Mt Keira Hawaiian Camp

Finally I have the chance to give you all the low down on what went on on our Hawaiian Camp.... No, we didn't quite make it Hawaii but Mt Keira, Wollongong was just as good.

We arrived on Friday evening (after a dinner at McDonalds). The girls were very excited about our plans for the rest of the camp. Echidna was just concerned about all the huntsman spiders that were living in the accommodation - I don't care if they were there to keep the fly and mosquito population down.... they are very creepy looking spiders!

After a reasonably early night the girls were up and at 'em! By this stage we had only had one leech attack so we were feeling very positive. Little did we know!

Firstly we hit the beach. It didn't matter that it was raining. We met up with the surfing instructors and they helped us get wetsuits on. Pretty funny seeing some of the littler guides in huge wetsuits. After practising the basics of surfing on the beach we entered the water and began surfing! Charlene and Abbey (from here on known as "Gidget 1" and "Gidget 2" were awesome and proved to be naturals. After a few injuries Emma got the hang of it too. Even Michaela and Jemma managed to catch a wave or two. By the end of our lesson every girl was able to stand up on a surfboard for at least a short period of time.

After drying off and having lunch we decided that it wasn't too wet for the sandcastle building competition to go ahead. The judges had a very hard decision to make as all creations were superb.

Back at Mt Keira (and a few more leech bites later) we prepared for a scrumptious dinner of fish and chips. We all ate until we were fit to burst. Movies came next as the girls watched "Drop Dead Fred". After the younger guides were sent to bed the older girls and leaders watched "Edward Scissorhands".

The next day we all shared our previously prepared parts in a Guides Own set in the beautiful Chapel. Lots of leeches attended too.

Finally we headed for home. I think I can speak for all the girls when I say... "What a camp!"

Publish Post

Stay tuned for photos... having camera issues at the moment.

No New Posts?....AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH

Sorry Girls..... it's been extremely hectic lately so I haven't been as reliable as I should in updating our events.

OK...let's see.

Last week we had a fantastic game of baseball against each other. I was running very late after having to attend a meeting, but the enjoyment was evident when I arrived. Lorikeet had everything under control and the game was hilarious to watch. Special thanks to the baby Lorikeets who came along to help out on the night - Daniel and Trudie you are legends.

This week we had our semi annual trolley push fundraiser. Hmmmmmmmm. I was paired with Emma and Jemma (they were tap dancing gurus..... for an extra $1). Seriously though, you girls are just too cute as so many patrons just donated money and didn't allow you to work at all.

So, Banksia and I have a plan. To make up for all the work that you girls DIDN'T have to do last Thursday night I believe a "chores night" may be on the cards sometime in the future!

Stay Tuned.

Orienteering by Torchlight

What fun we had on Wednesday night traipsing around Emma's 30 acre property. Armed with nothing more than an instruction sheet, a torch and a compass the girls navigated their way around the orienteering course, collecting clue cards along the way.

All the girls had a fabulous time and it was so nice to be offsite for a change. The property was huge (views to the city at night just beautiful), but the course was relatively simple. Most girls remembered how to use a compass correctly but one patrol (shall remain nameless!!) had a bit of a challenge ahead of them.

Once the girls had collected all their clue cards it was time to solve the puzzle. Each card spelled out a word in the form of a rhebus (a combination of letter and picture clues). This was quite a challenge and many hints needed to be given.

Finally we had supper and, as it was such a cold night, the hot chocolate, chockie bikkies and raisin toast was just delicious.

Huge thanks to Emma's mum and dad for mowing lawns and cooking supper. Major thanks too to Jordan and Tracy who helped out a lot with reading compasses.

1 Week to Mt Keira camp.....YAY!

Lots of Overseas Visitors to our Blog

Girls, have you noticed how many people from other countries have been coming on to our blog? Lots of them are from North America and Europe. Wouldn't it be wonderful if these people left a comment on our posts? How good would it be to be able to network with other guides from around the world?

Can you think of a way that we can entice them to leave a comment? (Paying them is not an option!) Let me know your ideas!

By the way have you noticed that I added a flag counter to the blog? This means we can track exactly what country our visitors are from.... cool huh?

