2011 Stories

These stories appear by month in which they were put onto the website, starting at the most recent month at the top of the page.

October 2011

Update from Pleasant Point

The Guides have had another busy term with Overnighters, Patrol evening, Pets day, and a
fun filled evening when the Brownies came to visit. Judith Hanson has also been taking the girls for their Leadership Certificate which has lots of opportunities for the girls to build on their self-confidence, learn to manage their time, take more responsibility and recognise their strengths and weaknesses.

To end the term we had a fish and chip tea with ice cream and fun chocolate games.

Congratulations to Gabrielle MacGregor for completing her Indoor Camp Permit, a lot of work and by comments received a lot of fun and well organised.

Pippins had another busy term learning all about safety including a visit to the Fire Station and visits by the ambulance and a police officer. The girls enjoyed learning all about what to do in an emergency and nearly all of them knew their addresses and phone numbers.

We had a messy day making bird feeders for Father’s Day. Mixing everything together on the oven was a real challenge, and then trying to attach the string!! Hopefully the birds in Pleasant Point will now have plenty to eat.The last meeting of the term we went to Timaru to visit the library.

At Brownies we focussed on culture in the Here and There badge and also doing a badge called World Guiding Goes Tartan, where we looked at WAGGGS and Scotland and created a scrapbook which we can send to Brownies in Scotland.

Snow Caving

Last weekend saw a minibus-full of eager Rangers from Ashburton, Temuka and Timaru headed for Mt Dobson to meet more Rangers from Christchurch, Dunedin and Oamaru for a weekend of snow caving.

Once everyone had met each other, been sorted into teams and handed food, cookers and snow shovels to wedge into their packs, the polytech students who were our instructors for the weekend led us up the mountain. Occasionally someone fell over and amongst fits of laughter helping hands were offered to pull the victim up again.

After lunch the serious business of digging started. Each groups’ packs were wrapped in tarpaulins to make the embryo of the snow mounds snow was shovelled over the top higher and higher. The Rangers disappeared knee deep then waist deep in the trenches they dug around their snow mounds.

Once the mounds were over 2m high the tunnelling started.. When the packs were located they were dragged out and then the mounds were hollowed out from the inside until big enough for everyone to sleep in.

Once everyone had finished their snow mounds, got their beds unpacked and changed into warm, dry clothes they cooked themselves a hot tea. By this time we had the place to ourselves as the ski field was closed and the generator off. An unbelievable number of stars came out that night to add an extra dimension to the beauty of our snow world.

Sunday morning it took a long time for the winter sun to clear the ridge of the mountain, but we warmed up with porridge and hot drinks. We started a fun morning with a silly game to get the blood flowing, followed by a snowman competition. Each one had to have a story so there was an abominable yeti, one with an ice axe as a prosthetic leg and an ‘Inuit’ over for the Rugby. Of course we had to have some tobogganing on the snow shovels and climbing onto the ice mounds to slide down or pose for pictures.

Then it was time to don our packs again, wave goodbye to our snow homes and trek back down the mountain, crunching footsteps through the crust and trying not to slip on the frozen snow. Back in the car park we put away our gear, said our farewells and headed home, tired but exhilarated.

Annabel

September 2011

Charnwood 2011

My first impression on arriving at the site in Leicestershire, UK, for Charnwood 2011 Guide and Scout camp was the sheer size! There were 4,000 people attending.

I was hosted by a local scout group and we lived in the Ocean sub-camp. It had a fabulous gateway with a huge model shark and fish, as well as a “lit” jellyfish and a water cannon.

On Sunday, I went KataKanu-ing on the Soar river. In the evening, there was a street fair with heaps of cool things to try. Then on Monday and Tuesday, I was on the coach up to the Peak District for GPS Orienteering, which was great fun bashing though shoulder high bracken to find the points.

Wednesday and Friday, I was back out on the river as support paddler. Thursday I went caving in the Peak District which was quite an experience. I wasn’t too keen on the squeeze passage that we had to walk sideways along. I felt like toothpaste coming out of a tube in a little semi-circular tunnel in the wall that we all had a go at squirting ourselves through.

Evenings were always jammed with activities too. I went badge swapping, on the zip wire, to the international party, fired tennis ball cannons and played table top crazy golf.

Friday night was the really hyped-up closing ceremony - I was on stage and the big screen with the other internationals, waving the NZ flag. There was dancing and partying and fair-ground rides and a huge firework display.

Saturday was sad, taking all the tents down and packing up and saying good bye to all my new friends. What an AMAZING camp!

August 2011

Totara Valley Camp

Our Outdoor Adventure Camp was held from 4 - 6 June at Totara Valley Hall. Once we were all there, Shelley told us our groups. I was with Michaela and Rebecca. Shelley gave each group a different coloured hat. The first thing we did was to put up our tents in three groups. After that we all got our stuff in our tents and set up our sleeping bags. Then it was time to cook our tea which we did ourselves.

