13 trampers met at the community preschool play centre car park in Piha at 2:40pm this afternoon for the repeat of the Marawhara Walk. The heavy shower started as people turned into the car park persuaded us to find shelter for a few minutes before it eased off. We then all circled up and took turns to say our names to the group before Ian Marshall gave an open prayer. We had off shortly after that, leaving the car park at 2:45pm to cross the North Piha Road to the entrance of the Marawhara Track. Two guests weren’t sure if they should stay in the car to wait, or come with the group, because they had not brought rain gear and were afraid of more rain. After a moment of hesitation, they caught on the enthusiasm of the group leader and decided to go with us. And they were not disappointed at their decision at all when the sun came shining on us while we were on the track. After a short stroll through a quiet and beautiful palm groove, we came to a grass knoll. By now the shower had completely cleared off. the group paused and posed for our first group photo. Crossing the creek at the beginning of the walk after the grass knoll presented some challenge to some of our guests. Ian gave her a piggyback to carry her over the creek, and was much appreciated by the rest of the group. We were all happy and thankful for Ian's kind help. The group carried on climbing 300 steps (wooden boxes), with only a short pause along Whites Track. We climbed up the top of the track and got to Anawhata Rd. where we had our first stop and a second group photo. Then we carried on to the intersection of the end of Whites Track and Anawhata Rd. We veered to our left and walked a couple of minutes to the start of rose track on our left. We walked through the gate and took the rose track, began descending towards the sea along a well maintained private driveway for about 10 minutes, we came upon another intersection, veering to our right, we came to stand on the Whites Beach lookout. the track on our right leads to Whites Beach. yet, we chose to turn left and carried on to our left for about 3 minutes and came to an almost hidden track on our right that was the beginning of Laird Thompson Track. A couple of minutes through the bush, we came to a beautiful lookout to the Tasman Sea and North Piha Beach. a brief stop for people to take in the stunning view. We carried on towards the intersection of Laird Thompson continuing to our left and the track to whites beach on our right. We walked straight forward to another lookout on our right overlooking whites beach. The view of the wild whites beach excited the walkers, so more photos were taken here. But carrying on ahead through a sheltered small tree grove, we came to Te Waha Point, the Tasman Sea lookout. Here the unobstructive panoramic view was overwhelming. Trampers sat down taking in the view as well as having some snacks and drink. Then we headed down back to the small tree groove to hear Christine Marshall gave devotions. She gave a beautiful response to the recent media sensation over Brian Tamaki's sermon, where he had blamed the Kaikoura earthquake of 14 November on gays, lesbians and sexual sinners. Christine's response is "yes, God is love and God cares about each and everyone of us." She prayed giving thanks to God's creation including the creation of each of us. This encouraged continued discussion amongst the other trampers, it was encouraging and beautiful. Thank you Christine. We then started descending all the way to North Piha Beach. walking along the beach, past three caves on our left, we soon veered to our left to walk through sand dunes and a grass knoll to the car park at the end of North Piha road. Walking along the road for about 10 minutes, we came back to our cars on our right. We thanked each other and went into our cars and left the car park at about 5:45pm.