Jamboree Photos

Some of the Jamboree photos are up on the linked blog.....it's called "J08 - The Warragamba Experience" and the link to get to it is on the right hand side of this blog. Just click and you will get there. Don't forget to leave a comment..... click on the comments written in little letters under each new post and write what you want to say. Then click on username/URL and leave your name before clicking publish comment.

Jamboree 2008

WOW! We did it!!! 8 nights and 9 days of camping onsite at Tara.... and what fun we had! Stay tuned for the J08 blog that will be appearing shortly via a link on this blog.

PS.... this is NOT a photo of us, just one I found!

Suddenly Thirty Wide Game

What a finale to the term! Our Suddenly Thirty wide game was hilarious!

The girls entered the guide hall and ....suddenly found themselves at the age of thirty. The tasks ahead of them were challenging to say the least.

Every girl was busy for the whole two hours and they soon discovered that a mothers' life is not quite as easy as mothers make out.

I believe that all our guides mums will have a little helper around the house now! And...if that's the case.... our job here is done!

The challenges included:

• making a vegemite sandwich (and wrapping it in cling film) for a school lunch
• buying ingredients (from the worst shopkeeper ever) to make lentil burgers. (I fixed it Bev!!!!) The shopkeeper kept on distracting the girls so they had to leave the shop and re read their recipe for the next ingredient. Very very funny.
• cook a SOFT boiled egg
• cook and mash a potato
• ice biscuits
• sew on buttons
• tend the injuries inflicted by their child on another - bloody nose and cut knee
• get ready for a date in a french restaurant and choose items from the menu (all written in French.... interesting meal choices girls. I would NEVER have ordered chocolate mousse for an entree or roast beef for dessert!)
• iron a shirt
• sort the washing.... lots of tissues hidden in the washing pile
• erect a clothes line and hang the washing
• put a doona cover on a doona.... HILARIOUS!
• sort the tupperware containers and find all their matching lids
• shine a pair of shoes
• match up socks with their partners..... lots of odd socks included

The girls ended the night with a visit from our Districs Leader Bursaria who had lots of notes and information for the girls about Damfest and other upcoming events.

Thank you to Naomi and Tracey who came along to help for the night...especially Tracey who could hardly move after straining her stomach muscles at work.

Term is over girls! Have fun for those going to Jamboree..... 2 sleeps to go.

See you on the abseiling course!

Fire's Burning

Week 7 of the term was campfire night. We welcomed five visitors from the Trefoil Guild who really enjoyed our campfire. There was lots of singing, some interactive stories and lots of laughter.
Congratulations to our girls who organised the night.... you did a really good job!

And the marshmallows were delicious!!!!

Thank you to our Trefoil Guild visitors who brought us lots of goodies to share...

• badges
• swaps
• hats
• t-shirts
• rain coats
• badges

We are so lucky to have friends like you!

Photos Photos Photos

Girls,
All our photos are now at the bottom of the blog....just scroll down to view them all. And don't forget to post a comment. I love to hear what you have to say.

Last Night Of Craft...... for 2009 (sorry Beth!)

Well girls, we had our last craft night last Wednesday, and I am positive that Bethany will be soooooo devastated!!!!! She LOVES craft so much. In fact, I think Beth loves craft nights just as much as Echidna does!!!!!!

So...... we knitted, we crocheted (is that even a word??) and we sewed badges onto our camp blankets. It was one of the QUIETEST nights on record EVER!

A big thank you to Gillian and Tracy for giving up their time to come and help your craft challenged leader Echidna. Banksia is quite capable of holding her own on these nights, but poor Echidna just cannot cope with anything involving threads and needles of any kind. And, by the way, Laura ...you did not sew a single badge on your blanket so you should thank your mother profusely!

Well done to all the girls who have now passed their needles badge. We have a promise ceremony coming up soon where all girls will receive the badges they have earned over the past two terms.

WOO HOO!!!!! Our girls are FABULOUS!

WOOHOO...... Patrol Challenge girls ROCK!

Only one years experience and our Patrol Challenge girls lifted their ranking from 10th overall in 2007 to.... wait for it....

FOURTH!!!!!!!!

We are SO immensely proud of you girls. It was a tough competition and you all did so very well.

From throwing lifelines to erecting a flagpole (and raising a full cup of water to the top) to making a fire on water and then having to cook on it...... My goodness you girls are talented.

