It was a cold summers morning on the south coast of New South Wales. My two fellow unit members and I lined up to get on to bus 12A (because HQ were a bit suspicious about their bad luck) on the side of the Princes Highway. Meeting our District Venturer Leader, Rob Curl, as we boarded, we sat back for the long trip ahead. From NSW into Victoria, back into NSW and into Victoria again, we finally made it to the border and into South Australia. After being told to chuck any fruit out of the bus we finally embarked into the driest state I have ever seen. It seemed like hours of just travelling in a straight line with the only sign of life was the odd saltbush here and there. It was cold, dark and nowhere to go but strait ahead.

Morning arrived and so did civilisation. We went through many towns watching the array of farmers and Aboriginals on the sides of the road. Reaching Murray Bridge, I looked into the waters of the longest river in Australia and said "Were going to drink from that?" Finally we made it to Adelaide, well that is what the sign said anyway, it seemed like another country town to me. Then suddenly, like we hit a brick wall, we reached a metropolis of medium height skyscrapers and office blocks. We then knew we had arrived.

After making an hour long detour to get our names marked off and receive our cruddy looking maroon t-shirts we finally arrived at Wayville Showgrounds, anyway TENT CITY. Like cattle bought for slaughter we were herded into queues and asked our name and number (again, it seemed like the hundredth time) and were told which site we were at. Bidding my fellow unit members fairwell, I hiked with a duffle bag and two backpacks weighing over 50 Kg to the other side of the showground. Finding a clear spot in my designated area I wiped out my tent, pitched it in 2 minutes, then passed out beside it. Awaking in a puddle of water-pistol spray I unpacked my essentials and layed down outside my tent on a stretcher from K-Mart. After watching the rest of Unit 111 unpack and setup I went walking to meet some people, socialise, the neighbourly thing to do. I returned after meeting my fellow unit members again and my cousin whom I hadn;t seen in a day or so, as well as being even wetter from those annoying pistols.

Stumbling passed someone's tent in our area, I met Annie and Serena, who happened to be the life of our unit. Both from ACT they were the first people I met in my new unit. Next I met the guy in the tent right next to mine. Ian was a Venturer that lived the closest to where I live, being about 200km away.

That night Ian and I went into Adelaide for a walk. It was about 8:30pm and we couldn't see anyone around except for a group of Aboriginal people, one who asked me for a cigarette and another asked Ian for his shoes. After that we steered clear of groups of Aboriginals and went to walk down Rundle Mall. No-one in sight. Freaked by the sudden appearance of a Ghost City we walked/jogged/ran back to the showground, stopping only at an ATM, our original reason for going into the city. It's amazing how comforting a large amount of people your age are, even if you don't know them.

Breakfast, queue. Lunch, queue. Dinner, jump queue. This cycle repeated itself various times while we were at the showground. Finally the day arrived when we embarked on our mission to Edithburgh, The biggest hole in SA beside Adelaide (No offence intended). Another bus trip made me want to scream but I held that in till I dropped a scuba tank on my foot while unloading. No permanent damage Thank God.

Anyway after setting up camp on the Edithburgh Cricket and Sporting Oval, which was as hard as a rock, we met our diving instructors from SSAG (Scouting Sub-Aqua Group or was is SASSAG with South Australia?) and were allocated our equipment. Everyone was split into 6 groups of about 6 each, each one containing a SASSAG member and a leader of our unit. Mine consisted of Greg, Ibby, Sharp, Ben, J4, Wendy a trainee SASSAG and Nick, a SASSAG member. We were group Six. We were buddied off as with all diving and were given a timetable of when and where we were diving. Being he last group we started off with kitchen duty for the first day and then went to the big dive in the afternoon. We were meant to do a wreck dive out near the point but because of bad swell we withdrew from that dive and did a dive further in called "The Fence". This dive was excellent with lots of sealife and great visibility. But as we neared the climax of the dive a very special thing happened. For the first time in all of our lives in group 6 (except the "all mighty Nick" yeah right) we saw Dolphins, and to make it better a baby dolphin as well. They were about 3 metres away.

That night after a well cooked dinner by our trusty chef Bob, we had an early curfew which some of us didn't abide. While other male members of our small unit got better aquatinted with the females of our unit and all the other "goodie-goodies" went to bed, a few of us sat around and told stories on the side of the oval beside our tents. Meanwhile, the members of SASSAG (I think that is what they were called) were getting drunk in the clubhouse, well we think they were. We didn't care, we wanted to join them.

Next day was the Jetty dive for group six. 8:30am, seven people and one in a ute, run the 300 metres to the Edithburgh jetty in a wetsuit half done up and swimsuit. It was FREZZING and all the screaming that went on didn't please the neighbours either. After a quick setup, we hit the water and went for a little explore around the jetty finding all sorts of dead fish, lures and other beer cans and junk. Every so often for fun, we'd scare the crap out of some fisherman and pull his line then cut it and take off with his $20 lure. Ah, the joys of Venturing. That afternoon we were scheduled for another boat dive but because of bad weather we just went to the jetty for a swim and cool off. You'd be surprised of the amount of Scuba divers who can't swim properly.

