Been meaning to post this for a while as the start of The Flasher v.2. Here is it thanks to Jess Light. Picture is from my personal collection.

Over the Christmas break, I had the pleasure of going to New Zealand to be a part of New Zealand’s centenary celebrations by going to the 18th New Zealand Jamboree, known as C-Jam.

The adventure started on Christmas Day when 11 scouts and 2 leaders set off from Adelaide airport bound for Melbourne before staying the night and leaving for Christchurch the next morning and become part of an Australian contingent with 225 people. The first couple of days in Christchurch were spent getting to know everyone. I was in charge of a patrol with members from Victoria, NSW and Northern Territory.

We stayed with a troop from West Auckland for the jamboree. C-Jam was a lot smaller than our jamboree, 5000 people all up, but that didn’t mean the activities were smaller or less fun! Many of the activities are the same as those at an Australian jamboree; Rover Extreme, where we had to go through a muddy obstacle course, On Target, where big forts were built only to succumb to the constant attack of water bombs, Ignition, where BMX, quad bikes, scooters, go karts and excavators were put to the test were just some of the cool activities they had.

After 8 days of fun filled adventures and fun, it was time to say goodbye to the jamboree and to start on our tour of the South Island. We visited some spectacular scenery from Milford Sound and Queenstown. We even got to walk on a real glacier! Very cool! (pun not intended). There was also time for some adventure too. There is a luge (not quite like the Olympic one) that we went down on, and see glow worms in Te Anau cave.

Then came the hardest part of all, seeing all the friends we had made over the 21 days we were there, go home. There will be plenty of opportunity to see them but it’s still hard to say goodbye to someone you have been with everyday, like your own family.

Being able to represent Australia to an overseas event is something very special and an experience I’ll never forget. If you ever get the chance, don’t pass it up. Get in there and do it!