Mitchell River Hike Report

On the 18^th and 19^th of November 2017, I planned a hike for my explorer level badge. Harry, Stephan, Vinnie, Brodie, Angus and Shane joined me on this hike. We met at the Scout Hall at 10.30am and waited for leaders to arrive. We left at 11.30am. Annabel took Brodie, Vinnie and I. Harry and Stephan went with Shane. Angus planned to meet us at the Sale Park where we meet and had lunch. We met here around 1pm. After about half an hour eating lunch we moved onto our destination, Den of Nargen. 

After waiting 1 hour for Shane and Angus to get Shanes car into position we started walking. It took 15mins to get our packs set up. We started walking and we didn’t have to much trouble with tracking because the track was so clear. We were going to go to Billy Goat Bend but we took a detour to the cave of the Den of Nargen. The cave was beautiful and we saw turtles and lots of lizards. From there we headed to our camp site. But to get to our camp site was quit difficult but not impossible. As we walked Steven thought we were heading to the moon because we just keep walking up and up and up. At first Steven was lagging behind but when we made it close to the camp site Brody stated to lag behind. Shane, Angus and I were up front and we decided to stop and wait for the others to catch up. We waited until the others got there and were about to head off when we realised that Brody was not there, so we waited for about half an hour when we decided to continue to the camp which was about 400m away. Anges and I went to go see were Brody was while the others went to camp. We found Brody a few meters down the track and then continued up to the top of the camp site. When we got to the camp site we set up our tents, had dinner talked and went to bed.

Next morning, we got up as early as we could so we could get to the end as soon as possible.  We ate breakfast, packed up tents and started to head off.  Shane stayed with his van so he could drive to the end of the trail. As we started walking we heard deer calling in the distance.  We also came across many beautiful gullies. Today was a longer distance than yesterday, but had less difficult hills.  Near the end we found a Goanna and Harry thought he heard a snake.  One of the last rests we took, Angus lost his phone.  But after 20 minutes he found it behind Brody’s bag.  From there it was only a few kilometres to our destination.  We walked until we found Shane and his van at Angusvale.  After around half an hour, Maryanne and Duncan rocked up and we all went for a well-deserved dip in the refreshing water.

Once we got dried up we left to pick up Angus’s Ute and then onto Sale McDonalds for tea.

by Lance 

Holey Plains Report

Over the previous weekend a number of scouts went on a hike to the Holey Plains State Park. Three of the five scouts arrived at the scout hall at 9:00am, sorted a 

few things out and left. When we arrived at Holey Plains it was around 11:00am. We walked around for about 1 hour before realising we were going the wrong way turned around and eventually found the correct path. Tahlia arrived after playing a game of netball luckily we hadn’t gone too far. We eventually found the correct path and continued on. We had been walking for a while until we got to the next path, we walked past it a few times before realising that Colin had set out a couple of clues, we ended up finding some mm’s left in the shape of an arrow pointing in the direction of the path, so we walked in the direction of the arrow. After a little while the path slowly disappeared and we

ended walking through the bush with no idea where the road was, for about 2 hours or at least that is what it felt like. We eventually found our way back to the road. It wasn’t for another 2-3 hours until we got to camp. Finally Darcy arrived but by that time we had almost set everything up. We all had dinner and stayed up for a while before going to bed.

When it came time to get up it was 7:00am. We all got up and made breakfast; we had to make the milk it was actually really nice. After breakfast we had to pack up camp and finish pin pointing the map after that we left. We hadn’t even walked 1 kilometre and we saw something running in the distance and then

realised that it was an emu, Colin came along shortly after and I warned him of the emu and he sped off after it. Three of us where ahead of everyone else and eventually we had to wait for the rest of them to catch up. We had a little 2 minute break then kept on going for a few more kilometres. We finally finished and had our lunch and left.

