'Best of the Best' on show at Dragon Skin 2025

While many teens were gorging on chocolates or working across the Easter long weekend, almost 800 were in the southern highlands for the 40th anniversary of Dragon Skin.

It was a weekend of drama in the Penrose State Forest, with “The Weakest Link” from 2nd/3rd Pennant Hills Scout Group coming away as winners for the third year in a row, beating “The Krispy Kremers” from Georges River Venturer Unit and 1st Heathcote Scout Group by just 14 points.

Dragon Skin is one of the longest running annual camps in Australia running for 40 years (not including the COVID years). Venturer Scouts (aged 14-18) navigate their way around the forest, completing as many activity bases as possible – featuring different challenging tasks – and earning points for teamwork, leadership skills and initiative.

The event is supported by Rover Scouts (aged 18-25) and adult Leaders, who conceptualise and run the activity bases, as well as provide centralised campsites each night full of fun and entertainment and ensure the camp is safe and fun for all.

Think days in the forest undertaking low ropes courses, trying to lasso toy pandas, or building the tallest crate stack, then nights dancing at a mini festival, where costumes are a must, and you have to decide early if you want to be competitive or just enjoy yourself with your friends.

Camp Chief Damien ‘Dink’ Ryan believes Dragon Skin 2025 – Best of the Best lived up to its name

A 40th anniversary, another huge Venturer Scout attendance, our biggest Leader attendance in many years, four days of fine weather and the crowning of a three-time winner – what more could you ask for?

Seriously though, Dragon Skin rocked this year! Every NSW Region was represented, along with Venturer Scouts and Leaders from the ACT, Queensland and Victoria. It was a tight competition, with only a 300-point spread between first and 10th, and only 14 points separating first and second. A massive congratulations to “The Weakest Link” of 2nd/3rd Pennant Hills Scout Group, who have claimed the rare “three-peat” effort as Dragon Skin winners – a feat last achieved in 2014! Can they go on to equal the four-time champion effort of 1st Caringbah Scout Group (2012-2015)? We can’t wait to find out!

Dragon Skin is a massive logistical exercise that takes a dedicated team close to nine months to fully plan. Setting up four mini festival sites with running water, power, entertainment and full-on catering setup doesn’t happen without the dedicated work of a great bunch of Rover Scouts and Leaders to pull it all together. Our setup begins on the Friday prior to the event, meaning that some will spend the better part of two weeks in the forest by the time everything is set up and packed down. BRAVOOO to all of you!

See you all in 2026!

Pennant Hills Venturer Scouts take a hat-trick

For Kieran Ruston, Owen Cameron, James Waterson, Nick Williams and Tim Flower, they were in it to win it!

Kieran first did “Skin” in 2023 after he was invited by his friend Scott Romanis (now a Rover Scout and ineligible to compete).

“I like doing physical activity, and a whole weekend of that as well as hanging out with my friends seemed great,” he said.

“That first year we didn’t know much about what we were doing and we carried much more food and clothes than we really needed. However, despite this, we managed to clinch the win, snagging a base two minutes before they closed on Sunday, pushing us to the win.”

This success inspired them to come back and defend their title in 2024, completing all 39 available bases with 15 minutes to spare. Then it came down to this year – could they do the three-peat?

“We wanted to prove that the first two weren’t a fluke and for Owen and me to get one more Skin win than Scott so we could flex – sorry, not sorry, Scott!” Kieran said.

“This time we managed to complete a personal record of 41 out of 46 bases, as well as achieving every bonus point to claim the hat-trick and defend our title again. The enjoyment of the competition aspect is why I keep pushing for the win, as ever since that first Skin win, I wanted to back it up and push harder each consecutive year.

“Seeing how far my team can push over the span of the three days is really rewarding and the feeling at the end just brings it all together.”

Owen said for him, “the best teams are the ones who genuinely enjoy their time at Skin and make the most of every moment”.

“Winning Dragon Skin three years in a row wouldn’t have been possible without a driven, resilient, and passionate team,” he said.

“Each year, the challenge of racing through the forest gets tougher, but together we’ve pushed beyond the fatigue, the doubt, and the setbacks to come out on top. We’ve proven to ourselves that with the right mindset and effort, we’re capable of achieving anything.”

Scott Romanis passes on a legacy

During my time as a Venturer Scout at Dragon Skin, I did my first year in a social Patrol, placed 34th, and realised we’d have a decent shot if we tried. Then in 2023 – my second year – we took first place. In my third year, to ensure we could keep this up, I trained my mate Owen on what it takes to be a Patrol Leader, and we claimed first place for the second time. In 2025, being 18, I had to retire from the team, as my old team did me proud, taking the win for the third year in a row.

