Joti 2012 in Christchurch

Somehow this fella decided (no doubt on the spur of the moment) to quality taste / proof the local cheese, and seeing we are in good royal company - check out the little pinky!! oh no N o t   the Pinky play!! - to late . . . .

Taking the art of communication to a new level with the new I-nana phone!! Maxwell Smart - eat out your heart!! This version is new and  up-to-date with the latest software, has a direct link to the new I-cloud and best of all is an instant disposable item.  It  comes complete with its own i-cover / wrapper. Not sure though which end is for the hearing . . . . .

:)

I can't remember this setup - but whatever it was - it was nice to get a minibear hug on camp.

The bear was so tired from running round after all his jobs / scouts / guides - he needed a well deserved Bear-nap.  Didn't even undress and just collapses on bed.  Luckily for everyone his snoring was not to bad - bearly audible!!

A midnight snack of garlic bread - especially baked for the crew, rich in garlic and cheese - just needed a good cut - so out comes my handy pocket knife . .   Now do I   TRUST   'Paws'  to handle the knife and not cut herself or the bread - no wait the bread is ok, so urm - let's think - yeah why not.  I can report that no fingers were harmed in this episode!!

I added this - for a good reason.
The youth had the abillity to part-complete their Photography badge - they got given a camera and told to go and snap away - then present back the images.  Amongst the very many that did come back was this picture taken - not sure if it was a set up or a un-delibertly taken shot.  In any case - check out the Eyes - and in particularly the left eye -  I spotted it immediatly!!  Fantastic picture!!!  Congratulations to the youth who took this image!!


The camp eventually drew to a close - we sent the campers home - in the rain - and had to dis-mantle the rest of the gear and drop all the gear in several locations.  The CPU boxes and cables came back to my garage - much to my boy's disgust - and I cabled them in this afternoon - they need a minimum residue power to go through the motherboard or you are in danger of loosing them. As it is they do not like being shifted in the first place.  On box refused to power up until 30 hours plus into the camp!!  So Joti 2012 came to a very succesful end and we are gearing up for next year - 3rd weekend in Oct - so see you round - OR online in Scoutlink.  Wave hello if you spot one of us there

Joti 2012 in Christchurch

Setting up yet another year for Joti.  And belief me - somehow the gear weighs more each year!!  Anyhow we managed to squeeze in 47 working stations for this year's Joti Jota event. 

 Cabling up - at some un-earthly hour at night.  Seem to remember while this was happening 2 leaders and 2 scouts went and got the food in, from a local supermarket - urm - around midnight!

Amazingly we managed to get some sleep and the next day dawned in brilliant light and campers arrived and we had the pleasure in investing 2 new slaves - oops CREW - members.  The scarves are treated in the same way as the Gangshow scarves - you ever only get one no matter how many camps you do and keep wearing it from year to year - but new investees get theirs in the year they start volunteering . . . .

After the formal things are done - it is time for some serious chatting - and the scouts and guides are into it.  Places we encounterd were from all over and  "far far away" (not THAT kingdom) - but not from Albania either . . . . .  but there was a connection to Antarctica!!

 Time for a snack - lunch actually.  Feeding 40 campers and 11 campcrew - I think.  Anyhow it was epic, with very little gear to work with.  Apart from that the kids mamaged to snack on all the "healthy" stuff (not) and filled  up one way or the other.

This must have been the next day (Sun) when two unsuspecting lass's volunteered to be slaves - oops camp-crew for next year and wanted to start their training early.  Luckily for them we had two scarves cut - but not yet sewn so they kinda wore them for the rest of the camp - then gave them back.  Hmmmm wonder if it will be my job again to sew them.  Oh and just to be sure - It is I on the left - the old fella himself!!

Dashing / Superb figure / Slimline / Attractive / Responsible /

w a i t    a minute - that's not Papabear we are talking about!!!
He's a different Bear altogether . . . . .  isnt he??!!

So - what can one say here???
No surprise - there is a new NICK-name  for this lass.

Whenceforth and from now on and forever until Scoutlink ceases to exist ( which will happen only if a certain geographic location will freeze over)  this lass will be known as  - wait for it - drumm roll . . . . .


"PAWS"  


- brilliant - and no surprises there . . . .

Akaroa Tour guide

One of the pleasures in life - or should that be in scouting?? is that one does meet a lot of new people. So picture this -
Last joti somehow a guy from Austria made a connection to me (in NZ) during Joti (IRC-mailing list) - which he then passed on to a German young lady via a german pfadi chat room - who contacted me via email, while she was working in Nelson, spanning via the entire globe. Confused??? Anyhow to cut a long story short - we met and I was able to play the Akaroa Tour guide - eg - I took her and Micky out for the day.
It was a rather hot day - im sure temps were above 30 C - still we had fun walking around the original French Village and eventually boarded - urm - yeah ok walked on the Canterbury Cat - a boat that takes you out and around the Harbour - which is about 17 km long and never deeper then 15 meters - and has a somewhat silty water - perfect for the local wild life - one of which is the Hectors Dolphin - a NZ Dolphin and sadly a protected species, as there are not many left of them!! If you willing to pay mega bucks one can even have a guided swim with the dolphins, and yeah cause of the water condition you wont have to worry about sharks. anyhow - pics below - enjoy

Annual Joti event for our scouts

Sigh - I must be getting old! We held the annual Joti event for our Scouts at the local school hall - joti meaning Jamboree on the Internet - where over and upwards of 5000 folks log on scoutlink and chat. Naturally this is a camp where sleep is precious and while I slept more then most - I am STILL knackered today.
Check some of the posts out here.

http://www.scoutsjoti2009.blogspot.com/

lol so tired I was, forgot to write more I did. Anyhow - while James has been rescued from thieving slave traders (as per above blog posting) I have been busy returning gear and running the next scout night.
Below are a number of pictures from camp
cheers
papabear

post joti compression

Well we survived, still tiered as!
Amazing that so many people can be online together. Looking forward to next Joti 09!
Horse-with-no-name better get his hooves fixed - he might need them at Staveley.
Best of all - we are getting another dozen Pc's donated from our Council - wohooo