Congratulations to Laura (Patrol Leader), Bethany, Charlene, Caitlin and Kayla


.......and well done to Beecroft, the overall champions.
Next year girls....... we will, we will rock you!

Patrol Challenge Day

On Sunday we are sending four girls to the Patrol Challenge day at Glengarry. Our girls will have the opportunity to take part in some exciting and inventive activities, competing against other patrols from all over Sydney.

Some of these challenges will include cooking, orienteering, design and make tasks, first aid and safety.

We wish our girls the best of luck as they take on other patrols! (C'mon.... you can beat Beecroft!)

Don't forget to post a comment to let us know what you did and how you went.

Sit-a-pons and Scrunchies

Wednesday night was a fantastic example of how our girls have learned to cooperate and assist other people. It was an absolute joy to see "old" guides helping "new" guides as we began making sit-a-pons for Jamboree. We also began making some to sell in our Guide hut... (Echidna hopes that this will mean that we NEVER have to sew again at Guides!!!) I was totally impressed by girls assisting each other with the pinning process and using the sewing machines. Special mention goes to Laura who helped the younger girls enormously.

So what is a sit-a-pon?

It is a waterproof mat that is padded for the girls to sit on when on camp or when participating in an outdoor activity. They are easily rolled up and secured for packing. Sit-a-pons are not difficult to make and the results were amazing. Of course, we chose our District colours of Lime green and Purple for ours.

Next week any girls who have finished making two sit-a-pons will have the opportunity to make district colour scrunchies.

A big thank you goes to Jan (honorary guide for two weeks - Guide name "Platypus") for generously offering her sewing machines, time and talent to help our girls.

Hopefully Echidna's phobia of sewing will be cured one day.... the nervous rash is fading as we speak!

Guides Take to the Air

Well, we certainly have participated in a diverse range of activities this year. Who would have thought that a Guide could fly.... and fly we did.

The instructors at Camden airport led the girls through a fantastic day that included a tarmac walk, safety rules, aircraft identification, flying in a light plane and making and racing balsa wood planes.

All the girls flew for approximately 30 minutes in a route that took them out to Badgery's Creek, over Silverdale and then to Warragamba Dam. All the girls checked to see if Echidna's husband had hung the washing out to dry!

Every girl remarked at some point that it was a fabulous experience. The mums, dads and brothers that came along enjoyed the day also. A huge BRAVO goes to both Banksia and Echidna who were both on the Camden Air Day committee for organising such a wonderful day.

Check out the photos below to see some of the girls in action.

Roar and Snore...Guides Sleepout at Taronga Zoo

Well girls, after all Echidna's doubts and Banksia's enthusiasm we finally did it! We camped out under the stars at Taronga Zoo. After a VERY long drive from Warragamba to the beautiful city of Sydney (hail to the bus driver, bus driver man!) we arrived at about 7:00pm. It was cold at this point, but not NEARLY as cold as it would get! After a delicious dinner of pasta carried all the way in hot boxes by Echidna and Banksia (wow! you should see the bruises on our legs!) we set up camp. No soft grass for our girls.... just dirt, leaves and sticks to make camp on.

We were entertained by a fantastic campfire, blown away by the spectacular fireworks over Sydney Harbour and were mesmerized by the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on the Big Screen. As the night grew progressively colder we kept telling ourselves it was 31 degrees (in Beijing, anyway!) and that we really weren't that cold at all.

Finally we bedded down for the night and MOST of us were as snug as bugs in rugs. If only we could have found Jemma a volume control switch for her tarp! Morning came all too quickly and after a quick breakfast and a long walk to the education centre we were ready to start exploring the Zoo.

Each girl nominated an exhibit they wanted to see and we planned our route accordingly. The Little Penguins, the elephants, the snow leopard the meercats and the dingoes were standout favourites, however the echidna and wombats rate a mention for their cuteness.

Finally it was time to go and I have never seen guides conk out so quickly on the bus trip home.

What a fantastic experience for the girls and for us leaders. We will DEFINITELY be returning next year, and hopefully more girls will come too.

Term 3.... What a busy start to the term!

Hi Girls,

Wow! Who knew we had so many good singers in our group! Our karaoke night was so much fun and even when it wasn't our turn we still sang along and supported our performers. Honourable mentions go to Lisa and Aleisha on their top scores.... some of us may need to practice a little more to get over our "amateur" and "tone deaf" status!

