During the summer Shirley Webber, Brown Owl of the 8th Bexleyheath West Brownies, took the girls on their very first Pack Holiday to Paxwood. The six months beforehand had been so busy - planning, making lists, lists and more lists. Begging, borrowing and cajoling items, people and time - but everything at last had seemed to come together. Over 300 corks had been donated by friends and family, manfully quaffing their way through gallons of wine for the sake of the Brownies bush hats. Hours of shopping the day before the camp netted us with trolleys full of food at a bargain price, although we had lost the will to live by the time we reached the checkout!

We had chosen 'Australia' as our theme and on arrival we decorated the house with posters and pictures and three six foot cardboard kangaroos at the door to welcome everyone. The kitchen became the Cookhouse, dorms became bunkhouses, bathrooms wash houses and so on. The favorite was of course the Dunny. The sixes were also named after Aussie wildlife - Possums, Koalas, Joeys etc. and the leaders became Sydney, Victoria, Norleen, Adelaide and our brilliant QM Canberra, a doubtful tribute to the towns and cities of Australia. We had four days of terrific fun - we dined on such delicacies as swampy pudding, creek jelly and boomerang bacon and possum pies - all prepared by the girls. Our long hours of compiling the menus paid off as a queue was formed for seconds in minutes.

Each day chores were completed then followed by games and expeditions. Led by Victoria, we trekked through the outback to paddle in the creek, and made boomerangs with Adelaide and Alice. A bush scavenger hunt was organised to give everyone a chance to wear their newly made bush hats and hand crafted swag bags were used to carry a packed tea to the creek. Everything seemed to go well and we all had a great time.

Shirley Webber