13 of us went for a walk to Pollen Island. This was a very muddy tramp in places, and gumboots with socks were essential. We set out from Alwyn Ave beside the northwestern motorway at Te Atatu South, and after climbing over jagged boulders under the motorway bridge the going got really muddy. There were a couple of daunting streams to cross, and the weather turned blustery with passing showers. Further on the mud got so bad that one of us ended up abandoning his gumboots when they couldn't be pulled out of the knee-deep mud; fortunately he was able to retrieve them on the way back.

The island is named after Daniel Pollen, who bought it in 1855. He later became Premier of New Zealand. We came to the remains of the house that he had built on the island.

From there we continued to the high shellbanks on the north side of the island, where we stopped for afternoon tea and devotions which I presented about how God works behind the scenes in our everyday lives. Esther is the only book in the Bible that does not mention God, but is about how God was working behind the scenes bringing the Jews through Haman's threat to kill Mordecai and all the other Jews. After the queen Esther takes action, Haman is the one who is hanged and the Jews are saved. Overall this was part of God's promises to Abraham that were ultimately fulfilled in the coming of Jesus the Messiah. In our everyday lives God plants people unawares in situations to help or bless other people and their needs, even simple things as being in the right place at the right time.

Because the weather was blustery we pressed on, two of us returning the same way to retrieve the gumboots, and the others carried on around the island. Afterwards we decided that this time of the year, being winter was not a good time to do such a trip given the chance of blustery showery weather and short daylight, and we plan to run this trip again in the summer season when the weather is warmer, more settled, and the days are much longer.