Helen Chick
I had a Scout camp this weekend: a District event involving a number of troops from our area, in which the kids did a short overnight hike, as well as a series of activity bases. The weather forecast had not been great, but both days were mild and sunny and the venue—a place I hadn’t visited in over 15 years—is a lovely spot.
We walked from Fortescue Bay around the coast, where we had great views of Cape Huay (in the first photo below), and we eventually ended up at Bivouac Bay, a rocky cove with a freshwater creek and enough camping places for our party of 40 (30 Scouts, and about 10 leaders).
Although it is only a 6km walk each way, the short late-autumn days and the fact that the patrols left at staggered times after lunch meant that it was heading towards dusk by the time we arrived. The Scouts set to cooking (we had to assess them), a task they managed quite successfully, and then the nearly full moon arose, lightening the dense bush and giving the nearby bay a ghostly glow.
I slept like a log, thankfully, and assessed one group of kids’ breakfasts and packing up, before enjoying the early light on the bay prior to heading off myself with the tail-end-Charlies group of leaders. One of our Scouts managed to injure himself on the way back which made life a bit uncomfortable for him, although he managed to complete the journey (with one of the leaders taking care of his pack). The return to Fortescue Bay—with its lovely sandy beach and lagoon—offered one final challenge: a creek crossing a little deeper than it had been yesterday (more awkward than serious, however, and I took care of it by removing my boots and socks).
Anyway, our group of kids — a fairly young patrol — did a good job, and I had an enjoyable weekend.
Addendum (6 June): I did one of my hike certificates for the kids a week or so after the hike, and included a couple of silly cartoons highlighting the injury-inducing bridge collision, and also the somewhat amusing — if disappointing — consequences of the kids packing salt instead of sugar for their apple crumble.
Oh man, that’s a pretty spot. I’ll admit I’m a little envious. Need to organise our own hike somewhere equally pretty soon.
Some parts of the walk/place reminded me of our hike to Cape Otway two years ago, although no one managed the epic “planking” effort depicted in Photo 8 of that day’s collection!