GROUP NEWS

   JOTT - Jamboree On The Trail

   13 May 2006
JOTT is an annual event held on the second Saturday in May and is designed to encourage Scouts of all ages from around the world to get out and enjoy the outdoors. This year on Saturday 13th May the Joeys, Cubs, Scouts, Kangaroos and many families combined for a Group 20th Anniversary JOTT event. In recent years our JOTT hikes have explored the local area and this year we explored the Bardens Creek walking tracks at Lucas Heights.

We met at the ANSTO car park on a glorious mild sunny afternoon and crossed Old Illawarra Road into the Barden Creek valley. The Scout Patrol set-off to navigate themselves around a longer 3km loop of the tracks while the Joeys and Cubs did a shorter loop of about 2km. We followed a wide sandy track through open gum forest and then took a steep rocky descent to the creek where we found a large fallen log made a fun bridge and Group photo opportunity. We followed the track beside the dry creek and came to what would be a spectacular waterfall if the creek was flowing. Naturally the Joeys and Cubs had to explore the small pool at the foot of the water-worn cliff.

Afternoon tea break was beside a large rock platform where there were Aboriginal engravings. A kangaroo head was easy to find as a previous visitor had used sand to highlight the outline of the engraving. We also found some axe grinding grooves.

The wide return track was an easy gradient through open forest and passed several pools still containing water where we spotted small fish and water beetles. Back at ANSTO we were joined by the Kangaroos for a sausage sizzle beside the pool.

	Thanks to the Joey Mod, Cub Pack, Scout Troop, Kangaroos and families for joining in to help make our JOTT hike another event to celebrate our Scout Group's 20th anniversary year.