Brentwoodian 2019

14 Australia Sun, friendships and fun was what I was hoping for in my three-and-a-half-week trip travelling around Australia as I had been lucky enough to be one of the 80 UK scouts to be selected for an amazing experience and life-changing journey to AJ2019, the 25th Australian Scout Jamboree. After a year of fundraising involving a sponsored abseil off the Orbit, race nights, curry nights, millions of cake sales, car washing, leaflet delivering and bagging and selling reindeer food for Santa’s reindeer, I was finally on my way. First stop before Australia was when we went to Hong Kong for a couple of days. When we all stepped off the plane everyone noticed how humid it was and what I didn’t realise until I got there was that it was their winter too! So on our first day I wore a shirt and shorts that I definitely regretted later on as it got extremely windy and a bit cold - I was stuck with goosebumps for the whole day. We stayed in the Baden Powell International hotel which was surrounded by the bright lights and exotic smell of the city and street markets, so every night we went out to the city and tasted street food and traditional dishes, flavours and spices blended perfectly into every meal. Over the three days we went to Ocean Park which had rollercoaster rides, a zoo where I saw a Giant Panda, an aquarium that had seals and sharks, live entertainment and plenty to do. My favourite day was definitely when we went to Ngong Ping , surrounded by clouds in the mountains, which had a traditional feeling and a calmness about it. There was a giant ancient statue of the Buddha and the whole village was peaceful with history and religion that taught us the development and belief of the Buddha. We stayed for lunch eating in a restaurant which served traditional and classic food like dumplings, green tea and some interesting-looking sushi. They also had a big plate of meat and I'm still not sure to this day what it actually was but I’m pretty sure it was dog, and it was amazing! We also met up with scouts on the Hong Kong Scout Council and the Chief Commissioner elect of the Boy Scouts of America and started making our first new friends of the trip. After these three days we left to get on a 12-hour flight to Australia. First stop was Cairns. When we landed in Cairns it was 35 degrees so everyone was jet lagged and shocked by the intense heat. We stayed in Cairns for four days, which were four days of burning sun and burning skin! Cairns was an absolutely fantastic place as we were right by the coast with plenty of shops and restaurants dotted by the golden beaches with a big market where you could buy pretty much anything you could think of. We arrived on the 31st December, New Year’s Eve, and we met up with the Queensland scouts on the beach for a traditional Aussie BBQ, ate hot dogs, made friends and had a great time and then watched the fireworks over the harbour at midnight signal the end of a great year and the start of an even better trip. It was a night I will never forget. Next morning though we had to be up at dawn for a day at the Skyrail where we were in a cable car going over the rainforest and looking over the Great Barrier Reef. The next day we went to Green Island surrounded by the Great Barrier Reef where I went snorkelling and even saw a shark, stingray, and loads of fish. One of my highlights of the trip was on our last day when we went to Hartley's Crocodile Farm and I ate crocodile, cuddled a koala and went on a crocodile safari. This was a perfect day to end our trip to Cairns and something that I know a lot of people back home were very jealous about (!) and unless I decide to take the 22-hour flight back to Australia I’m sure the chances are very slim that I will hold a koala or do any of the amazing activities I did again. "I watched some truly inspiring things that have changed the way I approach things in life and how I tackle new obstacles."