In the middle of 2010 we filled out an application for me and my sister Skye to go on the Cuboree in January 2011. I expected it to be fun, interesting and a time to make new friends. When the day finally arrived to get ready we had to pack all our kit and drop the bags off at the cub house, because it was going to be a long walk from the car park to our tent. Our leaders took them all to the camp site for us, the day before. After dinner, on Friday 14th January my mum dropped us off at Camp Cottermouth. (It really was a long walk from the car park to our tents). My mum told me there was going to be lots of people there, but I didn’t expect the crowds that were pulling up in their cars. On the walk to our area, we passed hundreds of other cubs who had come to have some fun. It was a tent city. I also saw that there were different depots set up all over the camp base, I was really excited. It looked as though we were in for a fun time. The one I thought was the most interesting was the radio depot; it had TVs’ set up all around the entrance and a huge motorised satellite, spinning around and inside I noticed that there was a large maze of hessian material.
It turned out that the Cuboree was about communication and all the packs and activities had something to do with that. The Birralee cub pack was called the ‘radio group’ and our tent area was part of the Actors Depot. One of the activities we did in the Actors depot, believe it or not – was acting. We put on a show that was recorded. I dressed up as a tree.
I unpacked my kit in the tent that I shared with Hamish and Will. We were lucky that we were set up near the toilets as we didn’t have to far to go in the middle of the night. We didn’t get much sleep at night, as we were whispering quietly. Just outside the tent was the dining area, where we ate our meals. My favourite was dinner because we had a different meal each time; spaghetti was the best of all, there was always enough to eat and I can eat LOADS!
The weather was really hot which meant that on most of the activities we had to get sprayed with water. This was refreshing. We did loads of different activities; watching shows, cracking codes; taking apart machines and putting them back together. But, my favourite ones were the water slide which was about 100m long, very slippy and the pool at the end, which you landed in, was full of balls. My absolute favourite was the flying fox. It was about 50m high and 500m long. You were strapped in so safely you could do whatever you wanted on it. Me and my new friend that I had made – Alex from Long Gully Pack, went upside down. It was awesome!
The adult hosts of the Cuboree would put on a big show every night which were full of comedy and music. Some of the leaders would join in. I remember that two of the hosts were dressed as Rastafarians. It was funny when one said to the other – “Hey you, Rasta I will have you arasted!” There was also a time when we had a presentation by a group of men and women dressed in kilts. They marched through the crowds of cubs playing bag pipes and drums. It was a good sound and it was loud.
We camped for 4 nights. On Tuesday morning, my mum arrived to help pack up camp. I was sad that it was all over as I had enjoyed everything so much. I am glad that I had this chance to be part of a Cuboree. Some of the yowie cubs didn’t come and I think they missed out – if they ever get another chance I
recommend that they go as this is one of the best camps I have ever been on.
Dillon Anton, Yowie Pack