Scouting is a great experience - full of fun, laughter, learning, adventure, outdoors, challenge, smiles and achievement - and it's even better fun when you can participate with your friends.

A Cuboree is an event that not only combines everything that is Scouting ... it brings thousands of Cubs together from all over the State of Victoria helping them establish wonderful friendships through a unique camp experience.  Cubs from Altona, Bacchus Marsh, Ballan & Sunshine created Unit 110 and spent a week together growing, learning, laughing, developing friendships and enjoying everything that is Cuboree.

Situated in one of the best campsites at Gilwell Scout Park, Unit 110 were surrounded by activities for the duration of the week.  Settling into their home away from home, the Cubs quickly understood how important their campsite location was ... as while walking around Gilwell Park, due to the rain, they discovered that many of the other camps were full of mud, making everyone in Unit 110 appreciative of their campsite.

CUBOREE ... DAY 1

CUBOREE UNIT 110 CAMPSITE

 

Accommodating 30 Cubs and 8 Adults, setting up a Cuboree campsite is no easy feat. One day prior to the arrival of Unit 110, a dedicated team of parent volunteers drove through to Gilwell Scout Park and persevered through the most persist rain for the week in establishing our amazing Unit 110 Campsite. In and out of heavy showers, constant rain and light drizzle our parents never gave up as they set up a kitchen, dining room, serving shelter, trailers, a gateway and 18 tents to accommodate our Unit 110 family.

Walking along the muddy roads of Gilwell Park to find our campsite, when the Cubs arrived ... they were impressed and amazed at what they saw ... a fully established camp, surrounded by trees, grass bushes and tents galore. 

WE HAVE ARRIVED

THANK YOU to all our wonderful parents who helped set up the most perfect Cuboree Campsite.

After an enjoyable bus ride from Western to Eastern Victoria through torrential rain in the city of Melbourne, we arrived at Gilwell Park and very quickly settled into Cuboree life. With our stretchers already set up, it was very easy to settle into our tents ... and learn of a few tricks our parents had played on the leaders ... before getting an understanding of the layout of our campsite.

With no scheduled activities throughout the afternoon, we went for a walk and toured Gilwell Park gaining an insight into the size of Cuboree and how one Scout Camp can accommodate over 3,000 Cubs!!! We became familiar with our Patrols, established a Unit 110 Cuboree Code and played games in the dining room. Then, thanks to our phenomenal catering team, we all enjoyed a delicious dinner before heading to the Campfire Circle for our Cuboree Opening Ceremony ... an amazing and educational journey through the indigenous history of the local area and beyond.

Our Gateway even looks AWESOME in the Nocturnal Hours

CUBOREE ... DAY 2

After a great nights sleep and a great breakfast we were ready to start our activities and begin the full Cuboree experience.

Through a variety of activities we learnt how to strengthen and fully utilise our Senses - Hear, Sight, Smell, Taste and Touch - which was an interesting experience and a unique insight into the wonders of the human body.

Arriving at Cherry Lane we were ready to immerse ourselves in the activities that waited our arrival. Starting with a drawing activity that very quickly lead us into a painting activity where we were to contribute to the overall design of a few Cuboree Walls. However, while we did add colour to the walls, it was better fun adding colour to each other as we began to paint faces, ears and hair of our Unit 110 friends.

Moving on from our face painting activity we were challenged through a obstacle course where we had to walk, crawl, jump and balance through a series of activities lead by a group of Venturers.

With the obstacle course conquered we moved onto the Giant Games, where as a team we had to work together to participate in a series of Giant Games.

Mission Number One ...work out how to play Twister on the mud covered Twister Boards ... Mission Accomplished as many of the Cubs got down on the ground and played while getting covered in mud, resulting in a huge amount of fun, laughter, smiles and twisted bodies!!!

Mission Number Two ... use your imagination while bowling and building with blocks ... Mission Accomplished.

Mission Number Three ... enter the Cherry Lane Maze, climb the scaffold bridge, seek out the puzzle pieces, don't get lost and put the puzzle together ... Mission Accomplished.

After a very busy day of fun activities and friendship, it was time to load our pockets full of money and visit the Cuboree Merchandise Shop. With no parents to interfere, this was a wonderful supervised introduction to budgeting, product selection, negotiation and retail therapy in a safe and very supportive environment. There was a variety of products to chose from and our Pocket Money was proudly and appropriately invested, resulting in smiles all round.

CUBOREE ... DAY 3

Implementing our Cuboree Code was one of our favourite activities ... especially when it resulted in the rolling of the Discipline Dice. Each day we would spend time informing the leaders of wrong doings within the Unit ... especially in relation to our Unit Code. We would then challenge the leaders to bring out the Discipline Dice and celebrated widely when were asked to form a circle and the dice was rolled in the middle.

Implementing the Discipline Dice was great fun as it kept us active, engaged, smiling, laughing and attempting a variety of different fitness activities ....

