New reports added

You can check out new camporee reports on the "Media coverage" page, as the adventures of camporee are filtered back to other parts of Australia.

A sunny afternoon in Toowoomba

Photos this afternoon from a field of memories—with the sun shining and the grass growing back.

Anyone missing their shoes?

Survived camporee, get the T-shirt

Springwood Pathfinders (Qld) have come up with a great fundraising idea, a fun way to celebrate the memories of camporee and a creative way to help others. Announcing the "Camporee Survivor" T-shirt.

Springwood Pathfinders are donating 50% of the profits of these shirts to help the families affected by the Queensland floods.

You can individually or as a club place an order by sending a request for an order form to underoathtshirt@hotmail.com

See the Springwood Pathfinder Club's website for more details.

Orders must be in before February 17.

Some corrections and a report

Some of the newsletter files were not working properly but hopefully these have now been fixed.

This week this blog passed 20,000 pages views in the past few weeks. So thanks to everyone who has dropped by, contributed and used it as a way of sharing some of the stories of camporee.

Lilydale home and cleaning up

In scenes likely to have been repeated in church yards around Australia at some stage last week, members of the Lilydale Pathfinder club (Vic) were cleaning their muddy camping gear when it arrived back on Wednesday.

After most of the Pathfinder club flew home from Brisbane, the camping equipment travelled home by trailer, with Rob picking his way through the flooding in south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales. Eventually, he made it home and the wash-down began.

“There is now a bit of Toowoomba on the Lilydale church lawn,” says Rob. “We have no dry tents yet but with time that will come.”

Media clippings added

A number of people at camporee requested copies of media reports—especially those that featured people from their club. These have now been added under the "Media coverage" tab above.

The complete Camporee newsletters

After a few requests, we have now got to posting the full set of the newsletters from camporee. Some of the stories have also appeared on this blog but this is an opportunity to get the full set.

Click on the "Camporee newsletters" tab above to access these files.

Thanks to everyone who contributed photos and stories.

Enjoy.

Camporee clean up continues after Toowoomba disaster

Camporee director Tony Knight and a small group of camporee staff were still working on demolition and cleaning up after camporee when Toowoomba was hit by the wild storms and floods that caused so much damage and loss of life on Monday. However, he has assured that those still working on the camporee site are safe and well, warm and dry. And with all roads out of Toowoomba closed at the moment, they might be there for a little while yet.

"There is no doubt in my mind that the Lord indeed blessed us in allowing all of our Pathfinders and leaders, and most of our event staff to get out of the disaster zone before the real troubles began," says Pastor Knight. "We also offer our prayers on behalf of those in the City of Toowoomba who have tragiclly lost loved ones at this time. Please also pray for the people who so graciously hosted us last week, and now need our support."

If you would like to donate funds to assist with flood relief, you can call the following ADRA Hotline number 1800 242 372 or you can visit the ADRA website for details of the Queensland Flood Appeal at www.adra.org.au.

And flooding further afield has hampered the return journeys of a number of Pathfinder clubs, who have been stranded on their way home.

Pathfinders say, "Thank you, Toowoomba"

As the Australian Pathfinder Camporee came to an end on Sunday, camporee director Tony Knight thanked Toowoomba for hosting the national event and for the community’s support, particularly when heavy rainfall disrupted the camporee on Thursday.

Amid other stories of local support, at least one laundromat stayed open until 1:30am on Thursday night to allow club leaders to dry bedding and clothes for their young people. On hearing of the needs of the displaced Pathfinders, one local woman turned up with bags of dry towels

“We really appreciate the support of the local community in this way,” says Mr Knight. “Right from the beginning, the Toowoomba community and council have been very welcoming of this event—and they really showed that welcome in practice, when we really needed it.

“For more than 2500 young people from around Australia, Toowoomba will be remembered—and, despite the challenges posed by the weather, most of those memories will be very positive.”

Leaving the mud

The pictures tell the story.

For some it was an early breakfast and worship before heading out.

Others worked together to pack up camp amid the mud.
Chaplains continued to circulate in their sub-camps, praying with each club before they began the journey home.