South Pacific Solo Travel

A 112-day adventure by Greg Read more

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South Pacific Solo Travel Traveler
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Setting Up With the Events Team
December 30, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
This morning I met my manager who said there wasn't anything for me to do on 'inflatable world' today - my original job. However, she invited me to go and help the events team set up for the opening ceremony, so I happily obliged! I helped set up the lighting, sound, perimeters and fine tuning the final touches of the ceremony.Read more
TravelerDID YOU CONNECT ALL THE WIRES ON THE THIRD PHOTO ?
12/30/23Reply
Traveler Certainly don't trip over the wires, ooops! 🤔
1/1/24Reply
Traveler Couple of early birds? 🤣
1/1/24Reply
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South Pacific Solo Travel Traveler
Jamboree Opening Ceremony
December 30, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
Wow the opening ceremony was a hit! The hall/hangar was packed from wall to wall to officially open up the Jamboree. Just a quick 20 minute event tonight with the main event tomorrow!
TravelerLOOKS BRILLIANT
12/30/23Reply
TravelerWOW. How busy is that!
12/30/23Reply
TravelerGreat set up. Bring on the main event.
12/30/23Reply
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South Pacific Solo Travel Traveler
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Jamboree Uniform and ID
December 30, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
This afternoon I was finally able to collect my Jamboree uniform and ID! Although when I turned up they suddenly had two IDs for me so I feel as if my things were ready all along.

The green necker is the event necker and then the events team gifted me one of their neckers and woggles. I was also told by my boss that I could join the events team for the entire event if I wished so I snapped her hand off! So tomorrow I'll be helping prepare for a 4 hour New Year's Eve party from 8pm - midnight!Read more
TravelerVERY SMART
12/30/23Reply
Traveler What a woggle, wow! 👍
1/1/24Reply
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South Pacific Solo Travel Traveler
Portal-oo & Golf Buggy
December 31, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C
This morning I've helped deliver the portal-oo from the opening ceremony. The kids have all been tasked to find it and have their picture taken with it, we were stopped a good few times just on the delivery route!

I also had the chance to drive the golf buggy around site putting equipment out!Read more
TravelerSOUNDS GOOD FUN 🚽
12/30/23Reply
TravelerHappy New Year Greg 🥳
12/31/23Reply
TravelerDefinitely made for "The Doctor". WHO?
1/1/24Reply
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South Pacific Solo Travel Traveler
Activity Day 1
December 31, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 25 °C
Today's main task was to re-configure the event hangar to a suitable format for the NYE party. This involved having to move all of the centre wires from the floor into the roof, which I was delighted with as it meant I could go onto the overhead runway!

Other small tasks in the day included helping set up for a church service and supervising the 'village green'.

I have also observed and been told that in New Zealand, badge trading is a massive deal. Each Troop must bring at least 500 of their own custom made badges to the event which their kids will trade with other kids. I've already been given 6/7 different badges without even really doing much. This whole point was emphasised when it was absolutely teeming down with rain, yet there was a huge group of kids stood getting soaked for ages whilst trading badges.Read more
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South Pacific Solo Travel Traveler
Calm Before the Storm
December 31, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 20 °C
Before the NYE party we shown the Lego Movie on the big screen, this presented the perfect opportunity to strap a GoPro up to the ceiling.
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South Pacific Solo Travel Traveler
NYE Party
January 1, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C
We entered 2024 with a 3.5 hour party for every child and adult on camp! The team pulled off an amazing night of music and dance and all the kids loved it. We had no complaints at all which apparently is very rare! I learnt how to operate the lights, smoke machines and sparklers on the job but got the hang of it in the end. A night to remember!Read more
TravelerBrilliant. 🥳 Happy New Year 🥂🎉
1/4/24Reply
TravelerWhat a great way to spend New Year's Eve 🍾
1/5/24Reply
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South Pacific Solo Travel Traveler
NYD
January 1, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C
New Year's Day was a day off for all the activity bases and we didn't have a show in the evening so we had an opportunity to have a stroll around camp. One of the few things open was our village green, which was especially busy since today was an open day with another fee thousand parents, siblings and younger Scouts paying a visit to the Jamboree.Read more
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South Pacific Solo Travel Traveler
Trip Out of Town
January 2, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
Today our team took a lunchtime trip into the nearby town of Cambridge. Minor issue was that today was a bank holiday so everything was closed. We therefore settled for a McDonalds lunch and stocked up on supplies from some of the bigger shops.Read more
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South Pacific Solo Travel Traveler
Adventure Bases
January 2, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C
This afternoon we visited the different adventure bases which includes diggers, water slides and 'challenge valley'.
TravelerIt's like the Croccy trail 😆
1/8/24Reply
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South Pacific Solo Travel Traveler
Campfire Night
January 2, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C
This evening was campfire night. We set up the lights for the stage and the guys on stage entertained the crowd!
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Special Tea
January 2, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 15 °C
Once the pavilion had cleared out the events team dragged some bean bags inside. First of all we watched the news report on the Jamboree (4th story on the 6 o'clock news on Channel 1!) and then enjoyed a sing along to the Greatest Showman with a few drinks decanted into mugs.Read more
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South Pacific Solo Travel Traveler
Mascot Stealing
January 3, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C
So a big thing at these Jamboree's are mascots. Each team / Troop has its own mascots and the adult / older troops have a habit of stealing mascots from each other. There are many rules involved which I still don't understand.

