1st Wahroonga

Recent Activities - SCOUTS

An evening at Hornsby Rifle Range

The North Sydney Small Bore Rifle Club has a hut and 25 metre range, situated at the Hornsby Rifle Range complex.  On a recent Thursday evening 1st Wahroonga Scouts visited the Club, to experience a night of firearms safety training and target shooting.

The evening got off to a great start as soon as we entered the clubhouse. The walls are covered with fascinating military memorabilia which had our Scouts engrossed. The Club has a special range license, which allows anyone aged 12 or over to try out shooting as a sport. Many of the private schools train their rifle teams here in competitive shooting techniques.

After our paperwork was processed we listened to a brief course in firearms safety. Hornsby Range is very proud of the fact that there has never been a shooting accident in its 75-year history. As soon as the safety issues were covered we moved to the adjoining range and commenced shooting, using Club-supplied .22 rifles. After two shooting sessions, or 'details' as they are called, we scored our targets. The top three shooters were issued attractive crossed-rifle badges by the range officer, which I'm sure will be worn with pride.

This was a fun, exciting night which everyone enjoyed immensely. I'd recommend it to any Scout Leaders in the region - the cost was a very reasonable $12 per Scout. Two copies of parental consent forms are required, one to be left with the range officer. Contact Mr Max Bolton on 0408 298987 to book a visit, but don't leave it too late to call - the range is booked well ahead.

Kosciusko Hike

Fifteen Cubs, Scouts, parents and friends joined our annual high country hike on 20-23 January, for what proved to be one of the best trips ever!

We left in convoy from the Hall on Thursday night and proceeded down the Hume to Conor’s family’s holiday home, at Lake Eucumbene. Next morning, we checked our kit and loaded three days rations (yep, army rations!) into our packs, and drove up to Thredbo. First night’s camp was at Mueller’s Pass, north of Kosciusko, looking across the Snowy River toward Seaman’s Hut. Next day we did a tour of the summits starting with Mueller’s, then Mt Townsend, lunch at Lake Alpina and back to camp via Carruthers Peak. On Sunday we packed up and headed back down, stopping at Kosciusko for a group picture.

What a great weekend. The weather perfect, the hiking not too strenuous (but physical enough, for a good workout) and plenty of snow around for the obligatory snowball fights. Click here to see Conor’s sensational pics.

Snow Trip

On September 17th and 18th September the Scout Snow Trip for 2005 was held. This was the first time downhill skiing (in our case, snowboarding) for Wahroonga Scouts. Our group of ten experienced some pretty wild weather for this time of year. It had been snowing all the previous week and it didn't let up until Sunday morning. Saturday was pretty tough going for our seven first timers as it snowed continuously with strong winds that were apparently gusting up to 70kph!! It certainly seemed that way!

In the afternoon we found a protected area at Mt Blue Cow where the snow was deep and dry; some of the best snow I've seen in Australia! The T-bar in that area caused some grief for our first timers but Cameron retaliated by snapping one of the T's clean off.

Sunday was a complete contrast with blue skies and virtually no wind. With all that new snow, it made for one brilliant day of Snowboarding. It was so good that I completely forgot to get my camera out. By the end of the day all of us were beaming, our beginners were all making great progress and everyone was super keen to head down again next year!

Thanks to all who helped out,
Conor.

Whitsundays kayak trip

Thirteen leaders, dads, and lads assembled at Shute Harbour in early 2006 for our Whitsunday sea kayak and camping trip. We shipped boats and gear across to Whitehaven beach using the local barge, and set up camp. Next day, we paddled up to the beautiful Hill Inlet, did some skitubing and chased the stingrays around. During the week we paddled, swam, fished, and snorkeled over the coral.

One day a 7 or 8 foot shovelnose shark (which had been bitten by another shark) came into Chance Bay, our second campsite, to recuperate. A couple of the boys managed to grab its tail for a free ride! The weather was great, mostly dead calm, with a one foot chop being the most we had to deal with. Everyone got on well together, and we finished off the week with steaks at the Hog’s Breath Cafe in Airlie Beach. A really great trip, not expensive, and one we hope to duplicate later this year.