By Vanessa

Angus Scout of the year 2010

I am Angus , 13 year old, from the 1^st Yinnar Scout Group, I attend school at the Mirboo North Secondary College, and live in the middle of scouts and school, in Boolarra
Besides scouts in the last few years I enjoyed:

·        playing foot ball for the Boolarra Demons under 16.

·        in the under 13 team of the Boolarra Jeeralang Panthers cricket club

·         Dancing German Volk dance at the German Club in Morwell

·        Playing trumpet

·        and driving my paddock bomb on our farm.

I am very proud to have won the Hazelwood rotary Club’s Scout of the Year 2010 award last Friday.

My journey as a scout started in cubs as I was 7 ½ years old just after Easter.

As Soon as I linked into scouts after Easter (at 10 ½), I worked very hard at the award scheme. At one stage my leader even threatened to lock my record book in the cupboard, because I was getting to much signed of and was catching up to older scouts.

I was very lucky that Yinnar had good patrol leaders in the last few years, and scouts that worked hard on the award scheme and taught me good scouting skills.

I enjoyed many activities like

·        Jamboree a 10 day camp which is held all 3 years in Australia, with Scouts from Australia and some other countries. In 2010 it was near Sydney.

·        Stradbroke is a 4 day competition camp held every year Easter at Gillwelle Park near Gembrook. The judgement is about camping standards, and we have some fun activities there as well. I went to this event the last three years.

·        Cohen shield is held at the Strzelecki district every Year in October It is a scouting skills and team work competition.

·        Hiking I did 400km so far.
 As I was younger I had problems to keep up with the older scouts and I had sometimes help form them, now I am older myself and I am proud not to be the one who struggles anymore,  I can help the younger scouts.

·        Scout hike a state wide competition hike which is held every year.

In 2008 our papers went back with the bus to Melbourne, and we had 1 hr delay to start the hike in the morning before replacement papers came. Scott Marriott the Hazelwood Roatary Clubs Scout of the Year 2007 was our Patrol Leader and helped push us to our limits, we managed to go to 26 of the 27 checkpoints, Scott was carrying my pack a good bit as well as his own. At the end, at the announcement we came second with 75 point behind the winner. As the patrol leader checked the points it was discovered there was 100 points missing from our score and must of got lost with the paperwork. The organisers went white in the face as this was discovered, because the other patrol was on the bus with the trophy already at this point. In the end the other patrol was given 25 bonus points so we got a draw.
The last 3 years I went to scout hike, in the last 2 years I had my birthday at the scout hike, and it will be the same this year, this is a little inconvenience.

·        Camping, I participated in many patrol camps in all weather conditions, and organised some for my patrol as well

·        Abseiling, I had quite a few opportunities at abseiling and I like it.

I just need to do a few finishing touches to be awarded with the scout medallion, the highest award which I am able to achieve in the scout section.

Then I would like to work on the world Environment badge before.

Next year after Easter I am planning to go up to join the Venturers and I am planning to complete the venturer award scheme.

To me, being a scout mean, to be able to have fun in doing so many different activities.

I am very proud to have gotten to this point, and to be able to add the scout of the year to my list of achievements

A big Thank you to all who have helped me to get here, especially

·        The Hazelwood Rotary Club for supporting the Scouts in such a way.

·        The Leaders from 1^st Yinnar

·        Parents

·        District Leaders

Thanks again to all.!.

Mitchell River Hike Report

On the 20^th to 22^nd of August 2010 Dan, Aaron, Tom and I did my 30km hike which I had planned as part of my adventurer level badge work.

We met at the scout hall 4:30 and Dan took Aaron, Tom and me to Mitchell River National Park.

On the way, we stopped at Red Rooster in Sale for dinner.

At Bairnsdale, we stopped at the police station to let them know where we were hiking.

Dan was driving about 50 Km/ph around the corner and the trailer started snaking. Dan managed to stop the car before the trailer jack knifed.

 We left the car and the trailer at the car park at the Den of Nargon and started to hike; it was dark by then time unknown.  

