New team claims Dragon Skin crown

For the first time in three years, Dragon Skin has a new winner!

After three years of dominance by teams from 2nd/3rd Pennant Hills Scout Group, this year the bragging rights went to “3rd Time Lucky” from 1st Bungendore Scout Group.

Held in Belanglo State Forest, this year’s theme was “Imaginarium”, with participants dressing up in a variety of costumes, including a traditional favourite – tutus – as well as pickle shirts, plenty of bunny ears, ducks, and other crazy hats.

Camp Chief Damien “Dink” Ryan – Dragon Skin bigger and better than ever

The 2026 edition of Dragon Skin was the biggest event since 2018! We know we’ve said that for the last three years, but excitingly it just continues to grow. This year we welcomed 798 competitors, split into 151 teams, with every Scouts NSW Region represented, along with the ACT, Queensland, Victoria and even one from New Zealand!

With three days and 35 activities on offer, the competition was as tight as it gets. A huge congratulations to “3rd Time Lucky” from 1st Bungendore Scout Group who were crowned Dragon Skin Champions, narrowly beating “Straw Hat Pirates” from 1st Picnic Point Scout Group by only nine points. As the name suggest, this was the third attempt at winning by the 1st Bungendore team after finishing 12th in 2024 and sixth in 2025.

Dragon Skin wouldn’t be possible without the support of our Rover Scouts and Leaders; this year we had 595 running the VOCs (Venturer Overnight Camps), activity bases, and overall logistics of the event. Huge shout out to our four VOC Commanders Laura, Emmie, Lachlan and Stella who took charge of our four VOCs, providing day activities, night entertainment, and camping for the Venturer Scouts. Most of them spent the better part of two weeks in the forest, creating a setup that would rival a large-scale music festival.

Congratulations also to 1st Cobargo Scout Group from VOC3, who were awarded the best overall activity at Dragon Skin 2026, with what was possibly the most unique activity ever seen at the event. Their activity 305 “Scooby Doo: Udder Chaos” had it all, from Morse code to castrating a fake bull!

Look forward to seeing you all at Dragon Skin 2027!

But what was it like for those on the ground?

Maddison, Epping Scout Group Venturer Leader, Welfare Team: To me, the best parts of Dragon Skin are reconnecting with old friends from around NSW and Australia; seeing Venturers building their resilience and confidence over the course of the event; and supporting Rovers in developing their leadership abilities as they got involved in making the event happen.

Kissing Point Rovers, Activity Base: I think there is nothing quite like being woken up by a metal cover of Somewhere Over the Rainbow every morning!

My favourite part of Dragon Skin was regrouping at the campfire with all the Region Rovers each night to talk about how our bases went before enjoying the night activities.

I’ve seen my friends sock wrestle, but never whilst being suspended in mid-air!

Grace, Venturer Scout, 1st/2nd Merrylands (St Anne’s) Scout Group, Participant: Dragon Skin is an experience like no other – hiking all day, completing great bases along the way and partying into the night. The best part of it is the connections you make with fellow Venturers (and the Rovers too!). The most unexpected part, I think, is how you barely notice how far you’ve walked because you’re having so much fun. The most challenging part is dealing with the ever-changing weather conditions on the trail.

Newcastle Rover Unit:

Stella, VOC4 Commander: From a VOC Commander experience, it was great to see all the behind-the-scenes hard work pay off for all of our amazing bases and then all the work that was put into the VOC to build a city from the ground up so it came alive at night for youth and adults alike. Not just for VOC4, but for all our amazing VOCs. Twas a phenomenal Dragon Skin and it was a pleasure to be part of it.

Tyler, Activity Base: A challenging part of any base is adapting to any unforeseen challenges so that the Vennies can continue to have fun.

Josh, Activity Base: Leading a base for the first time and seeing how underprepared I was, but making do with what I had, and having my fellow Rovers around me that were experienced. They made it a lot better and helped smooth out the process. Without them, I probably would’ve been stressing out a lot more.

Maddie, VOC Support: From a catering point of view, it was amazing to see all the happy faces of the Rovers being fed and all the stories they told over dinner.

Ryan, VOC Support: The best part for me was setting up the VOC over the Pre-Skin week.

Sophie, Activity Base: From a fresh Rover and an even fresher Newy Rover, being welcomed so kindly made the experience what it was. It’s not every day that you get to meet, and be part of, a community with such an incredible group of people.

Liz, Rover Scout, Rafiki Rover Unit (Scouts Victoria), VOC Support: The best part of being a Rover on a VOC is being able to support the Venturers to have the best time possible! Being able to help them find their way around the VOC or see them overcome fears by going on the Vomotron (carnival ride). The most unexpected part was being able to gain experience in entertainment and tech – I was able to do the lights for VOC4 night 3, our biggest night. As someone who hasn’t done lighting before, it was such an amazing experience. I also loved getting to welcome everyone to our VOC through the inductions. I feel like Dragon Skin gives Rovers the most chance over every other camp to step up and challenge themselves.

The most challenging thing was making the roughly 1200 bags of fairy floss (using 25kg of sugar)! Those Vennies went crazy for the sugar after hiking all day!