Going from a Venturer Scout in the winning Patrol to a Rover Scout on VOC4 (Venturer Overnight Camp) was definitely a change in pace. My main role was support/security and fire duty during the evening shift, meaning I was available to any Venturer Scouts if they needed help during their time on VOC. On top of this role, I also worked on the VOC4 media – @VOC4skin – with the night entertainment team, and dabbled in the daytime radio show 96.4 SkinFM.

Being a Rover Scout at the event was a rewarding experience and was a great opportunity to see how the event is put together, and what it’s like from a perspective different to that of a participant. I like that you can still socialise with the Venturer Scouts as the VOCs, even though you are no longer hiking with them. It’s definitely different as a Rover Scout, but just as much fun.

Pipped at the post for The Krispy Kremers

Charli Greenhill, Harry Clegg, Natalie Hay, Jack Baker, Jude Kari and William Laws from “The Krispy Kremers” knew Dragon Skin was always going to be difficult – they were going against a team who already had two Dragon Skin wins under their belt.

“We planned our routes effectively and pushed ourselves towards the end,” Charli said.

“We paced ourselves, completed bases to the best of our abilities, and genuinely enjoyed the experience of getting to the top. Dragon Skin is always such a wonderful event to take part in because of all the lifelong friends and memories you make, spoken about by Venturer Scouts all over Australia.

“The activities at the bases and VOCs (Venturer Overnight Camps) were some of the main highlights over the weekend. ‘VOC3 Night 3’ was our Region’s chant for the weekend. VOC3 didn’t just have our friends, but many awesome activities including inflatables, games room and a temporary tattoo station, not to forget a great disco. The partying at the end was worth walking through blisters and sprained ankles all weekend.”

The Krispy Kremers became one of the more recognisable teams across the weekend, with their Krispy Kreme hats a particular standout among the costumes. The team found it an immense moral boost when they would arrive at an activity and the Rover Scouts immediately recognised them.

While they had hoped to become famous at “Skin” for winning, being known for the hats was close enough.

Harry said it was hard to hear they had lost to “The Weakest Link” from 2nd/3rd Pennant Hills Scout Group (who completed their three-peat), by just 14 points.
“It’s hard knowing that all the effort, time and energy we’d all put in had got us ever so close, yet not quite where we’d hoped to be,” he said.

“We were all a bit upset and disappointed and it took a little while to realise that coming second was still an amazing achievement. All in all, it was an amazing experience and achievement for our team to do as well as we did, we’re all just a little disappointed that all our effort just fell ever so slightly short of the ultimate goal.

“Each member in our team knew the others quite well and one big thing we all had in common was that we’re all very competitive people and really good mates. This meant we ended up being each other’s greatest tool, pushing each other to keep going hard, to do activities well and to make sure we were all going alright because at the end of the day, we still wanted to enjoy the experience, not just our spot on the podium.”

Weekend of fun for ‘Superheroes’

Amongst the crowd were the “Superheroes”, a team of four from 2nd Orange Scout Group and 1st Mudgee Scout Group – Mackenzie Caffin and Hannah Cunningham, and Noah Deville and Liam Doyle.

While their Patrol may have come 78th, for them it was all about having fun.

“The overall theme of the event was Best of the Best and superheroes are the best at stuff,” Mackenzie said.

“My favourite base was Escape from the Death Star. We had to use different types of communication to help each other in a Star Wars themed base. The theme was really well done, the Rover Scouts running it had lots of enthusiasm and really cared about it.”

Noah agreed.

“Our team had to split into rebels and droids,” he said.

“The rebels had to go through the tunnel first into the trash compactor and then the droids went through, but they were in a different room and had to decipher a code the rebels sent to them through Morse Code using a buzzer and you only had five minutes before the rebels would be “squished”.

“Then you went to the next activity, which was another code activity, but this time the droids were in trouble and the rebels had to decipher the code. Then we went on to an activity where we had to use lightsabers to lead the Millenium Falcon towards you.”

For Liam, his favourite parts were meeting Venturer Scouts from other places and enjoying the dance parties at night.

Hannah also enjoyed the evening activities.

“We were able to get galactic airbrushed tattoos, play games, go through inflatable ninja courses, bounce on a bouncing castle, dance at a disco, and chill around a fire until the late hours of the night,” she said.

“Dragon Skin is one of the best camps I have gone on. We got the freedom to choose what we did, hang out with our friends, hike all day while completing fun activities and partying all night before going to sleep in our tents. I loved all the excitement from everyone and can’t wait until next year to reunite with the friends I made.”