Cossgrove course

I went on a scout camp this last weekend. It was a Cossgrove course, about which I knew very little, other than that it was about winter camping. I didn't have high expectations and Duncan had to pull out as he was sick so I seriously thought about pulling out, but I had to deliverthe tents so I made the trip anyway and decided to stay.
Friday
We arrived at 8:00 p.m. and did registration etc. I had ticked 'Leader Patrol' on the form, not knowing really what that meant. What it did mean was being in a patrol with Mike and 4 others, doing what the kids did, which turned out to be a really good way of learning, and also having fun. Everyone got involved in setting up camp, which was a little challenging as it was completely dark, but we got it done. The kids were given supper and put to bed, but it was after midnight before the camp was quite. The leaders had a meeting to confirm what was happening the next day, and a bit of socialising, so we only got to bed around 1:30.
Saturday
It was quite cold overnight, but not too wet although there was a bit of rain around. Some of the kids were up around 6:00, but officially wake up was 7:15 so we stayed put until 7:00ish. We had breakfast and got straight into the days activities which included rope work, axe work and fire setting amongst others. We then got some cooking fires lit and the kids (and the leaders or 'Pink' patrol) cooked our dinner in dutch oven, really a flat bottomed potkjie. Once we had eaten we took a bus trip to the Parakai hot pools and spent the evening there, then back to camp. Kids were down by 11:30 and I was down by 12:30 although some of the others did a bit more socializing.
Sunday
Woke up to the sound of rain while warm and snug in a warm sleeping bag, a great feeling. However the pink patrol (or Pink Cadillacs as we called ourselves) were first to strike camp so we had some very wet tents in the trailer. But the sun came out mid morning and another pleasant day of activities and learnings was had by all. The happy, and tired campers were able to set off at 4:30ish.
Camp photos here

In general I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend, a combination of low expectations and then enjoying the activities, organisation and company. Also learned many thing that we can take back to our scout troop. Well worth the effort.

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Ripleys

Duncan was a bit tired after the Dreamworld trip on Sunday, so we had a lazy start to yesterday. I originally thought about going to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, but Duncan did not seem interested. So instead we went to Ripley's Believe it or Not in Surfers Paradise. As I thought he was fascinated by the exhibits and bits of information all through the museum, it took us over 3 hrs to go through.

Well, its back to NZ today, a drive to Brisbane airport with Erin, then a flight to Sydney, and then back to Auckland Airport to be picked up by Alison. We are going to be stuffed tomorrow.

Dreamworld

Yesterday Duncan & I went to Dreamworld. He had been looking forward to this visit for some time as he had visited their web site and liked the look of the rides. Unfortunately when we got there te rides proved to be a bit much for him, I think he was a little under the weather too which did not help too much either. We did go on one of the roller coasters, bumper cars and a log ride, but his favourite area was the wild life experience where he got to cuddle a Koala and have his photo taken. He also enjoyed some of the games in the amusement arcade.


In general I found Dreamworld quite poor value for money, it was expensive to get in and then I seemed to be constantly reaching for my wallet as most of the things Duncan was interested in cost extra. It may have been a different experience if we had been able to do more of the rides that were available.

However Duncan enjoyed the day which was the prime reason for going there.

We finished off the day by going to a restaurant with Phil for a meal. Good, simple food, but absolutely massive portions, each portion, including Duncan's kids meal, could have fed at least two people.

Water world

We went to Water World today. It was a bit cool and there was a wind blowing that made things a bit chilly, but Duncan & I enjoyed ourselves anyway.

Plenty of time on various water slides and a good play on the wave pool and in the buccaneer area saw 6 hours slip by.

And dad really enjoyed himself too.

Over to Aussie with Duncan

I used up all my airpoints on tickets to Brisbane for Duncan & I. We left yesterday at 9:00, fairly civilized but the family was still up at 4:30 a.m. to get to the airport. The trip to Sydney was pretty uneventful, as was the stop over and next trip to Brisbane. We caught the train to the gold coast, caught it by the skin of our teeth, saved a 1/2 hour wait. The traveling was getting to Duncan by this time and he managed to catch a few minutes kip on my shoulder

We were met by Nikki and went back to where she stays with Phil who I met for the first time, nice guy, doesn't say too much. We also met their neighbour Erin, a very vivacious 24 year old. Dinner was roast pork and I sampled a fair bit of Phil's home brew, I also had a bit of red wine with Nikki, which proved a mistake, I am no longer able to drink lots of booze, I don't think I made too much of a fool of myself, but I was not feeling to bright when I went to bed, and the head was a little sore this morning.

This morning we took Nikki to Brisbane airport as she was heading over to South Africa for Dieter's (her son) wedding. She's a bit nervous as she has not seen the family in SA for a few years now. After dropping her at the airport, Duncan & I were going to go to the Brisbane museum, but the traffic getting into Brisbane city was so bad we gave up and drove back to the gold coast and spent some time at Surfers Paradise. Tomorrow were planning on going to Wet 'n Wild, a water based theme park as the weather here is really warm.