Tag Archives: MCMK

Scouts – Easter Camp 2016

Each Easter, Scouts from Benowie District meet at Crosslands for the traditional Easter Camp.

Four days of fun and hard work keeping the campsites in perfect order. The camp is usually closed with a flour and water bomb fight – followed by a good wash (read water fight) in the river. There was perfect weather for the camp this year.

We had 3 new patrol leaders, new tents and many new faces – so we were very proud to finish in second place. Awesome work from our Scouts!

1stMCMK built a awesome entry gate to welcome visitors to the camp.

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All Scouts had a blast!

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The weekend culminated in a epic flour fight !
Flour

Tired, dirty (and Flour covered) Scouts returned home on Monday after a great weekend.

Scouts Triumph at 2015 Easter Camp

`The Benowie District Easter Camp has been run and won for 2015 with the Mt Colah / Mt Ku-Ring-Gai Scout Troop taking out both 1st and 2nd place.

group shot

Easter camp is held each year at Crosslands Reserve and has a competitive element focusing on campcraft, and scout skills.

The theme the year was ‘Mexican’ and our 2 Patrols, “Hasta La Vista Amigos” came in 1st place and “Flying Tacos” came in 2nd place. The win breaks a long running streak by Waitara Scouts.

The weekend is not all hard work, lots of fun was had in the rain with ‘wide games’, and a huge flour fight, where local MP Matt Kean led the charge into battle !

flour fight

Thanks to our dedicated Leaders for a great weekend, enjoy the year of bragging rights !

 

Masterchef Venturers: The Challenge – Feed Hungry Rovers

MCMK Venturers and Rovers at the Cook-Off (Sorry Tania, I cut your head off!)

“Let the games…. begin!!”

Well, it was about time we brushed up our cooking skills! It’s that time of year when it’s cold outside and there’s too many cooking challenges on tv! Time to give ourselves our own cooking challenge. The Venturer Cooking Night had evolved into a “Feed the Hungry Rovers Challenge”.

Good thing that we meet on the same night! We originally had 5 courses planned, but in the end, only used 3, which was enough – we had enough curry to feed a small country!

Here’s what was on our exotic menu:

Binskin relative.

– Guacamole: This is a south American dish,  I think. Made with avocado and tomato and is delicious!!! We were lucky to have the Binskin secret recipe, which was handed down for thousands of years from ancient Binskin Aztec relatives.
– Jackfruit curry: Jackfruit is the largest fruit available. It can be cooked when unripe, and it’s like a vegetable. When it’s ripe – it’s a fruit!! When it’s cooked, it has the texture of chicken. Hey, this is meat for vegetarians!! (Sorry, I got a bit excited there!)

– Tzatziki: A greek dip made with cucumber, yoghurt and garlic!!! Mmmm… I got this recipe from an oldGreek lady in a bakery in Dee Why. Caution: makes your breath stink, but who cares?

Jackfruits - Why stop at eating one only?

All our venturers had a great time preparing the food, cutting up the veges, burning the curry powder (all curry powder has to be toasted!) and mixing all the ingredients. It was a lot of fun, noisy though, because the scouts were next door making a huge racquet (ie. noise – not the tennis stick thing)

Time to plate it up!! We served up our dishes to ourselves and the Rovers! Hey, they like this stuff! Many went back for seconds!

The night was a huge success!!!

I can’t wait for the next Venturer and Rover cooking night! It will be the Rovers turn to cook for us! Let’s see if they can cook something other than sanga sandwiches and sauce!!

“Rovers… the challenge is on!”

Cheers, Mazza

The Shack


On 4th June, a small group of 3 Scouts, 1 Venturer, 2 Leaders and a dog meet at the new hall and drove to the oyster depot in Brooklyn. Gary Binskin’s brother picked us up in a punt and took us to his shack on the side of the Hawkesbury River which features in the movie the Oyster Farmer. It was a small shack with a generator and a room for sleeping in. Once all the supplies had been offloaded the Scouts and Venture went hunting for crabs to use as bait for fishing. After collecting about 20 crabs we sat down for some fishing, unfortunately the 4 of us were unsuccessful in catching anything, thankfully we had brought food for dinner. We sat around the growing fire and played cards for a bit.

It was getting dark by now and soon we started making our dinner. After our big camp roast we roasted some marshmallows and then it started to rain, so we abandoned the fire and went inside to watch a film, Star ship Troopers. As we were watching the tide came in and the water rose up to the bottom of the shack. After the movie we turned in.

