Wollongong Venturers push past their limits to receive Queen's Scout Award

Mr Savage joined the Scouts as a cub, following in the footsteps of both his parents who were part of the organisation.

In contrast, Mr Belgrove joined when he was 15, after becoming concerned he was spending too much time indoors.

Both are members of the 1^st Kieraville Venturer Scout Unit, and have now received Queen's Scout Awards (QSA) for pushing past their personal limits.

"It's a huge honour and I think it's really quite wonderful that scouts have the framework to encourage people to push themselves," Mr Belgrove said.

"It's very much going above and beyond what is expected of a scout and it's pushing an individual, pushing themselves to improve on their skills," Mr Savage said.

To receive a QSA, scouts must be involved in the community as and take on leadership roles in scouts activities.

"It requires about three years of dedicated effort ... it's a lot of effort."

Mr Savage for his part taught Lego robotics classes and led a 30-kilometre hike from Boyd's Tower to Green Cape Lighthouse on the South Coast.

"A lot of my skills were focused on personal progression and development, so pushing myself as a leader," he said.

For Mr Belgrove, his efforts involved leading a hiking group on the Murramarang South Coast Walk, mapping local green spaces and helping to create community street libraries.

"I thought they'd be a good way of getting people who don't necessarily have access to books but want to read to be able to," Mr Belgrove said.

"You can go up and borrow books and put another book back in if you want, but it's also completely OK for people to go up and just take books ... if they want to read."

Both scouts talk highly of the experience being part of a troop provides.

"Scouts is wonderful and I'd recommend anyone who wants to join scouts to join," Mr Belgrove said.

"I'm completely biased but I think it's a great organisation."

Mr Savage says scouts is about "more than just pioneering outdoors".

"It's a really good social activity, it's a bunch of like-minded people coming together and just focus on having fun," he said.