Auckland Baptist Tramping Club 2003

Thirty people turned up to explore two fairly new tracks in the Huntly area - the Te Araroa trail from Rangiriri to north of Huntly that had been completed last year, and a new walkway circumnavigating Lake Weavers that had been made just a few weeks before. We left The Bracken about 8:10am and travelled to the start of the Te Araroa walkway across the Waikato River bridge at Rangiriri, arriving soon after 9am. This was very good timing, but we needed to wait for June who was coming directly from Papakura, and Gail who was coming up from Hamilton. While we were waiting Thor’s Thunderbirds entertained us to a few bass drum rolls, but the skyborne concert concluded quickly and we were able to do our tramp without having to put on raincoats. It was 9:50am by the time everyone had arrived and the van was placed at the end of the walkway to ferry the drivers back to collect their cars afterwards, and we were starting our tramp. The Te Araroa walkway, one of an increasing number of walkways being made throughout New Zealand to eventually form a continuous track from Cape Reinga to Bluff, followed the western stopbank of the Waikato River from Rangiriri to a few km north of the Huntly Power Station. The section we tramped ended 3km north of the station - we were unaware that a very short additional section had just been completed running alongside the Kapuni pipeline behind the Ohaaki Marae. The terrain most of the way was through an assortment of farm paddocks, many of which had herds of cows of varying timidness ranging from inquisitive to very shy, but we did not encounter any aggressive animals. We soon passed the back of the Maurea Marae, and saw a lone monument over the fence in a paddock. After an hour we stopped for our elevenses beside one of many stiles we had to cross. We did not have cow paddocks all the time - in one place we crossed some recently ploughed crop fields. It was midday as we left the farm land and began to follow the edge of the Huntly Golf Course. A track had been made along the edge of the golf course to shield trail walkers from whizzing golf balls, and we found a nice possy for our lunch stop with the abomination of many a gardener, wandering jew, forming a luxuriant carpet to sit on. The wandering jew also added beauty to the bog area between the track and the river, along with wild irises in flower. John shared some thoughts from The Word For Day by Bob Gass (2 September 2003) based on the Bible verse He delights in every detail of our lives (Psalm 37:23 NLT). God is not only pleased with us when we pray, go to church or read the Bible; He is also delighted with our everyday activities when done with an attitude of gratitude - washing dishes, selling cars, raising a family, feeding the birds, going tramping, etc - provided it is not sinful. John recalled a friend telling him on a tramp years ago in the Hunua Ranges that God enjoys His creation through our eyes - and expanded that thought to include not only our eyes (the beauty of the mountains, flowers in the garden, sunsets, etc) but also our ears (sounds of the birds, insects, flowing streams, and also nice music such as classical, jazz, praise-and-worship, etc - contrasting the relaxing effects of classical music with the unsettling repulsive effects of the demonic rock “music” that is unfortunately popular with today’s youth), our noses (the fragrance of flowers, perfumes, pineforests, etc) and our taste buds (the beautiful and varied tastes of fruits, meat, vegetables, chocolate, cheese, cake, etc). A specific example John mentioned was feeding the birds in the park or on the back lawn - God made the sparrows the way they are for our (and His) pleasure when we throw bread and crumbs to them! He recalled devotions time on the Hunua Ranges trip a month before when trip leader Paul mentioned the need to keep focussed on what we are doing, and said we can focus on the beauty and wonder of God’s creation when we look at flowers in the garden, go to a concert, enjoy a meal in a restaurant, or take a recreational break in the working day. A brief time of prayer followed before we donned our packs once more. The track skirted the golf course for most of its length, then came back onto farm land, and we had views out across some wetlands.

The final part of our walk was through a really crowded paddock of cows - they just ignored us as we passed through.

We were out by about 1:15pm, and the drivers were taken back to the start of pick up their cars, then we drove into Huntly to have a look at the new Lake Weavers. This was originally the Weaver opencast coal mine. Mining operations stopped in 1993, and the open pit was allowed to fill up with water. A walkway had just been completed running the perimeter of the lake, and the area was now open for passive public recreation. The project is expected to be completed within the next four years, with the lake rising maybe a metre or two, and beaches built for swimming and sunbathing. Already volunteer groups are doing plantings of native and exotic trees and shrubs, and this will transform the present bare green landscape to an attractive mixture of pasture, bush and shrubbery.

It took us about an hour to walk around the lake, and we were finished by about 3:15pm.

Two car loads did not do the lake walk, one going straight back to Auckland and the other choosing to go to the Waingaro hot springs instead. Everyone had a wonderful time of walking and fellowship, flavoured by especially appropriate devotions on appreciating the beauty of God’s creation around us COST: $12