Australian Jamboree 2007The Unofficial UK Contingent! Julia, Rex, Diana, Dad, Alf, Chicken and Roger The happy girls and boys of Southern Stars arrived at AJ2007 in Elmore. The flys and the dust were there to greet us. Only Dad, Alf and Chicken had been allocated jobs before arrival the rest of us had to look for a job after settling in. Alf and Chicken were dedicated First Aiders dealing with heat stroke, vomits and the Squits! They did a grand job! Dad was on security as usual, he even worked with real policemen this time and even got an to wear an official looking t-shirt. He worked many long shifts and never complained once! Roger found a job on Venture Extreme, a very messy and tiring job but someone had to do it! Diana and Rex played on Planet Blitz on the Water Rockets base shooting kids all day with water pistols…a hard life but someone has to do it! Julia also played on Planet Blitz on the Dig, Bag and Create base, she made woggles and dilly bags all day…nice work if you can get it! The weather in Elmore was interesting to say the least, dust storms destroyed car ports, tents and camping areas on day 5…but it was ok because the leaders sub camp and Planet Blitz survived. The temperatures soared to 45 degrees Celsius, wow it was hot! The Food on the Jamboree was great, the leaders camping area was a little dull, thank god for the leaders bar! (Not that any of us went in there, lol). The leaders bar was by the lake where the Kookaburra laughed in the country! All leaders/IST were meant to get 2 full days off, at the start of the Jamboree this wasn’t looking possible as many bases and services had staff shortages, but after a day or so volunteers were turning up so most of managed 2 days off. The days off were spent in Echuca and Bendigo. In true Julia and Rex style they managed to scrounge a free lunch, a free boat trip and free accommodation for when we got to Sydney all on a day out to Echuca! What a Scam! Rex, Julia and Diana all had Market Day off, Rex and Julia went to the Bendigo Gold Mines and Diana went on a wine tour and made some new drinking friends! On Planet Blitz the bosses were brilliant, Darren, Rod, Rohan, John and Mick took the team on the Elmore Pool and Pub (The Shamrock) tour two nights on the run and even bought us diner. There we sat in our cosy’s on a sultry warm evening (Hot by English Standards) eating fish n’ chips, then we retired to the local bar before our coach arrived to take us back to the dust fields at camp! The Jamboree on the whole was very well organised, every one was really friendly and happy to help. We got lots of offers to go stay with people after the Jamboree, its just a shame we didn’t have more time to take up all the offers. There was approximately 12,000 people onsite from 22 countries. As expected the Aussies laid on a superb Jamboree, lots of new friends were made and we look forward to catching up with them in 3 years time at Cataract Pack…..only a thousand sleeps to go! After the Jamboree everyone travelled their separate ways home, via Australia, Dubai and Sri Lanka back to the UK and Belgium. Julia, Rex and Diana made their way to Sydney to stay with Peter Nichols for a few days. The Southern Stars met Peter Nichols at AJ2001 and have stayed in touch since then. It was great to catch up with Peter and spend time chatting about the differences in Jamborees, Peter is hoping to come to the UK during 2007. Hopefully he will look some of us up. Rex, Julia and Diana
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