Dear Scouting families, Looks like we made it. What a hectic term ! And what a grand finale.

Thanks for your support, this last Kontiki camp was a great success, our first district! e"ent. And "ery well attended, #$ % #st &eorge girl guides, #' % #st &eorge Scouts and $( % #st Knysna Scouts. Wow ! So Kontiki was hard work, serious challenge, good fun, and definitely worth it. )ig thanks all round, Stag actually took lea"e to get some of the preparation done on time. *armers, diggers and tractors, thanks a mil. And we know whilst us Scouts were toiling with +arrels and ropes, the cu+s were also camping and the parents were ,uietly doing the graft on the fund-raiser tuckshop. Thanks to all. So what.s the Kontiki news / Well your scouts are now so used to these ad"entures, it.s hard to catch them out for the funny stuff anymore. )ut what was certainly remarka+le on this camp, which was +y no means an easy one, was the confidence. 0ost of these scouts ha"e done pioneering, +i""y camping, some sort of +oating. 1 was ama2ed at how easily they took to the task and got the work done, and +uilding a 3m % 3m raft with primiti"e parts is not easy. Long hours, plenty sun, and must get the work done +efore deadline.

So, descent campfire *riday night, as you can see. And some 1rish guests, 0ichael and 4enetia, e% Scout 5 &irl &uide, 6oined us for +raai, camp inspection, some skits and sing-a-long. They +rought their guitars, "oices and some "ery interesting songs. )ig day Saturday, finish up +uilding raft for #$788 launch and raft race. &eorge Scouts did a trial run, and with an unrepaira+le tu+e, had some serious +uoyancy pro+lems. So ,uickly organised some more +arrels, thanks 9atons. &ot delayed, had an easier land lunch! then onto the high seas. &eorge Scouts won the raft race. Then +ack for some more +oat repairs, setup some sort of shelter on the rafts for the night, load and go. :p till now we hadn.t said anything a+out scouts that couldn.t go. Then it was decided that ( scouts would not +e going on ;mma.s raft, and $ would mo"e across from 0icaela.s o"erloaded one. And then <ammy was distraught = in the +uilding process she had +onded with her raft, and was ,uite sure that it was seaworthy and that all knots were in good order. She wanted none of it and was pretty adamant that the first raft was her home ! >ops sorry <ammy, something we o"erlooked. )ut such good spirit.

So finally it was time to set off into the +ig pond, sailors, raft and some rations. There were some reser"ations, and 1 know most parents would not ha"e done it, +ut plenty high spirits too. 0ost Scouts were determined to go the distance and stick to the purpose. We agreed to re"ise the situation after dinner. And +y the time dinner was done ;mma.s sailors had mostly deserted, more for the raft and team +ondingness than the actual seaworthiness, and that raft was a+andoned. And then only one # st Knysna scout decided that this was going to +e a long slow process of trying to sleep cramped on a raft for the whole night. A few &eorge scouts a+andoned ship, and pro+a+ly needed to for +uoyancy. The girl guides off loaded half their crew, +ut that was part of their original plan of sticking to a sensi+le ma%imum load of ?. So we had a small group that 6oined us TS.s on the shore. Although they had tents.

Kingfisher.s raft = +est all rounder!

&irl guides raft = +est design = notice the thunder+o% on the side = "ery organised.

&eorge scouts sleeping under the stars = their $ rafts came together for the night.

Looking onto Swifts raft, with Kingfishers 6oining for the night. Sheldon making coffee.

;agle.s raft = got a puncture and sailors deserted. Then going through the night is where it all gets difficult, +ut for the most part the kids settled down and most got some se"eral hours of sleep. There will always +e stories of the one that sleep through it all and the others that couldn.t sleep, +ut that.s how these kind of camps go. Surprisingly on our almost hourly inspections, in our +ilgey +oat, most were asleep most of the time. And this time it was the guides chirping at 3 in the morning, not our lot. @aughty guides! 1 think this time the scouts got the laugh and the organisers got the least sleep. Then +reakfast on the rafts, well done, again no pro+lems here. And then a mad scram+le to tidy up and ready up for the closing ceremony. All in all an e%cellent camp, and a few pri2es ... #A Winner of raft race ... #st &eorge Scouts $A )est raft design ... #st &eorge &irl &uides = raft had good +uoyancy, toilet, a compartments (A 0ost seaworthy raft ... Swifts, Sheldon, Some eye+rows raised on this one B 3A )oo+y pri2e ... &eorge Scouts, design needed modification 'A )oo+y pri2e ... ;agles, ;mma, your sailors deserted you ?A )est all rounder! ... Kingfishers, 0icaela, <onsolation pri2e Cust a note on the seaworthy! pri2e, that should +e more like swimming-pool worthy, +ut this raft had "ery good +uoyancy and a tent, with +etter weight distri+ution than some of the others. We could see this at night when e"eryone was sleeping, depending where the +odies lay, the rafts could +e +adly leaned o"er. Seaworthy might +e o"erstating it, +ut it was a unanimous last minute decision, if you had to use one of these rafts, which one would you take / So designers, for ne%t year, as always we need to learn and impro"e, we.d like to see side rails, and toilets. *or this year, 1 cannot say enough, an a+solutely fantastic effort, and good to see the confidence. These scouts are working together, and en6oying their ad"entures. And they.re making it look all too easy. Well done scouts. To all the adults in"ol"ed, once again thanks for all the efforts and countless hours that go into these e"ents, +efore and after. 9lenty good stuff on this camp, well done. 9lease send us your feed+ack. 9lease see +etter photos on face+ook and we+site. 9lease come 6oin us for &ees-+raai at *riday scout meeting. D That.s +ring and +raai at the scout hall, this *riday, end of term social A 9lease familiarise yourself with ne%t terms e"ents, $ camps one hike, dates a"aila+le on the calendar.

All the +est, thanks for the support, see you *riday, Scouting team, >tter, Stag, 9anda, )adger