Day 3 was the day everyone was looking forward to. Through Cuboree promotion and research, talking to other Cubs, Scouts, brothers, sisters and leaders that had participated in past Cuborees we knew there was always a mud run activity ... today was our day to experience the Mud Run ... and were we pumped.

Dressed in shoes & clothes we never wanted to see again we were ready for whatever the Mud Run had planned for us ....

CUBOREE UNIT 110 BEFORE THEY ENTERED THE MUD RUN

Starting with a sponge throwing activity we eagerly awaited our turn to stick our heads in the holes before everyone else launched mud soaked wet sponges at our heads. The longer the activity went, the more accurate our throws became ... especially towards the end of the session when a certain leader stuck his head through a hole only to have every sponge redirected towards that particular hole!!!

As we moved through the No Going Back Activities we arrived at the Sponge Catapult Activity where we actively catapulted sponges at a variety of leaders who were brave enough to walk between the catapults.

Then finally, we were standing in front of the destination we had been looking forward to since before we arrived at Cuboree ...

Dirty, dusty, wet and excited we stood in front of the MUD RUN .... ready ... to run, crawl, slither, walk, jump, roll and do whatever it was we needed to do to conquer the MUD RUN ...

... AND IT WAS ... AWESOME!!!

CUBOREE UNIT 110 AFTER EXITING THE MUD RUN

After conquering the Mud Run we moved onto the Colour Run where a variety of colours were splashed all over our muddy bodies to brighten up the scenery!!!

Then finally before completing our Mud Activities for the day we enjoyed the water slide as we slid down the hill to start the process of cleaning our clothes ... before scrubing our bodies!!!

Space Force was a series of initiative activities which challenged us to work in teams whether we were in pairs, Patrols or as a Unit. We enjoyed moving through the activities ... especially the maze where we had to find a variety of different shapes, words, pictures and designs ... before we arrived at ....

... the Rocket Launches ... where we had an awesome time launching bottle into Outer Space!!!

Tonight we had another fantastically delicious dinner which we shared with our friends from Unit 136. It was a wonderful night full of friendship, laughter, badge swapping and fun as we played board games, shared stories, ate dinner and performed some skits.

CUBOREE ... DAY 4

Today we gained an insight in what we can experience and achieve as our Scouting Journey continues and we become Scouts. Moving through a series of enjoyable and challenging activities we had fun ...

... getting our drivers licence ...

... geo-caching ...

... code & puzzle solving ...

... making Scubzooees ...

... and solving initiative challenges!!!

Arriving at Odyssey we knew we were going to have fun ... especially when the first activity was introduced as a FREE FOR ALL. This involved us collecting as many balls as we could and launching them at as many people as we could as we run around an open area. This was awesome fun and while we all enjoyed throwing balls at each other ... we thoroughly enjoyed launching them at the leaders!!!

Moving into another Cuboree Maze we were challenged to find pieces of the Mars Rover hidden within the Maze. Working as a tam we very quickly found the Mars Rover pieces and then worked together to create the Mars Rover and complete the challenge.

Walking over to our final Odyssey Activity we were curious ... "what were we walking into?" But once we got there ... we were very excited to see a team work water slide. Working in pairs, while one Cub sat on a mat holding a cup of water, the other Cub pushed them down the slippery slide while trying to stay upright on their feet!!! If successful, the Cub sitting down would pour the cup of water into a bucket at the end of the slide ...

BADGE SWAPPING

One of our favourite Cuboree Activities was Badge Swapping. While travelling to Cuboree on the bus we discovered a bag of badges in our Cuboree Back Packs. When we inquired as to what they were we were told they were badges to swap ...

... that is using these badges we could go around Cuboree asking other Cubs if they would like to swap badges. ...

The number rule of badge swapping was ... you swap one badge for one badge .

Once we heard about this we instantly started swapping badges on the bus and continued to swap badges throughout Cuboree. We walked around visiting other Units, while Units also came and visited us. It was wonderful fun and something we thoroughly enjoyed doing during Cuboree.

CUBOREE ... DAY 5

Heading Home

Disembarking from the bus at Gilwell Park on Day 1 of Cuboree we walked into our Campsite as a group of 38 people from 4 different Cub Units in Western Victoria. Today, as we boarded the bus to go home we departed Cuboree as Unit 110. Together we had survived the weather, lived in tents, conquered the mud run, enjoyed a variety of activities, eaten delicious food, swapped badges, played board games, had experiences no-one else will ever understand and embraced every opportunity Cuboree had thrown at us ... and not only had we survived ... we loved it. Our Cuboree was awesome and we'd all had a fantastic five days.

While on Day 1 we arrived as Cubs ... today after a week of growth, maturity and learning we departed Cuboree as ROVER CUBS!!!

OUR UNIT 110 FAMILY ... MEMORIES, FUN & FRIENDSHIPS