Scouts, smoke and seascapes

For a semester that was supposed to be a quiet one, this first half of the year has been more hectic than I’d hoped, and while the idea of a Scout camp this weekend was very appealing, it was a bit of a struggle to actually get there (and, in fact, I wasn’t able to head down for the first night due to Deputy Dean dress-up duties). As is always the case, however, once I get to camp it provides a refreshing release from work and other pressures, and is something I’m glad I’ve made the effort to do.

One of my past Scouts seems to be interested in coming back as a leader, and it was to his father’s property down near Port Arthur that we ventured for some exploration, some practice with the Scouting basics, some sitting around smoky campfires, and some wide games.

The first batch of photos below show our explorations around the rocky shoreline of the peninsula near our campsite.

Our Scout troop is quite young at the moment, and so we have many Scouts who needed a chance to learn and practice the basics, and so we had a bit of a focus on simple cooking, and construction.

The leaders were, of course, hard at work the entire weekend.

The Scouts did the cooking, and it was nice to sit around the campfire in the evening enjoying a tasty meal at the end of the day.

It had been raining the first night and in the morning as I arrived, but the rest of the weekend was sunny if rather cold, and so we were able to do most of the things we planned and have some fun as well. The Scouts seemed to have a really good time. One of the best bits, of course, was being able to pack the tents up dry, so that there was nothing to hang up at the hall when we got back. They may, however, smell just a bit smoky.