This night was the first of the night dives, at the jetty. All getting our cylume sticks in various colours, we headed down to the wharf to go sub-aqua in what seemed like sub-freezing temperatures. "It's warmer in the water" they said, tell you what, they were wrong. After exploring what we saw in the day already, we found new fun by sneaking up on unsuspecting Venturers and scaring the crap out of them. We also discovered that when you turn out your lights and shake you hand, luminous microscopic phosphate (Radio-Man's explanation) in the water glow, making you look like an alien when you move really fast. That was Fun.

The next day was just a dive whenever, party the rest of the time, thing. We mainly socialised with the other members of our unit, cursed the very non-busy Edithburgh, and finally found a very secluded little cafe for a drink. Raiding the local supermarket seemed fun but lost its interest after a while. After organising some idea to buy a tub of ice-cream and 6 litres of Coke we sat and had Spiders by the Great Southern Ocean. That night was the second and final of the night dives. For some people like Ian, they went for another dip into the murky depths of the Edithburgh Jetty. All the sane people stayed dry, including all but 2 of the SASSAG members. That night called for a little celebration with a few tent crams and late night Earth-ball, and some people fitting 12 people into a 2 man tent, in a cross hatch pattern. Everyone stayed up til our Canadian Leaders came around and shoved us into tents, who's they were, they didn't know, and a few were smartly kicked out within the minute, and stumbled back to their own.

The next day we packed up all our necessary gear and headed for the other side of the peninsula with the rest of the unit. We did a dive at Magazine cove with a bunch of rude fisherman on the shore line complaining about us scaring the fish away. That was the longest dive I have ever done even though I only had 3/4 of tank full to start with. All were exhausted except for the few who didn't dive and laid on the pebbly beach, which made our English leader feel right at home. After the trip back and the long time it took us to unpack and clean up in the communal showers, in which we had three girls stay for approx. 2 hours, we all got dressed in our best gear for the final night party. A DJ was hired from Adelaide and he wasn't too impressed about the trip. After the best meal we had all the Venture, we made some presentations including giving all the SASSAG members a lure each after we collected eight of them. The disco afterward was the pinnacle of the evening with friendships made forever at that moment. Between the 20 people moshing and crowd surfing while trying to dodge the low beam, we managed to shave Nick's goatee off as he removed J1's eyebrow earlier in the night. After the party the Adults went their way and we went ours for a camp in the middle of the oval taking all our sleeping gear out of our tents to sleep under the stars. All was going well till a few of the drunk adults decided a quick run over with the earth ball and a shower from water pistols would be fun. After that we slowly made way back to our tents for a well deserved sleep.

The next morning, our Canadian leaders decided to wake us using pots and pans clashing together while screaming at the top of their voices. It's amazing how loud a slightly overweight 40 year old Canadian can yell. We also discovered that calling them "Canadians from Canadia" really ticked them of as well. After a packup and lots and lots of photos we said our goodbyes to Edithburgh and members of the Dive group we would never see again. The trip home was drowned out by snoring and many address books being passed around. That night after arriving at Woodhouse and being unable to find our campsite until we were designated the most open site in the whole camp, we all stuck together and Unit 111 hung around, proud to see a picture of a scuba diver on the side of the Main Stage.

Woodhouse, from a Unit 111 members point of view, was a blast with most of us spending most of our time at the beach, some going there three days running. At night time, there was the Boxer Brigade present at EXHALE, probably "the most devoted to dance" group at the nightclub, being there all night as soon as it opened, sometimes being the only group of people there, and trying to convince the DJ's to play something other than Techno. We had an absolute blast. I've never done the Macarena so many times. Almost all our members were crazy enough to get a sombrero at the beach, with J2 achieving 3 by the end of the Venture, keeping one to himself, giving one to our UK leader and the last one to the "Cage Chick" in EXHALE who was a member of the entertainment crew.

When it finally came to the last day, a few other members and myself stayed up all night, overdosing on coffee and No-Doze tablets trying to keep the few QLD members of our unit awake for there early flight. The next day never came for me, it just seemed like one 48 hour blur. In the morning we all said goodbye and promised to write to each other, some being more involved than others. Cameras were non-sop and tears were of no shortage either. Promising to have a reunion in the year 2000, we all said goodbye for the last time, some ending up hugging until one felt their arms going dead. I've never heard the word Goodbye being said so much in one day.

The trip home seemed shorter, maybe it was all the stories we told, maybe we were just dead tired, but one thing was for sure, we all agreed that we would love to go on another one of them, or even make MEGA 10 longer.

Life after Mega 10 didn't stop. I moved to ACT and we have been keeping in touch, with coffee every so often and the odd phone call here and there to find the latest gossip. It was discovered that a member from our unit who lived in Cairns, moved to Perth to be with his new girlfriend also in our unit. We've also had a relationship between a Canberran and a Sydneyite since the Venture now and they are still going steady. DragonSkin 97 was also a blast with everyone one from ACT and NSW meeting again. Tonnes of mail has been sent, and the Queen's Birthday weekend was filled with scuba diving in Jervis Bay, while staying at the Scout Hall, with members of Unit 111 from the states of ACT and NSW attending. All in all I'd say, we'll be together for a long time yet.

Not much has been heard from the other side of the continent but who knows about what's going on there. You never know, maybe Unit 111 will rise again.