Auckland Baptist Tramping Club This year the Summer Tramps Reunion held at Carey Baptist College was longer in duration and attracted more people - this was because we had Summer Tramps at both ends of the country. 45 people enjoyed armchair journeys as far north as Cape Reinga and as far south as Stewart Island. We gathered at the earlier time of 4pm for a mix-and-mingle over drinks and nibbles. About 5pm we took off for the Far North following in the footsteps of the group led by Gary and Margaret. We visited Houhora where the camp was set up, and went to Cape Reinga and the Karikari Peninsula while listening to three musical items presented at a New Year’s Eve concert. Mt Camel was a challenge to begin the new year, rewarded by idyllic beaches on the other side. We followed the pack-carry trampers as they did the walkway from Spirits Bay via Taputaputa and Cape Reinga to the north end of Ninety Mile Beach. Alex, David and Don sang Hey Marg and Gary to the tune of Te Haranui, accompanied by Alex’s guitar instead of the two frying pans used on New Year’s Eve. Gary presented Geoff with a gift for his help on the trip - a wrapped parcel of the same size and softness as one containing an orange ABTC polo shirt. We enjoyed a yummy pot-luck BBQ dinner at 6pm. Afterwards one of us who had just become a teenager played the schoolyard game of knuckles with someone over twice his age.

We found ourselves at the other end of the country at 7:30pm, taking a journey around Stewart Island. We tramped the Rakiura Track, climbed Mt Anglem, did the northern circuit track, visited Mason Bay on the island’s far side, and tackled the challenging Tin Range traverse. After a flight on the bumpy airpath to Invercargill we walked the Mavora Lakes track, starting at Greenstone Track and finishing at a campground where some very hospitable Christian people from Gore gave us tea and Christmas cake in the pouring rain while waiting for our transport to Te Anau. There were problems with trying to start Stuart’s excellent DVD he had made of the Kepler Track, so Barbara, who was chairing the evening, presented our devotions. She put on a powerpoint about New Zealand birds with Bible verses. The weka with its chick under its wings, and the oystercatchers gathered together on the shore illustrate God’s care for us; the music of the bellbird, the unashamed saddleback, beautiful wood pigeon and the friendly hospitable robin reminds us of how God encourages us; the takahe, once thought to be extinct, showed of how He saves us through Jesus Christ; the noisy kea and kaka, named after their call sounds, relates how God hears us as we call out to Him; the endangered kakapo shows how God protects us in the secular world; the nocturnal kiwi is a reminder of how He equips us to live abundantly even in the darkest times; as God guides the godwits in their migration from Miranda to Siberia, so He guides us; we need the wind of the Holy Spirit to fulfil God’s plan just as the albatross needs the wind to get itself aloft. The devotions concluded with a karakia from Nelson. We were finally able to follow Stuart over the Kepler and Humpridge Tracks and a quick return to Stewart Island. Barbara presented several of the participants with certificates for completing the tramps. Phillip received a large certificate for completing every track on Stewart Island, having done the Tin Range traverse, Mt Anglem summit and Mason Bay Track this time round. Peter Osborne presented Barbara with a bouquet for all her hard work.