Friday We travelled down to Opoutere in private cars, picking up passengers from their homes without meeting at The Bracken. The first people arrived at the YHA late afternoon, and the last one to arrive came about 8pm. The YHA, our home for two nights, is a lovely little hostel that was originally the Opoutere school. The classroom is now a large dorm, which the menfolk slept in. The old schoolhouse now contains two 4-bed dorms, one of which the ladies had, and a cosy little common room, or lounge, plus the kitchen and dining area. The two buildings are connected by a purpose-built washrooms, laundry and dorm block. There are also some cabins in the hostel grounds. The tables in the dining room were polished kauri ones that had been donated to the hostel by the Auckland Branch YHANZ. As with all YHA hostels, all bedding is provided - this is the first trip in the history of the Auckland Baptist Tramping Club where sleeping bags were not allowed, this ban applies to all YHA hostels to address problems with bedbugs. This is one of the few backpacker hostels in NZ that has no TV. That evening some of us played games including rummikub and cards. Saturday Breakfast was served at 8am. During the weekend there were spot prizes - a clue relating to the winner’s name was drawn out of a hat, and Jill was the first prizewinner. She won a little notebook. We were away by 8:45am, and arrived at the south end of Pauanui beach about 9:30am, ready for the climb to the Pauanui Trig. The track zigzagged through native bush as it climbed to the summit. After about 15 minutes we had a quick stop at a little lookout. , It was 10:40am when we reached the summit lookout, just a couple of minutes before the trig itself. This made a great place for our elevenses break, and to enjoy our devotions from Peter. He found his recent holiday in Vanuatu an eye-opener for using our resources. His tour host William told him that he could live in the villiage, do the gardening, and not worry about anything. William pointed out the various recources crops such as coconuts provided. Likewise we have resources from God which we need to understand rather than just self-sufficiency. Different environemts demonstrate different resources from God. Peter presented this acronym on Opoutere about being open to God:   Open, opportunity   Perspective, positive, projective, possibilities, purposeful,      powerful, position   Outcome   Unique, untouched   Touched, transferred, together   Experience, elevated   Resources, restored, refreshed, relaxing, resite, renewal,      regenerated   Extraordinary, excellent My help comes from the Lord (Psalm 121:2); He created uis so that God can do the good things he planned for us (Ephesians 2:10) Jenny took away a CD of the ABTC Scenic Reflections that had been presented at the 2009 AGM. We were back on our feet at 11am. There was very little view from the trig itself, but Slipper Island was clearly visible out to sea.  The bush track continued to the Telecom tower ten minutes away, and from there onwards it was easy going along forest roads as we entered the private Rayonier forest. Our group had arranged a permit to allow us to tramp through to Opoutere. The road from the Telecom tower dropped down to later join up with Forestry Rd. Our permit warned us to beware of pig hunters and their dogs, and we did see one on the way. We stopped for a quick chat with a local fellow who was with his primary school-age son, and his four dogs. Two of the dogs had transmitter collars that could be tracked with a GPS unit. We stopped for lunch about 12:40pm at the side of the forestry road. Penny won a MP3 CD of episodes from the old-time radio shows Life With Dexter and Dad & Dave. At 1:15pm we carried on, and just ten minutes later we were out into open farmland. Four of us decided to have a look down a short side track to Phoenix Mine. There wasn’t that much to see - two entrances to the old gold mine that were blocked off with safety barriers. We came out to the end of the public Ohui Road at 1:45pm, and half an hour later we were at the beach access rest area just five minutes walk from the Opoutere YHA. As we were running ahead of time, we decided to do the beach and estuary walk as an add-on to the tramp. However we opted for an afternoon tea break back at the hostel while Peter took the drivers back to Pauanui to collect their cars. Shane won a Say Hey CD of drive tunes that BP had produced a couple of years ago. Just after 4pm we wet out on our beach and estuary walk, a favourite with YHA Branch members and others staying at the hostel. A pleasant twenty minute walk that included a footbridge and lovely pine forest brought us to the ocean beach. The tide was in, and Peter and Colin decided to wash their feet in the surf. From there we walked down the beach and over a track that crossed the sandspit between the edge of the forest and the taboo dotterel sanctuary to the edge of the estuary. Another track through the forest brought us back to the footbridge, and we were back at the YHA at 5:20pm, ten minutes before the sun set. At 6pm we went into Whangamata to have dinner at Nero’s restaurant and café. We found the ambiance good and the waitresses friendly and helpful. Many of us ordered pizzas at $24 each; there were pasta mains also available. A few of us ordered desserts to share - $12 sounded a bit too dear for a serving the size of a large drinking mug. While we waited for our main course, Rosemary won a CD of tramping slideshows. Later Colin took away a Creation magazine and a Encourager magazine produced by the Christian ministry for disabled people. Before we left Madge became the proud winner of a Wilderness magazine. We were back at the hostel shortly before 9pm. Sunday We were able to sleep in a little, and had our breakfast at 8:30am. David would be able to go back in time to several Club trips from the 1990s after winning a CD of photos of these trips. At 10am we set out to climb to the lookout behind the hostel. The half-hour walk was up a bush track climbing steadily, and we had our morning tea break at the very end, looking out to the entrance of the Opoutere estuary with Mayor Island in the distance. For devotions Peter took the day’s reading from The Word For Today on How to Avoid Burnout . Remember the story of the burning bush in Exodus 3:2? It burned, but it didn't burn out. Some people who once burned for God have burned out.  So how can you avoid burnout? First, seek God's input - He is an expert; consult Him. Secondly, realign your priorities. Too many irons in the fire mean none of them gets adequate attention. Learn to say no. Your family will appreciate it, even if others don't. Thirdly, practise the art of thanksgiving. Next, learn the art of physical relaxation. Take ten or twenty minutes at the end of the day to sit in a comfortable chair and enjoy a good stretch. Coax your body and mind to relax. Imagine yourself basking on a warm beach. How about exercising? It's one of the best antibiotics for burnout. But pick what works for you, not what stresses you. You could develop your own relief devices; take a walk; read a good book; try a little creative loafing. Finally, find someone to share with. Shutting yourself off increases the problem rather than solving it. Find someone you trust to talk with. David, Hunter and Peter sang the old showtime song Stout Hearted Men, and then we all joined in singing How Great Thou Art. Marian was the second prizewinner of an ABTC Scenic Reflections CD. As we began to go back down, we stopped at a viewpoint overlooking the Opoutere beach, farm and pine forest. The YHA was immediately below us, giving a spectacular aerial view of the buildings and grounds. Closer to the bottom, an unsignposted track went off to the right, going under a fallen tree. The two Johns and Hunter had a look down this track for about 15 minutes to see if it was the longer loop track back to Opoutere Rd. It appeared to be so, but there was no time for them to complete this. We had lunch at the YHA about midday. It felt like an early spring as we sat outside in the sun sheltered from the wind. The last spot prize for the weekend went to Mark, who won a Say Hey drive tunes CD. It was 1pm when we left Opoutere to head home. Mark, Jill, John M, Hunter, Colin, Penny and Jenny stopped off at Miranda Hot Springs for a relaxing swim. While we were in the water two strange noisy birds flew over - we couldn’t get photos of them, but they had one wing that resembled the top of a paraglide in colours and shape. They were so big that we wouldn’t dare throw any bread out to them, even though they probably would not come down and the sparrows would gobble it up instead.

After a café stop at Maramarua we were home by 5pm. COSTS: travel $35, accommodation $46 (YHA members) or $52 (non-members), food $7