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Wolf had planned an endurance evening, the Monte Vista Camel Trophy. A few weeks
before the actual event, our patrol leaders were given an envelope with instructions where
to meet for the compitition and an application for a "driver's licence". Yes!
What would the Camel Trophy be without a 4x4 off-road vehicle, a trusty Wheelbarrow,
complete with licence plates made by somebody in the patrol. One patrol even had HEAD
lights, but Zebras had the best licence plates, made of perspecs and looked really smart,
like real licence plates. We had to meet at the PPECB building in the Peoples Republic of
Flat Path, in other words in Plattekloof. During the week before the event, we had to find
this building and luckily everybody did.
The Challenge
Everyone arrived at the PPECB builbing on Friday 29 August 1997 at 06:30 in the rain. Wolf
said that even though it was wet, we would still do the challenge. We were given the first
part of the adventure, the physical test that we had to complete to cross the
"border" into the Peoples Republic of Flat Path. Firstly we had to answer the
questions to proove that we are Scouts, and then phone a number that they had given us.
From the nearest house avaliable we phoned and an answering machine said that we had to
buy a packet of Lemon Creams.
The Border
Once we bought the biscuits, they inspected our wheelbarrows and "driver's
licence". After that we were given an envelope with further instructions for the rest
of the challenge till the end.To cross the border, we had to cross a canal without any of
us or our equipment touching the water or the concrete blocks around the edge. Of course
the wheelbarrow had to get safely across. With great difficulty, everybody got across.
The Bridge
We were told that the bridge was too weak to take our weight, so we had to go either over
or under without touching it. If any of us or our equiptment touched it we whould be
penalized.
The Pine Tree
Along the path was a pine tree that we had to get a spring of pine needles from. Most of
the patrols sent one person up and I was one of the unfortunate people. We still don't
know what a spring of pine needles is.
The Cliff
Great! Now we had to get up a small cliff with our wheelbarrow and all our kit. It was fun
and everyone got to the top, some quicker than others. Once at the top, we had to find our
way to the path and then follow it to the next obstacle.
The Wall
After getting off the path, and cutting our way through bushes and nettles, we got to the
wall. It was at least 2m high and we had to get our 4x4 over again, aswell as our kits.
This was a difficult task, as the wall had very few places to hold on to and went straight
up.
The dam
It wasn't that big a dam, but we had to get over it none the less. No, not over a bridge,
but through the water. Being a small dam, it wasn't the deepest I had ever seen, but it
was still very cold. So through the water we trapsed with all our equipment and our
"4x4" wheelbarrow.
The Hill
This was the last of the challenging obstacles. First we had to get there, and the path
was a long one, and our equipment slowed us down. Time was running out and we had to reach
the top of the hill where we had to find the key in a stone to open a box that had an
electronic database in it. Once that was found, the patrol name had to be entered into it
to stop the clock that was keeping time of how long it took each of the patrols to get to
it through all the obstacles.
The End
Wet, tired and cold, we walked back to where we started from and the mothers had a pot of soup waiting for us. It was a fun and energetic evening, and enjoyed by all.
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