Auckland Baptist Tramping Club

Fourteen people showed up on a lovely sunny spring afternoon to walk the coastline from Westmere to Herne Bay on the outgoing tide and visit Sentinel Bay. It was 2:30pm by the time we set out from the end of Garnet Rd in Westmere, as one person who had booked had phoned to say they would be running a bit late in arriving. While we waited we had our first of six spot prizes - Peter won a CD containing a selection of slideshows including tramping trips and comics. It was straightforward walking along the foreshore between Westmere and Cox’s Bay. In contrast, the coastline on the eastern side of Cox’s Bay consisted of pohutukawa trees and boatsheds hugging the cliffs, but was also easy to walk it. Soon we could see the coathanger ahead of us in the distance, just before we arrived at Herne Bay beach. Jane won the second spot prize, a CD of Stan Getz. From there we roadbashed to Sentinel Bay because the track to Home Bay had been blocked off for repairs and the eastern end of Home Bay was impassable at any stage of the tide. We had our afternoon tea break at Sentinel Bay, a lovely sheltered beach with a view across to Northcote Point. A lady with a guitar provided pleasant background music. Catherine took away the third prize, a book on New Zealand native trees. John shared a devotions based on the old Tex Ritter song Deck of Cards, about a World War 2 soldier who brought out a pack of cards at a church service because he had no Bible or prayer book. He was brought before the sergeant-major to explain his actions. He said that the ace reminded him that there was only one God, the two represented the two Testaments of the Bible, the three being the Trinity, the four being the four Gospels bearing the gospel of Jesus Christ, the five being the five virgins who trimmed their lamps or confessed their sins to Christ not knowing when they will die, God made the world and His beautiful praiseworthy creation on the sixth day, the seven represents the Sabbath or Sunday where we need to take a break from our regular work to avoid stress and serious illness, there were eight people in Noah’s Ark being those who believed God at the time, we need to be thankful for everything unlike the nine lepers who did not thank Jesus for His healing, the ten represented the Ten Commandments, the Jack was the devil, and the Queen was Mary conceived by God to bear a sinless son Jesus Christ who is our King. According to the song there are 365 spots on a deck of cards, the number of days in the year that we need Jesus. John said that he had once counted the spots out of curiosity and found only 250. He commented that the 250 represented our waking hours of the day where we need Jesus, and that He looks after us in the remaining 115 being our sleep time. Before we carried on Ethan was the fourth luck prizewinner, taking away a selection of devotional magazines that could be left in waiting rooms as a way of sowing seeds of God’s kingdom. We walked through Salisbury Reserve on our way through to Jervois Rd, passing the local pentanque club.

Sherwin won a CD of slideshows of tramping trips and comics when we had a break just after the end of Jervois Rd at Cox’s Bay.

Peter and Leila decided to roadbash the rest of the way to Garnet Rd while the rest of us walked around the coastline. We came out about 5pm, and before everyone dispersed Christine took away the last prize, a pen to keep by the telephone.