Cub Scout recalls her "best day ever" at Cuboree 2023
Published Thu 12 Oct 2023
As Cub Scouts have returned to school this week, they have been sharing stories about their time at Cuboree 2023 with their friends.
With heaps of action across the five-day event, held at Cataract Activity Centre, there are plenty of tales to go around.
Daisy Hammond, a Cub Scout from 2nd Armidale Scout Group, is just one of the many children who had the time of their lives at Cuboree. She has shared her favourite experiences and memories, saying she liked “everything” and found it hard to narrow down her favourite moments.
A snapshot of her top moments includes celebrating her birthday at camp; enjoying snow cones and dancing in the snow at the Polar ecosystem base; Lego robotics; trying breathing through a scuba mask; pretending to be a Nipper with Surf Life Saving, surfing and laser tag.
But let’s hear from Daisy in her own words:
“Market Day at camp was the best day ever! I got to use Explorer Dollars to buy whatever I wanted. And I got to meet (Chief Commissioner) Lloyd (Nurthen) again! He even interviewed me about what I was excited about for Cuboree.
“My absolute favourite thing at Cuboree was Challenge Valley. At first, I was a little scared because I didn’t want to dirty my light-up Sketchers. But then, I started to love it! There were so many cool obstacles to go over and under and I love to play in the mud. The last challenge, Mt Kosciusko, was awesome! It was scary going up, but I did it!
“Caving was super cool too. I’ve never done anything like that in country NSW. We looked for creatures in the caves and crawled through tight spaces, tubes and pipes. It was kind of cramped in there, but when we got to stand up in the big spaces, it felt great!
“I was lucky to have my eighth birthday on camp – we had the Desert and Savannah ecosystem bases that day. While we were at Symbio Wildlife Park, a big windstorm hit and our neighbours’ camp got blown away! The mums who ran our kitchen helped them and invited them to join us for dinner as their kitchen was damaged in the storm.
“There were about 70 people in our mess hall for my birthday! I got to chat and traded badges with Cub Scouts from across the country and everyone sang me happy birthday. I had so much fun. I was a little sad we couldn’t go to the main disco, but Bunji, one of our Leaders (and my Mum!), organised a disco with glow sticks and music at our campsite while Leaders helped fix the other units’ camp.”
Daisy’s mum Cassandra is a Joey Scout Leader with 2nd Armidale Scout Group and was originally attending Cuboree as an activity Leader.
She said due to the distance between Armidale and Cataract – based in Appin, south of Sydney – she was originally attending to be close to Daisy and provide support to the Group’s Leaders if needed.
However, two days before camp commenced, she was reassigned to attending and guiding activities with Unit R703, which also included Tamworth Oxley Scout Group, Inverell Scout Group, 1st Moree Scout Group and 1st Narrabri West Scout Group.
“Balancing the roles of being a Leader and a parent at Cuboree presented a unique set of challenges,” she said.
“On one hand, it has been immensely rewarding to engage in and share the adventures with Daisy. After all, where else would we get to do all these crazy adventurous activities we love doing together? On the other hand, it has proven to be quite demanding as I strive to provide support to all the youth within our camp.
“Daisy, with her outgoing and adventurous spirit has been a great source of pride. Witnessing her independently making friends, participating in shopping at Market Day, and demonstrating unwavering courage as she embraced one challenge after another has filled my heart.”
To find out more about volunteering, click here or to sign up, click here.
Related stories