It was tricky when we were trying to read the map in the dark to find out where we were exactly. The river gave us confidence that we were on the right track, as long as we heard it. We saw wombats, wallabies and deer footprints.

 Eventually we got to an intersection and a small walking track went down the river and a 4WD track up the hill.  We took the 4WD track thinking it was Billy Goat’s Bend track.

Tom was feeling sick by then and was struggling.  After walking further, we didn’t think we were on the right track.  Dan went ahead around the corner to check the track we just followed.  Tom was not feeling well so Aaron and Tom waited as Dan and I went further to check the track out.  We found a good camp place then we contacted the others and Tom went straight to sleep after putting up the tent. We got to the campsite about 10:30pm after hiking 3.25km.  Dan and I tried to find out where we were on the mobile tracking system, it wasn’t much help initially, but eventually showed where we were.  We should have brought the new GPS from the Scout hall. 

Next morning we got up, had breakfast, packed up and left for hiking at about 9:10am.  Dan showed us a good way to put our packs on.  After a short hike, at 9:30am we adjusted and swapped packs because Tom had problems with his pack and Aaron’s fitted him better and Tom’s fitter Aaron better, then kept on hiking until we got 10:50am to an intersection at 10:50am where the 4WD track enters the main road.  I was not sure where we were and Dan was positive we were on the main track, a sign was there and it said 2 km to Billy Goat Bend.  We followed the sign because we needed to get water.

We came to Billy Goats Bend at 11:55am and 5.25km hiking.  

We had lunch at Billy Goats Bend, filled our water bottles up, took some photos and at 12:55pm we followed the track further.  Down the track, some walkers  told us about the upcoming river crossing and where to go across.

We soon got down to the creek and found the crossing that they meant. I volunteered to go across first, so that I was able to help the others.  I went in and it was cold.  I brought my pack across.  Dan got in next and as soon as he got in he kept on swearing because the water was very cold. Even though Dan and I were in the water the most, the others still kept on complaining. Dan’s feet went numb!!!

After we dried our feet we put our shoes back on and started hiking again. We eventually got to an intersection with a campsite where we decided to stay the night. It took forever to go down to the camp site.  As we got down to the campsite near the river we set up camp at about 6:00pm. In the afternoon, we hiked 5.75km. We lit a fire while Dan went to the river to get water.  We got the fire lit in one go. We got warmer and had dinner.  Dan showed us how to make chocolate pudding. Tom went to bed before the pudding was finished, Dan had one pudding and Aaron and I shared one.  After that we all went to bed.

During the night Dan was sick.

We got up about 5:00am, packed up, had breakfast, burned all unneeded weight and started walking before the sun came out.  Dan still felt sick.  It felt like it took two seconds to get to the main track. We managed to walk at a fast speed to Angusvale where we had originally planned to sleep at the second night.

As we got to the campsite before Angusvale after 6.5km we rested about one hour, then we hiked for 1.75km to Angusvale and got there about 10am. Because of Dan’s sickness we decided to wait here for Sylvia to pick us up instead of hiking further out towards the highway. We were not able to get phone reception from here even as we walked a bit up the hill. Tom and Aaron lit a little fire and listened to music.

We tried to make a path across a little branch of the creek. Sylvia (Käfer) finally arrived at 2:30pm.  Käfer took us to the edge of the National park; we played around

with a ball while Käfer took Dan to pick up his car and trailer. Käfer came back, picked us up Tom and I went with Dan to McDonald’s where Dan bought for everyone a Chicken Nugget Happy Meal.

Then we went back to Yinnar Scout hall and then home by than it was nearly 6:00pm.

All together we did 23.5km hiking this means Aaron got his 100km, Tom got 150km and I (Angus) got 400km hiking as a Scout. Even though we did not hike as much as planed due to uncontrolled events (illness), I hope I can get my Adventurer hike signed off.

Thank you for the leader, Dan, parents and Scouts, Aaron and Tom, to make the hike possible.

By Angus