Monsters for a cause - and Scouts - at Explore Australia Expo

Tribute Truck
With over 20,000 visitors expected across the weekend the Explore Australia Expo will also raise awareness for depression awareness charity beyondblue.

Beyondblue strives to change attitudes, reduce stigma and improve services for people with depression and anxiety - and their family and friends - throughout Australia.

Following the death of his son Rowan, Membrey Transport Operator Craig Membrey teamed up with beyondblue to raise awareness of depression and suicide.

Membrey's monster truck, named in memory of Rowan, will be on the Adventure Track throughout the weekend.

Scouts on Show - and in Action
Australia's largest youth movement, the Scouts, which provides young Aussies aged 6 to 25 with fun and challenging opportunities to grow through adventure, will give visitors to the expo the chance to experience some of the activities they undertake first hand.

Today's Scouts can take part in an extraordinary variety of outdoor activities, from 'traditional Scouting skills' such as camping and bushcraft, through to more extreme challenges such as abseiling, overnight hiking, rafting, canoeing, canyoning, snow activities, rock climbing, sailing and even flying.

Explore Australia Expo's younger visitors will have the chance to tackle the abseiling and rock climbing tower and test their skill's at creating a stacking tower.

Peter Macdonald Scouts Victoria State Leader for Abseiling said young adventurers visiting the Explore Australia Expo would get a real sense of the Scouts experience.

"We're lucky to have an enthusiastic team of volunteers that run a program that helps to train the leaders of tomorrow," Macdonald said.

"Our aim is to encourage the physical, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual development of young people so that they may play a constructive role in society as responsible citizens and as members of their local and international communities.

"We do this through an active program that insists on our youth members having fun and enjoying all aspects of their scouting lives. This weekend, we'd like to show all of the guests at the Expo just one or two of the ways we achieve this aim," Macdonald continued.

Tickets for the Explore Australia Expo are available online or at the gate. Adults $17, Senior/Concession $13, Kids Under 15 FREE. Adult 2 Day Pass only $24

For more information and to purchase tickets online for the Explore Australia Expo at the Melbourne Showgrounds, visit the Explore Australia Expo website.