The next morning the 4 of us went for a walk while breakfast was cooked. We walked along the shoreline for about 20 mins before turning round. After a hearty breakfast we packed up and boarded the punt back to the oyster depot where we thanked Gary’s brother and returned home. It was a great relaxing sleepover in a beautiful location.

Sam Gibbons
MCMK Venturer

Rovers’ Report, AGM, 24th May 2011

Mt Colah Mt Kuring-Gai Rovers are a dynamic crew who strive to get active.  Indoors or out, we enjoy a range of activities that suit a variety of interests.  From putt-putt golf, martial arts, weekend adventures to helping out those in need, MCMK Rovers are always up for a challenge!

2010 went out with a bang, with MCMK Rovers running the Sydney North Region Christmas Rover Annual Party (CRAP), with the theme “CRAP on Fire”.  Over 70 Rovers from across the Region gathered to celebrate another successful year of Rovers.  Awards were presented to outstanding individuals and Rover Crews, with MCMK Rovers receiving the Sydney North “Roscar” award for Outstanding Effort / Most Improved Rover Crew.

In February, this year’s Roventure, themed “Rome-venture” presented an opportunity for us to spend the weekend with Venturers and Rovers from across the region.  Likewise, Dragonskin which was held recently over Easter, was much anticipated by both Venturers and Rovers.  Our crew ran an activity base, challenging Venturers with various mind games.  Dragonskin was also a great opportunity for our crew to spend time together, with ten of us there over the weekend.  Overall it was a successful weekend, except for an encounter with a pine tree.

MCMK Rovers have attended many Region events in the past months, including a Region Mexican dinner, and Western Moot, which was held at Nords Wharf in March, with lots of activities including a cowboy pentathlon.  The Crew has many more events planned for the rest of the year, some of which we will be organizing.  We will soon be running Not-a-Moot, a weekend event that will involve Rovers from around the region, which will provide a chance for activities and relaxation.  Also, we are planning a Hornsby District camp at the Binskins’ farm near Taree, which was a huge success last year.

This year, MCMK Rovers are continuing their strong involvement with Hornsby Gang Show.  Our crew has a strong presence both backstage and shining on the stage, and we can’t wait for the spectacular show it is bound to be. Cubs, Scouts, Venturers and Rovers will be blown away by the talent in this year’s show in June.

Service has long been an important part of Rovers, and MCMK Rovers are committed to helping out in the community wherever possible.  Last year, our crew participated in Hike for Hunger in support of the Wesley Mission, and helped NSW Rovers collect over 11,000 items of food to help meet the needs of homeless and underprivileged people in Sydney.  Our crew recently participated in the Region Service Project at Ingleside Scout Camp to help with maintenance of the site, with Tom Hickman acting as Region Service Coordinator.

MCMK Rovers currently consists of 11 enthusiastic members, including two new Rovers, four knighted Rovers and four in squire training.  It is sad for us that David Blakeley and Chris Whitfield will be leaving the Crew later this year as they have almost completed their time with Rovers.  Their tremendous contributions to the crew over the years have significantly shaped the crew, and will remain an inspiration to us in the future.  We plan to farewell David with a booting within the next few months.

Yours in Roving,
Josef Urmenyhazi
Assistant Crew Leader

How to Turn a Bar of Soap Into A Giant TV in 15 Minutes!

Holy Guacamole!! Now that's a tv set!!!

Want to know how to get anything you want within minutes? Read on to see how our Venturers scored a giant tv for their new hall!

There’s a tradition that the MCMK Venturers have had over the years, that has always been a lot of fun and brings in some great rewards! However, we weren’t expecting our night to be successful as this!

A soap-swap is a night that we usually run once or twice a year. Venturers are split into groups of 4, however, on this night, we only had one group. Bummer! Not to worry though, as they were all very enthusiastic as none of them had participated in a soap swap before!

Here’s a story of a recent really successful soap swap. It’s about a guy who turned one red paperclip into a house!! Check out this link: One Red Paper Clip

The venturers were given one bar of soap only! The objective of the night, was to see what they could turn this into! By door knocking, and saying who they were (wearing their scout scarf is important!) they offer to swap the bar of soap for something else of greater value.

Although door knocking or “cold calling” as sales people call it is an uncomfortable process initially, it is a skill that can be of tremendous value. We all have to “sell” or convince someone else of our values, be it our friends, family or an employer at some stages in our lives. Soap swapping is easy and fun. You meet all types of people – fun, welcoming, weird, but usually generous!

