks appearing straight after. It was so nice and the fireworks were awesome!
The weekend truly was something else! Never have I experienced such a thrill when it wasn’t expected. Thanks to everyone that organised the weekend it was great. ☺
Photos courtesy of Alan Bailie (MPSE Team)
