Over the June long weekend, 243 scouting members descended on Cobargo showground for the South Coast and Tablelands Region 41st Jamborette.
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Situated around the camping grounds were a variety of tents pitched in groups, to signify the different troops that were participating in the three-day standing camp.
Activities were in abundance, including archery, a flying fox, stamping smoldering horseshoes into hand-cut pieces of wood, ride on lawn mowers, wooden brick tower and tennis ball games, plastic bottle rockets, a soldering workshop to make a torch, and teaching Venturers how to lead.
According to District scouts leader Graham Parr, who was awarded a badge for his service as a scout leader for 35 years, scouting has given him a lot of indispensable practical skills.
"I thought I'd only been here 33 years. I actually teared up, I did," he said with a laugh.
"I got a lot out of scouting when I was a kid, and I wanted to give that back to the scouting movement to give to the kids of today.
"I want to teach those skills to other kids.
"I loved my scouting as a kid, and I love my scouting as an adult."
Assistant Scout Leader Louise Allery from 1st Cobargo Scout Troop said what Graham has achieved is huge, sharing that he lives and breathes everything Scouts.
"Most people who are leaders tend to stay for the length of time their kids are in scouts and then move on when their kids leave. Graham's kids left scouts, and Graham stayed on, and Graham's grandkids are now in scouts in the ACT," Ms Allery said.
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Each of the troops twisted, tied, knotted, and creatively styled their campsite's gateway; a traditional Scout pioneering project to delineate the campsite entrance, but designed to demonstrate a display of scouting skills.
With the theme, "80s and 90s - Turn Back Time,' scout troops created a number of unique and highly-creative gateways, including a Back to the Future inspired gateway with custom-painted hoverboards and a light-up night display, a James Bond themed gateway, and Cobargo Cinema; a movie theatre with hand-painted posters.
The Wonga Award, in memory of Peter Gear, was awarded to the combined troop of Figtree, West Wollongong and Kieraville, for the best decorated troop, and their Back to the Future camp.
The David 'Wombo' Chate Memorial Award was given to 1st Cobargo and 1st Bateman's Bay for best gateway and camp.
Scout Leader Matthew Farran said there had been a tremendous on-going change within Scouts in recent years, especially with the amount of training needed to do adventurous activities.
"Last weekend I was on a bushwalking course so that I can take people out into difficult and untracked places," Mr Farran said.
"It's a lot of commitment from adults, but it makes a much safer environment for the kids.
"There's a fair bit of perceived risk in these things, but what we need to do is make sure the actual risk is low, but the perceived risk is high."
Nae Steffan and Errin Farran are excited for the opportunity to join some of the other Australian Scouts heading overseas for The 25th World Scout Jamboree, which is held August 1-12, at Saemangeum, North Jeolla, South Korea.
Errin has the The Grey Wolf Award, which is the highest award you can earn in the Cub Scout Section and is considered the pinnacle of scouting at this stage, and the Australian Scout Award which is the highest award for the Scout section.
"There's this place [at the world Jamboree] that is like a marketplace for all the different countries, and then there's tents with different cultures," Errin said.
"We're going to have an Australian tent where they have fairy bread and ginger beer, and I am so grateful for that because I don't think I'd be able to survive 12 days without Bundaberg ginger beer," Nae said with a laugh.
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