The Bacchus Marsh resident, 15, and Melton brothers Ben, 16, and Malcolm McLeod, 12, were among seven Scouts who represented Australia at a 10-day jamboree in the US last month.

Dominic, who was on his first overseas trip, says he enjoyed seeing another country. "Learning about the American way of life was nice," he says. Being served large, American-sized meals was welcome, too. "This is the first jamboree I've attended where I haven't gone hungry."

The Texas gathering celebrated the 100th year of Scouting and involved 40,000 people from 21 countries.

As part of their visit, the local trio also visited Washington DC, Virginia, Los Angeles and New York, as well as the Niagara Falls in Canada.

The boys are members of the Melton-Bacchus Marsh Djerriwarrh Adventurers and attend Catholic Regional College in Melton.

For Malcolm, the best part of the trip was being able to use firearms at the jamboree.

"It was fun," Malcolm says. "I shot a 20-gauge shotgun, an air rifle and a black-powdered musket."

But the boys say New York was a disappointment.

"It is really crowded; people are rude and it doesn't smell nice," Malcolm says.

The Scouts also saw a lot of crime in the busy metropolis - a far cry from peaceful country Victoria.

"We saw people brandishing knives in the back alleys and bag-snatching," Dominic says. "It was shocking."

For Ben, a highlight of the trip was seeing Niagara Falls. "Just the sheer beauty of it caught me off guard."

But the boys, who returned with at least 200 badges, were glad to be home. "You can go as far around the world as you want, but there is no better place than what's familiar," Dominic says.