After tea we got to play spotlight. Some of us all hid together and guess what we were hiding in, the bush. After that we had supper, then went to bed. Out of bed the next day at 7.30am we had breakfast and did some painting. Then we had to make something out of things that we could find outside and some rope and we were allowed to pick anything off a tree. Sophie and I made a clothesline and a swing which did work.

Then Shelley said to us to go and collect some dry things to light a fire with. We weren’t allowed to use paper to light it with. After that we cooked corn fritters for lunch. We were then allowed some free time before cooking our tea of sausages and macaroni cheese. After supper we went to bed.

The last day we were up again at 7.30am for breakfast and then we had to start packing up everything. Once we were finished we got in a horseshoe and Shelley gave us our badges. Our parents then arrived to take us home. I really enjoyed the experience of sleeping in a tent. It
was the best camp ever…

Amy

Pleasant Point District,
South Canterbury

Mt Nimrod Tramp

On Sunday 29 May the Pleasant Point Guides went on a tramp up Mt Nimrod. As soon as we arrived we were split into groups and then we were off. It took about two hours to get to our destination. Everyone was happy to make it to the top as it was a challenging walk. The views were amazing.

It was very steep going down and we were on our bottoms. Coming down we saw a water fall, we went up to have a closer look, to get there we had to climb over rocks but it was worth the effort as it was great.

It took us a long time to come down. We then came to a really big bridge and after we crossed the bridge we were back to the cars. Travelling back to Pleasant Point, we were all exhausted and some even fell asleep.

Vicky

Pleasant Point Guide

The best thing about this term at Brownies

This is what some of the girls from Pleasant Point Brownies said the best thing about their term was...

“When we went to Tekapo to the military camp, we went to the hot pools and ice skating. The hot pools were really warm. The water was 1 metre thick. It was really fun.”

“We went to the military camp, the beds were really hard, but the rooms were warm. We did lots of exercises. We cooked our own toast and did our own dishes. When we went on the walk, there were thousands of big mountains…”
Alex and Libby

“The best thing was ice skating. I was really fast and went whoosh, whoosh, zoom!”
Bryleigh

“The best thing about this term was ice skating, because we were zooming around. We helped each other like good friends. We help people when they fall over, and let them do it over again.”
Ella

“We went on camp to Tekapo. We stayed at the army camp. We went ice skating and swimming. At night we went up to Mount John and we saw Sirius, Saturn and the Southern Cross. In the morning we went back and saw the sun. We
had a great time.”
Amanda and Emilie

“The best thing was the hot pools because it was nice and warm. I went in both pools.”
Jessica

“I liked to go ice skating, because I am a fast skater.”
Rosa

“The best thing was going on camp. The hot pools were my favourite because they were so warm like a bath. In my 6 we played a very cool game, it was a lot like monopoly but it was a bit different.”
Manaia

Pleasant Point Brownies

Fun Term at Pleasant Point Pippins

We have had another busy term with a lot on. First up was the regional event “chip n dip” which included Pippins from all of South Canterbury. We went to Century pool and had a swim and some were brave enough to go down the hydro slide. Then we had Burger King for lunch and finished off with a play at Chipmunks.

We also had a PJ party where everyone brought their pyjamas. We had hot chocolate and stories and even the leaders were in theirs. The Pleasant Point Pippins visited the Geraldine Pippins where we had lots of fun making things and learning all about what they do each week.

Pleasant Point Pippins

Guides AWEsome Day Out in Geraldine And what an AWEsome day it was too! A FROSTY start, but everyone soon warmed up - 58 girls and 8 leaders had a full-on day challenging themselves on the ropes course, cooking up a treat on hobo stoves and terracotta pot fires, racing around the skatepark on rip-sticks and scooters, tearing up the riverbed in a 6 wheeled ARGO, learning how to make and fire bazookas, and even a trip to the Orari Racecourse to try our some proper archery with the Geraldine Archery Club.

AWEsome Challenge Update

The deadline for finishing the AWEsome challenge has been extended to 31 October 2011. Please send your completed form sot Shirley Lindroos as soon as possible after this date. Badges will be distributed in the fourth term.

June 2011

Help from Buckinghamshire

Hello fellow Guiders

I run a Brownie pack in England and we were sad to hear of the earthquake that struck back in February. I hope you are beginning to recover from the shock and things are improving out there.

These drawings were made by the girls. They decided they wanted to help and we had a bring and buy sale. The money we raised we sent to the Red Cross New Zealand Earthquake appeal.

Yours in guiding
Hilary De Meester
Tawny Owl

    March 2011

Outdoor Team Guides horse riding account and Pippins Wheels whizz. Some of the girls out tramping and exploring an historic saw pit before their horse riding session.