I was fortunate enough to be able to attend Alice Springs Cadets Divisional Camp held at Hamilton Downs Youth Camp about 70kms West of Alice Springs along the Tanami Hwy over the May long weekend.

There were 6 Adults and about 30 Cadets and Juniors from the Division and I have to say how impressed I was with how well everyone got on with each other, even when it came to helping prepare meals and doing dishes there were no shortages of volunteers and everyone played there part in making for a very enjoyable and fun camp.

Congratulations go to everyone who attended for the way they participated in the weekend, but special mention goes to the senior cadets who made the adults jobs so much easier through there caring and supervision of the younger cadets and juniors in camp.

Under the very enthusiastic and well organized supervision of Acting Cadet Leader Melissa, were Cdt Sgt Caitlin, who despite being quite ill leading up to the camp and still requiring ongoing medical attention, performed wonderfully well in supporting and supervising the cadets. The Divisions’ two corporals Cassie & Christina can also hold there heads high for the way they carried out there responsibilities. This group would have to be the best group of NCO’s I’ve seen operating in Alice Springs Cadets in the 6 or 7 years I’ve been involved with them – Well Done Girls and Congratulations Alice Springs Cadet Division.

The adults who attended didn’t miss out on the fun either. Those who attended the District Camp in Alice Springs in 2005 would remember my Who Dares Wins event.

One event was to touch, smell and taste an object to identify what it was. In this case it just happened to be a sheep’s tongue.

 

Of course not all the challenges that took place were just for cadets and juniors, the adults had to play a part as well. In this case we had face painting, but of course we didn’t use face paints. Instead of the usual methods we let the artists paint the living canvasses with chocolate sauce, mint jelly, and icing pencils.

And, NO I didn’t escape special attention, shortly after the face painting – Rebecca Jones decided that my complexion needed improving, so she decided to give me a chocolate face pack.

Thanks to Barbara and her team for a great weekend, I’m sure if the cadets had as much fun as I did they’ll be talking about this camp for quite some time to come.

Article By T.O Ian McKie