This was a weekend away at the beach home of a member at Waihi Beach, and featured two day tramps, and two types of sunshine. Saturday was the popular walk to Orokawa Bay and Homunga Bay north of Waihi Beach with bright sunshine; Sunday was a walk to Bowentown with liquid sunshine courtesy of Wati. Friday We left The Bracken at 6:15pm and stopped at Ngatea for dinner on the way. When we arrived at the beach home at Waihi Beach about 8:30pm a yummy dessert was awaiting us.

The single menfolk had the use of a small sleepout at the front of the property; everyone else slept in the house. Saturday

A glorious red sunrise greeted us as our heads were still on the wentilillos. We enjoyed breakfast overlooking the Bay of Plenty with Mayor Island on the horizon. Toadstools growing on the lawn are just one of umpteen million manifestations of God’s awesome creation. It was 8:30am as we set out on our beach walk, the prelude to our trip to Homunga Bay north of Waihi Beach. From the north end of Waihi Beach a well-formed track led up through bush to follow the clifftops northwards, passing a lookout back to Waihi Beach with Mauao in the distance. Later we could look out to Orokawa Bay. We dropped down to Orokawa Bay for morning tea break. Dave decided to try out the surf. Eileen decided to stay put and relax while the rest of us carried on. Three-quarters of the way along the beach the track led inland climbing back into native bush. We came to the spectacular clifftop stretch of Boat Bay. Before we dropped down to Homunga Bay we enjoyed the music of a bellbird high in the trees. Homunga Bay, the end of our track before turning back, was our lunch spot - we arrived there shortly before noon. Two or three of us decided to try the water for a swim. Peter led us in devotions on the theme of the coast, making an acronym of the word - Creation Ocean (Open-ness) Air Sun (Surprise) Transition between land and sea. The coast is a scene of variety with many emotions, a place where God can teach us so much about His character, a place of renewal. Peter turned our thoughts to thinking - to think is to consider, contemplate, imagine, entertain ideas, calculate and actively exercise the mind. We need to be careful how we think - Proverbs 4:23. He concluded with another acronym, on “smile” - Special Motivation Inspire Lighten Enthuse. You can help someone just by your smile, such as. by smiling at someone. We returned to Waihi Beach the way we came, passing the spectacular Boat Bay once more. At Orokawa Bay we had a quick break before carrying on back to Waihi Beach, and our beach bash once more back to the house for afternoon tea. Later we enjoyed a BBQ dinner at the house, with the telly on the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

Peter had just had his birthday, so Nelson gave him a large pavlova cake, which we all shared as our dessert.

Then it was back into tramping once more - this time of the armchair kind as we saw Marian and David’s photos of a recent trip to Alaska and Barbara’s pictures from her trip to Spain on the DVD player, and browsed some picture-books Eileen had brought back from Norway. Sunday

Sunrise was not spectacular - ominous grey clouds had formed overnight. Nelson had baked some delicious bread that we all enjoyed so much for breakfast that the birds just had to do with the leftovers of the toast made from bought bread. We decided to enjoy our devotions at the house before leaving on our tramp. David read from Acts 27, the story of Paul encountering a severe storm during a boat trip to Rome. Marian imagined us in a boat like this during the storms of life, where we can believe in God just as Paul did, and He would bring us safely ashore just as He did with Paul, his fellow-prisoners, the soldiers and the captain. The boat came ashore on shifting sands, that can be hard on the feet. Following God, His ground, being His Word, is always firm. We often shy away from the desert experiences of life, but sometimes they are good for us as God comes with us. He is the unseen rock bed below the shifting sand. Turning to the story of Jesus calming the stormy seas in Matthew 8, Marian said that God is the master of the sea, he can calm our hearts as He did with the stormy seas. Surf, sand and sea can be wonderful experiences on vacation, but not so wonderful at times in our daily lives. But we are always safe in His care - Psalm 61:2-4. David then sang unaccompanied an old favourite from his Sunday school days, Peace Be Still.. It was about 9:30am as we set out on our walk to Bowentown in liquid sunshine. We had intended to go there via the beach but there was a blustery head-wind that would make the going difficult, so we decided to road-bash instead. It took an hour to reach Bowentown, and we relaxed in the shelter of a cafe for morning tea. Raincoats on again, we followed a series of walkways to the Bowentown Heads. We climbed up to the summit for a lovely view back towards Waihi Beach, as well as across to Matakana Island. Afterwards we dropped down to explore an old pa site with its terraces. We had our lunch in the back porch of a house belonging to a member’s friend, out of the way of Wati’s work. Wati, a tropical cyclone that had developed off the Queensland coast, had lost most of its destructive power when it arrived here. We had the wind behind us as we walked the ocean beach back to the house, a one-hour walk with the tide almost right in.

A final afternoon tea and thankyous to the leaders, followed by hoover and brooms as we cleaned up and packed up for our trip home. We arrived in Auckland shortly before 6pm, as the weather began to clear. COST: $56.