This was a Saturday day trip with a difference - a day at Leigh with two easy walks plus a boat trip around Goat Island. 24 people showed up on a gloriously fine day, meeting at the Goat Island carpark at 9:45am. Our first walk was the Cape Rodney Walkway, an easy half hour walk on a well formed track to a lookout with views of Cape Rodney with Little Barrier Island in the distance. We were back at Goat Island Bay in plenty of time to board the glass bottom boat at midday. Although the weather was good, recent swells had churned up the sea bottom and underwater visibility would be poor. Therefore the boat trip would become a 50 minute sightseeing tour circumnavigating the island with several caves to be seen. At least one of these caves had stalactites at the entrance.  And we were able to see some snapper and other fish through the boat’s glass bottom. After having our lunch on the beach in the company of seagulls grateful for morsels some of us threw to them, we went up to the Marine Discovery Centre at the university marine laboratory. We changed our minds when we found there was an admission fee to visit this museum. We drove to Ti Point to do the coastal walkway. We set out from the wharf just after 2pm to follow the coastal walkway through bush and coastal pasture with pohutukawa trees. We came to the end of the track 35 minutes later.

The unusual pohutukawa and grass terrain at the end of the Ti Point walkway made for a great spot to hear Mary D share about hidden things. There are hidden things everywhere, such as fish in the sea, things we don't know about one another (such as strengths, weaknesses, struggles and thoughts), and what is in store for us in the future. But in Psalm 139 God knows each one of us inside out, He knows where we come and go, He knows more about each one of us more than we do, He perceives our thoughts from afar, and He knows everything that lies ahead of us to the future. Just goes to show we can trust God completely and wholeheartedly! Mary cited a friend whose husband had not long to live in this world, and every few days she was called to make a decision about him. Mary concluded the devotions by reading the hymn: God sent His Son, they called Him Jesus He came to love, heal and forgive He lived and died, to buy my pardon An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives Because He lives, I can face tomorrow Because He lives, all fear is gone Because I know He holds the future And life is worth the living just because He lives We returned to the carpark the same way, and on our way home enjoyed icecreams at Matakana to round off a lovely day out.

COST: travel from The Bracken $17; glass bottom boat $20 DISTANCE CAPE RODNEY WALK:  3.2km DISTANCE TI POINT WALK: 3.3km