Venturing for friendships

A GROUP of local adventurers have forged friendships of a lifetime after meeting at a venturers’ camp in New South Wales recently.
Russell Dow, Stefan Rebegetz and Rebecca Mandeltort from Belgrave, Bethany Smith from Ferntree Gully, and Ben Leggett from Tecoma all had the time of their lives at the 13th Australian Venture camp.
The camp held at the Cataract Scout Camp in New South Wales drew more than 700 Venture Scouts from around Australia and overseas.
Venturers from Australia, Germany, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the United Kingdom and Swaziland took on many different adventures together on the 12-day camp.
The camp was an action packed activity that took place from Tuesday, 3 January to Saturday, 14 January at the Cataract Scout Park, Appin in NSW.
Scouts Australia NSW chief director Terry Brooke said the venturers experienced new things and further developed their leadership and team building skills during the camp.
Mr Brooke said hundreds of venturers gained certificates in scuba diving or abseiling while others had the thrill of piloting a glider for the first time.
Russell Dow of Belgrave said he didn’t know anyone at the camp, but not long after arriving he started to make friends with everyone.
He said the friends he made at the camp had become as close as family.
Bethany Smith of Ferntree Gully said one of the highlights of the camp was meeting new people and making really good lasting friendships.