A group of twelve people took the opportunity to brave the wintry weather and explore some tracks and
reserves in the new business subdivision of Highbrook near East Tamaki and Otara. One carload of four
left The Bracken at 1:30pm and joined up the remaining eight people at North Business Parade at Highbrook.
Two cars were placed at the finish point of the tramp, Curlew Bay in Otahuhu to ferry the drivers back
to Highbrook afterwards.
At 2:15pm we had our usual intros and karakia before setting out along
the coastal track. This followed the bank of the Tamaki River but on a deliberately winding course going
past viewpoints and man-made ponds.
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We then crossed Highbrook Drive and entered the Pukekiwiriki Crater reserve. This is one of the many
extinct volcanoes which maker up the Auckland area. The floor of the crater is now covered by mangroves
and wetland. As we followed the gravel track through this reserve we could look out across to the Otara
power station.
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We had our afternoon tea break where the track was cut short by a road being built. Andrew for devotions
read out Matthew 18:23-35, being the parable of forgiveness. In this story Jesus tells of a king who
cancelled a great debt by a servant because he could not afford to repay it. The servant then demands
repayment of a much smaller debt from a fellow servant. The fellow servant pleads to pay it off over
time, but instead is thrown into jail by the servant. The king finds this out, and calls the servant
in to see him. In anger the king reneges on cancelling the great debt, and has the servant tortured and
thrown into prison. This Bible passage alone tells of us having to forgive one another as Jesus Christ
has done so for us on the cross; Andrew did not have to add any extra comments.
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Having retraced our footsteps to Highbrook Drive, we carried on across the Otara Creek bridge.
We saw the old weir that crossed the mouth of Otara Creek, that was built to allow the creek to provide
cooling water for the power station. John recalled walking onto that bridge with a friend Scottie back
in the 1980s; now it is fenced off, but one man must have had permission to go fishing off it.
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From there we followed a new cycleway that went alongside the Southern Motorway to Otahuhu.
We were at tramp’s end at Curlew Bay just before 4pm. John and Andrew waited while everyone else was
ferried back to Highbrook.
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