Regardless, today we went on a mission to steal the Rovers (aged 18-25) mascots from their base at Challenge Valley. This was a success and in the afternoon we took one of the karts up to the base at the far end of site to see what was going on and take pictures of the mascots.

In the evening when the Rovers had gone for a night on the town we snook into their challenge valley base (took the gate off its hinges) and snapped the mascots having some fun.Read more
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Gangshow
January 3, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
Tonight on the stage was the gangshow! I forgot to take any other pictures but there were a variety of groups from New Zealand doing skits on stage, including a rendition of '12 days of Scout camp' from which the '5 bars of soap' line drew roars of approval from the crowd everytime.Read more
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South Pacific Solo Travel Traveler
Climbing Roadtrip
January 4, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C
Today we took a trip to visit some of the off-site bases. First up was the base with rock climbing, abseiling and zip-lining amongst other things. Our trip here was long than anticipated as the person on directions had 'avoid highways' selected on their maps.Read more
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Water Base
January 4, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
We then headed to the water base to observe the activities, lunch and for more mascot antics!
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International Night
January 4, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C
Tonight on stage was international night! I'd done some setup in the day to prearrange the lighting colours for each country, so I'm definitely making progress!

We had performances from New Zealand, Australia, New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Cook Islands and a few others. They were all super impressive and it was a great night in a packed pavilion!Read more
TravelerWHAT ABOUT A PERFORMANCE FROM THE UK REPRESENTATIVE ? 🇬🇧
1/4/24Reply
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Ice Block Dispensing!
January 4, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
This evening I drove 4 of us around part of camp in a buggy giving out 'ice blocks' (lolly ices) to many of the kids. We gave out over 1,000 'ice blocks' in around 15 minutes and had to bring the buggy to a complete standstill twice through being absolutely swamped! 15 minutes of madness that will live in the memory for a long time!Read more
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South Pacific Solo Travel Traveler
Returning the Mascots
January 5, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C
After a prolonged mascot steal of two days we travelled in a 3 vehicle convoy to challenge valley to return the mascots to the Rovers. They were delivered in our portal-oo which would be based down at challenge valley for the day.Read more
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South Pacific Solo Travel Traveler
A Day on Camp
January 5, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C
Today was a quiet day for the events team so I spent much of the day milling around our village green, exploring camp and giving out our famous Portaloo badges, the kids reactions to being given them were amazing! We then had to pack up our village green and shown Moana on the big screen inside which was exceptionally well attended!Read more
Traveler😎 chill day x
1/8/24Reply
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South Pacific Solo Travel Traveler
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Fire Spinning
January 5, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C
This evening there was also a fire spinning session for 30 kids and 30 adults! Since I was in the events team I was one of the lucky ones able to participate! The fire was very hot and the flames were big but miraculously I managed not to set myself on fire.Read more
Traveler🔥
1/8/24Reply
Traveler Oops! 😀
1/8/24Reply
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South Pacific Solo Travel Traveler
Closing Ceremony Prep
January 6, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
Today was a busy day for the events team, reconfiguring the stage and prepping for the closing ceremony!

Throughout the week, the infrastructure team have been adding a new accessory to their dining table each day, with today's addition being a full sized boat complete with oars!Read more
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South Pacific Solo Travel Traveler
Closing Ceremony
January 6, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
Tonight was the Jamboree closing ceremony! We had around 20 minutes of formalities and 40 minutes of disco! Didn't take any pictures myself so have stolen these off the Facebook page.

After the closing ceremony a few of us went and visited a few different troop sites to see what was going on and finished the night in the leaders retreat with an ice cream! Everyone was too tired to even have a drink so we went to bed.Read more
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South Pacific Solo Travel Traveler
Stage Pack Up
January 7, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
Today we spent the full day packing away our glorious stage! We worked through till 5:30 and decided to call it a day with the job almost done.

A sale also started backstage which included absolute bargain deals on all sorts of goods including bikes, tents, stretchers and bean bags.Read more
TravelerThat’s a lot of packing !! Well Done Events Team
1/8/24Reply
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South Pacific Solo Travel Traveler
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Team Night Out
January 7, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
This evening the events team plus a few others headed into the nearby town of Cambridge for food, drinks and McFlurry's in the park on the way home. A great night letting off some steam.
Traveler Thoroughly deserved, brilliant! 👍😀🍺
1/8/24Reply
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