Last week we held our parent meeting regarding fundraising ideas to get us all to Jamboree 2010 in Victoria. Thank you to all the mums and dads who attended. We floated a lot of good ideas including:

• House number curb painting
• chocolate drive
• cookie dough drive
• more Bunnings BBQs
• smencils
• slice drive

All these fabulous ideas should help us to raise enough to offset the cost of Jamboree. Meanwhile, we are all set for Jamboree 2008 with 10 girls representing Warragamba. Banksia and Echidna are very excited to be going for the whole camp!


Thanks too, to all the families and guides who came along last Saturday to sell Guide Biscuits at Nepean Square. Bursaria informed me today that we sold about 14 boxes..... BRAVO!


And thanks to all the Guides and families who rocked up to Bunnings at Penrith to cook sausage sandwiches. The money for today's fundraising will go to our very important support group and will pay for hall insurance, electricity, water and rates. Without our support group we would be in a pickle, that's for sure!

Photos....Finally!

Well girls, I was finally able to upload some of the photos from Anzac Day and our Promise Ceremony. Don Bosco snaps to come! Stay tuned..... and tell me what you think!

Camp Planning

Hi again girls. What a fun night we had tonight! We planned our camp to Mt. Keira and decided on a Hawaiian theme. This will fit in really well with all of our beach activities. Each patrol will be given a Hawaiian name and we will have to make some new "uniforms" to wear on camp.

Some of our activities for camp will be:

• surfing
• sandcastle sculptures
• fish and chips on the beach
• swimming
• games
• movie night

Don't forget to put the weekend dates in your diary.... October 31st to November 2nd 2008.

Let me know what you think of our planning.

We also had fun tonight with Play Doh Pictionary, Kill the Rooster and Fruit Salad. Banksia will sleep well after all our running!!!!

Knots, knots and MORE knots!

After three sessions this term on tying knots we are now becoming something of experts! Congratulations to all the girls who gained their ropes badge last night by being able to tie six different types of knots. Well done girls..... we are certainly ready for Jamboree now!

Types of knots we have learned:

• clove hitch (granny's glasses)


• clove hitch (over the post)


• sheet bend


• bowline


• figure of eight


• reef knot


• sheep shank


• round turn with two half hitches

Additional rope work:

• snake lashing


• square lashing

What are your favourite knots? Which one did you find the most challenging?

What's New in Term 2?

We have had a very busy term at Guides. Take a look at some of the things we have done already, and the activities we are going to do this term.

• Knots and Flagpoles - we were so lucky to have Naomi and her dad come to Guides to teach us how to erect a flagpole from scratch. Our knotting skills are improving and we will be having another knots night later in the term.


• Fundraising - What a great effort by the girls at the Trolley Push fundraiser. The money raised will help to send those girls who came to Jamboree 2008.


• Scorpion Patrol - drama and high fashion was the tone of the night as the girls designed and created outfits using recycled clothes. Some of the clothes were a bit suspect... I wouldn't want them to be worn on the street! This was followed by lots of acting as groups of girls were given plays to act out. Very very funny!


• Promise Cermony - Abby and Aleisha made their Promise for the first time... Congratulations girls! Michaela and Emma re-made their Promise as they had joined us from Junior Guides. Beautifully done girls!


• BP Award - Laura and Bethany were the toast of Warragamba Guides as they achieved their BP Awards - the first girls to do so for a long time. They looked lovely at the ceremony at Abbotsleigh and did us very proud. Bravo Laura and Bethany!


• Outdoor cooking - we made a dinner for one in a tin can. Cutlets, carrots, potatoes, pumpkin and beans all cooked inside a tin can over an open fire. This was followed by yummy golden syrup dumplings.


• Movie Night - I just love watching Monty Python in my PJ's.

Coming up we have some exciting activities:

• A night at the Don Bosco Sport and Recreation Centre


• Bunnings BBQ fundraiser


• more knots


• tent training - come along and learn how to put up a bell tent, a patrol shelter and make gadgets.
• Air Activity Day at Camden Airport - Girl Guides take to the air!

Don't forget to leave a comment telling us what you have enjoyed this term. You may even have some suggestions for future activities.