After a parade it was straight outside tonight, with a game of Team Skies. The Scouts were randomly assigned in to 2 groups of three and fitted with a pair of skis for each group. On go they had to race as a team to the end of a track, turn around and come back again. We repeated the game in pairs, which they all noticed was much easier to co-ordinate.
Back inside we sat and had a debrief about the weekends patrol activity to Brisbane, the day sounded like a success with only a couple of hiccups which the Scouts dealt with on the day.
We followed this with some discussions on how not to get lost during patrol activities in general and practical traffic safety for patrol hikes. This included taking a look at the right sort of shoes to wear, with a very good point being made to not wear new shoes as they need ‘walking in’ before being used in a major event.
We then talked about how to help prevent sun burn, sun stroke, heat exhaustion and skin cancer. Namely the covering of limbs with clothing, the use of sun cream, hats and glasses along with keeping out of the sun where possible and drinking enough fluids.
Eagle then posed the question of how we can prevent injuries from swimming in unknown waters, answered given included:
- Don’t swim if you don’t have to
- Check currents and depths of water before getting in
- Wear shoes
- Seek local advice on the area
- Be aware of areas crocodiles and other animals may live in
- Don’t jump or dive in to unknown water
Some good advice for sure.
Lastly we discussed what hypothermia is and how even in our warm climate it’s easily a danger that can strike quickly. In particular we noted that a person suffering from hypothermia should not be rubbed or given alcohol and care should be taken with any heat source used to warm them. A heat source only needs to be warmer than the person for it to donating heat to them, people with hypothermia may not feel pain properly and a high heat source could thus burn them. The aim is to stop them losing heat, and any warming should be gradual.
Keep all the above in mind, we will not doubt cover it again soon but you never know when you may be called upon to use the things you have discussed tonight.
For the final part of the evening we had a go at making ropes, firstly we tested turning plastic bottles in to a long strad which we would make in to a rope.
Unfortunately this did not work too well, we are not sure if the blades were too blunt or the plastic type of the bottle wasn’t right, as after making a few inches the strand would break. However we had some strands from a green bottle already made up from an earlier attempt and so used these. Tieing the plastic to the machine was not easy, being so slippy the knots were more than happy to undo after a few turns. However the principle was shown to work and we were able to make a short length of plastic bottle rope.
This coming weekend is the Back to Basics day at Canungra so we hope to see you all there on Saturday!