Usually the venturers end up with a few tins of food at first. They accept the swap, thank the householders and move to the next door. This process continues, swapping items of greater and greater value. Usually the venturers return with arms full of  shampoo, packets of biscuits, golf clubs, anything really.

On this cold night however, they returned with a giant flat screen tv within 15 minutes of door knocking! Time to call the night quits! It started raining as well, so it was good timing!

We realised afterwards that this is an event that’s more suited to the warmer daylight savings nights. After 8:00pm people really don’t want to be interrupted on a cold winters night! In summer however, we start at 7:30pm and finish at 8:30pm – and end up with carloads full of stuff!

Who knows what our Venturers will be bringing back with them this Summer!

Write below and let us know about what you think of our night!! 🙂

MCMK Venturers | Aboriginal Cave Paintings

Romeventure – A weekend of excellent awesomeness!!

 

Some lucky contestants get to eat "Iron Gut" food!

Ok, here’s a late post about the weekend that was Romeventure!

Well, we arrived at Cataract Scout Camp on the Friday night, after a brief stop over at Campbelltown Maccas (the staple diet of many venturers!). We pulled into the camp and set up the giant tarp that became our kitchen and lounge area for the Romeventure weekend.

I awoke at 6am the next morning with a burning sensation on my nipple (I hate writing the word “nipple”). A small black thing ran across my chest! I cornered it and realised it was a red back spider. I caught it, and spent the next 48 hours holding my “knipple”, a lot of my time was spent curled up like a cocoon in a hammock. It was just a burning sensation, and made me feel tired all weekend. So I was pretty useless all weekend as far as participating in all the action going down.

Everyone else though had a great time though!!! The Rovers from Berowra and MCMK did a great job with the food all weekend!

Here’s just some of the things that the guys and girls (about 150 or so)  got up to:
– Round robin activities. Sounds naff, and some of it was, but there were some great and challenging things to do.
– Swimming in a dam. Kinda like swimming in pea soup really! For some strange reason.
– Trivia night. those wacky Rovers know how to put a party on!
– Disco. Party hard, party hard, party hard!!
– Waterslide – I didn’t see this but heard it was excellent!
– Iron Gut. This is a challenge where contestants have to eat multiple courses of disgusting food without “singing a rainbow”. Some the courses included, slices of bread soaked (and I mean soaked!) in olive oil, and a caesar salad. The ceasar salad sounds ok, but not when it’s been blended into a juice – complete with anchovies!

All up, it was an awesome weekend and our guys from Mount Colah Mount Kuring Gai and Berowra had a great time!!! A big thank you again, must go out to the Rovers for catering for us!

Cheers, Mazza

Tie Dye Night Goes Off!

Tom from Berowra Venturers had a great idea. Why not have a tie dye night? Berowra Venturers and Mount Colah Venturers would travel back in time where peace, love and incense where all that mattered.

Sounds exciting – and to a leader, sounds scary! The thought of our Venturers going home with blue or green faces that stay with them for rest of their life had me concerned – this could be as bad as looking like an Avatar warrior for the rest of your life!!

However, the night was really successful, and no one ended up with permanent die stains on them  – where they shouldn’t be.  Apart from blue hands, which you can live with, everything went smoothly.

For some strange reason, the Venturers that didn’t come prepared, had the most success! Tie dyeing is a “random” process, and something that’s fairly unpredictable. Tom seems to have mastered it though, and he knew how to make spirals and diagonal freaky patterns!

It was a great night for all the Venturers from MCMK and Berowra! I reckon we should do it again one night!

Hornsby Scout Fellowship Donates $500 to MCMK Scout Group

Mount Colah Mount Kuring Gai recently recieved a generous donation of $500 from Hornsby Scout Fellowship. The Fellowship is made up of ex scouting leaders and supporters who know the true value that Scouting provides to our community.

Hornsby Scout Fellowship are always looking for new members and an invitation is extended to any members of our group to become an associate member. It is not entirely a fund raising group, as it has many social activities as well including day outings and 4 day excursions to country locations.

The Scout Fellowship Annual General Meeting is to be held at 7:30pm Friday 25th March, at Normanhurst Scout Hall

Mount Colah Mount Kuring Gai would like to thank Hornsby Scout Fellowship for their kind and generous donation. A copy of the official letter is attached below.

Scout Fellowship Letter

Scout Fellowship Letter