26 people took advantage of a fine sunny day after a long spell of wild weather forcing cancellation
of the previous three Club trips, to explore parts of Long Bay that were new to almost everyone. After
our intros and prayer we set out about 2:20pm from the end of Streamview Way in the new Long Bay development,
going up a new path to come out on Vaughans Rd.
There were views south to East Coast Bays and
north to Okura and the Whangaparaoa Peninsula as we carried on along Vaughans Rd. We passed a horse paddock
where one of the horses was wearing a pink tartan cover. When we got to the boundary of the Long Bay
Regional Park we had to climb over a locked farm gate to cross the paddock, and there was a second gate
to climb over to come out to the Coastal Track.
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Our break was at Pohutukawa Bay Beach. Ian and Wilma shared a few stories about how God has His hand
on all our lives with different things. Someone lost their car in an accident, and was eventually able
to buy a new one. A traveller coming home from Denmark found their checked luggage had not arrived, but
they were able to get it six days later.
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We carried on and did the new 100 Acre Track, a mown path through native re-vegetation, from Grannys
Bay to rejoin the Coastal Track on the clifftop. At this point there was a shoe spraying station for
kauri dieback, which we used. From there we went down the Clifftop Track and carried on to return to
our starting point, finishing at 4:50pm. Distance 7.5km.
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It was a short drive to Sunny’s home on Okura River Rd for our end of year BBQ. About 32 people attended,
and we enjoyed a lovely pot-luck BBQ dinner with an outlook to Long Bay and the Whangaparaoa Peninsula.
Afterwards we gathered inside for our formal time. Barbara gave a presentation on an emergency kit
for pack-carry tramps, such as a survival blanket and a copy of Safety In The Mountains. Tina showed
a sample of a proposed ABTC T-shirt, that could carry the Club logo. Murray did a plug for the 2023 ABTC
calendar, depicting photos from the last South Island summer tramps taken by members.
Don on
his guitar led us through four Christmas songs, and Barbara concluded with a Christmas reflection. It
is good to remember about Jesus, he was born in a cattle shed yet a star brought roch and noble people
from thousands of miles away. His birth is contrary to the laws of life, His death contrary to the laws
of death. No miracle is greater than Jesus’ birth, life and death. He had no cornfields or fisheries,
yet He laid a table for 5000. Christ’s crucifixion was the crime of all crimes, yet from God’s perspective
no less a price could have made possible our redemption. Jesus preached the gospel for three years, He
wrote no book or had a headquarters. Yet 2000 years later He is the central figure of human history,
the only redeemer of the human race. Let us remember Christmas about Christ.
We were finished
about 8pm, plenty to time to get home before dark and a shower of rain.
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