Scotch College

Scotch Venturers in action

Bright and early on the second of January over one thousand teenagers from all over the world arrived at the small seaside town of Torquay.

They came from America, Africa, Swaziland, Canada, England, Ireland, Korea, Japan and Nepal, there were also Venturers from all over Australia. Amongst this group were eight Venturers from the 1st Hawthorn - Scotch College Venturer Unit and two of our Venturer Leaders. What were they all there for? Venture 2000, the biggest Venturer Scout event of the millennium.

The Venturers arrived at Torquay and immediately set up their temporary shelters for the night. The first day was a day for relaxing, socialising and catching up with old friends. Day two was the official start of the Venture and the opening ceremony was held on the Torquay foreshore at eleven o'clock. Many of the Venturers then left for their four day major activity. There was a multitude of activities to choose from, some of these were scuba diving, water skiing, sky diving, white water rafting, mountain biking, caving, bushwalking, sailing, house-boating, gypsy caravanning, medieval re-enactment and a whole selection of multi-activities. The Venturers travelled all over Victoria depending on their activity.

My activity was a multi activity, which included skydiving, white water rafting and surfing. We spent four days at our various spots around Victoria for our activity and then travelled back to the surf coast and to Eumeralla, a large Scout Association property just outside of Anglesea. What awaited us there was a small city, there were lots of exciting on-site activities including bike challenge courses, jelly wrestling, jumping castles, video games, Rock concerts and discos by night and general socialising. For the more adventurous there were many off-site activities to choose from including night golf, Melbourne by night, go karting, roller-blading, water-slides and Geelong and Melbourne sightseeing.

For some, the usual daily routine was to rise at around ten, having missed out on breakfast, wander down to the shops and get some food, have a couple of games of pool in the Frat tent and then jump on a bus to Torquay, where you could shop or just laze around on the beach. The last day approached quicker than many expected and the time seemed to fly, before we knew it we were standing at the entrance saying goodbye to all the new friends we had made and promising to call them, before climbing into the bus or the car. It wasn't until we got home that we realised how tired, and sunburnt we really were.

If you would like to know how you can be part of this exciting Unit, contact Mark Wilson (Unit Chairman), Robert Turnbull (Deputy Chairman) or Robert Evans (Venturer Leader) - 9853 8000 (business) or 9859 5631 (AH). Don't wait, take up the challenge and experience life.

Heath Tibballs