Scouts to beat winter blues in California sun

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 15, Issue 694, 8 July 1997, Page 5

Scouts to beat winter blues in California sun

After 18 months of planning and fundraising, 13 Scouts, aged from 12 to 15, and three leaders from Ohakune will soon be taking off for three weeks of California sights and summer sunshine. First stop is to be the Lost Valley Scout Camp midway between Los Angeles and San Diego, where they will spend a week along with 450 American Boy Scouts at a typical summer camp. The fact that the six Ohakune girls going will be the only female Scouts present, has been seen as more of a challenge for their US counterparts than a daunting prospect for the girls. When the camp finishes, the contingent will bus back

to LA where they will spend three days visiting Knott's Berry Farm, the Queen Mary, shopping and hopefully seeing a baseball game. Las Vegas, and two nights in a casino, is next on the itinerary with a side trip to the Hoover Dam as an extra to the lights and glamour of the "Strip". A flight to San Diego follows with a day at Seaworld and another at the San Diego Wildlife Safari Park as the main attractions. Coming back to Los Angeles for an action-packed final five days will see the Scouts dining at a medieval dinner, visiting Disneyland, Universal Studios, Hollywood, Rodeo Drive and Venice Beach and trying out the rollercoasters at Magic Mountain before ending with (scout leader)

. "Laureen's amazing shopping expedition". The Scouts have worked hard for the last 18 months to each raise their own money for the trip through jobs after school, painting houses, emptying out shearing sheds, cutting and selling firewood, re-roofing houses, as well as various other ventures to pay their way. The group believes it is the only one in New Zealand to offer their Scouts such an opportunity on a regular threeyearly cycle. In 1994, eight Scouts visited the Sierra Nevadas, San Francisco and Los Angeles and there is already some interest from younger Scouts, and even Cubs, for wherever they decide to go to in 2000.