Well weve just returned from a fantastic 4 day trip at Scoutville on Rangitoto Island, the whole trip having been planned by our Scubs here at Chartwell, boys aged between 10 and a half years of age and 12. The boys planned and booked all the transport, accommodation, menus, activities and I feel they we as leaders just went a long for the ride. We travelled up from Hamilton on the Naked Bus and met one of our leaders Mark at the Ferry terminal, he had transported all the food and water, plus a couple of fishing rods and materials for some of the activities we had planned for the weekend. Fullers Ferrys really need a mention here as they were more then helpful in getting our gear onto the ferry, they lent us a trolley and also man handled, or should I say lady handled a lot of the equipment onto the ferry for us. For some of the boys it was their first trip on the Ferry but for one it was his first trip on a boat of any kind, there were to be a lot of firsts on this trip, longest stays away from home, first visit to Rangitoto, first swim of a jetty, first time to the peak, longest hikes, first time cooking believe it or not.. not sure how that happened lol. The weather was unbelievably hot and as we had been warned you get a lot of reflection off the volcanic rock, so make sure you cover up. The batch was fantastic, the scubs plus cub were all over it opening up all the shutters, finding their place to sleep as soon as we got there, the little red trolley proved more then useful bringing the water from the jetty and as we would find out water would be one of our most precious commodities. With all the gear stowed, bach opened, we decided to let the boys have a swim, now for those not familiar with the island the shells and rocks are razor sharp, something the boys found our very quickly as we had a few quite deep cuts and nicks to toes and shins on the first day and on that day and every subsequent day, my first aid kit took quite a hammering. Dinner took a little while to get organised as the water from the tank smelt strongly of sulfer so we utilised the water from the toilets and boiled that as it seemed to have been treated with chlorine, we used this water fro washing up, prepping food, brushing teeth only and reserved or 80l of water for drinking and as we found we would need every drop. With planning meetings out the way and the Log book filled in, we took the boys fishing, me I caught nothing, but the boys were luckier, catching small snapper, leather jackets on squid just off the jetty, none of them were keepers unfortunately, but the boys loved it. The next day after a really hot night we headed off on what would prove to be a very long but subsequently satisfying hike, following the coastal road to McKenzie Bay the boys had a well deserved swim, fantastic bay and well worth the visit, the boys who had cut their feet the day before were suffering a bit, I piggy backed one of them for more then 2.5km and despite mine and the other leaders reservations, they all made it there in good spirits. We then headed off up the Summit Road, picking up 6 geocaches on the way, and thats a steep climb, in the heat, got to the board walk up to the summit and revitalised by the swim and youth the Scubs basically ran up it all the way to the top. After resting at the summit, we made our way down to the Lava Caves and explored them, before following the summit Track down to the bach, for a very well earned rest, 11.4km, hike in heat, 2 plus ltrs of water each consumed, lots of repairs on sore feet and totally chuffed with everyone for their tenacity, courage and determination to finish the tramp. Day three was a little bit of a rest day, we taught the scubs about latitude and Longitude, showed them how to measure the height of the sun at mid day with a clinometer, under took one of the set orienteering courses which we had found in the information booklet and took them all swimming off the Jetty, not so many cuts this time.. far safer and no sign of that great white (phew) or micro jelly fish, sea was warm and very salty. We spent the rest of the evening fishing and taught the scubs how to use the crux clock to calculate the time from the southern Cross and of course find celestial south and south The scubs went back to the bach and as I had been unsuccessfull in catching anything I stayed for another hour to hope my luck improved (no luck)., then back for milo. Day four was packing up and some leather work for the scubs teaching them how to make small pouches, which they loved, then after another swim off the jetty, back home, via, ferry, bus car a great 4 days. Kids never stop amazing me.. so cool
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 22:17:07 +0000
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