The West Coast & Kayaking with TEA-01/2009

Hi everyone ! TEA 01/2009 here!


These two past weeks we've been traveling lots and experienced New Zealand's variation of sunny and rainy weather. Todd has guided us safely from Queenstown down to Milford Sound and all the way up to Nelson, where Norm and Christy took over for him. We've spent lots of hours in the van and seen many beautiful places. And we have also been on a kayaking trip, and are now staying in Riwaka.

Eating dinner in Queenstown


In Queenstown our tent neighbors told us about the deer park on the hill, they said it would be worth a visit. And indeed, feeding the deers, goats and alpacas was fun. On Sunday morning we intended to go the Baptist church in town, which had obviously moved because we couldn't find it. Instead we went down to the park to sing and read God's Word. On this day we drove to Te Anau and right next to the Holiday Park was a church where we attended a lively evening meeting. The next morning we started with going to see the Milford Sound. After lunch the weather cleared up nicely, so that we could enjoy the spectacular view from Key Summit. That night we camped at Lake Gunn, which was beautiful but filled with sandflies.


















Beautiful Lake Gunn


On the way to Mavora Lakes, the next day we ended up driving in a herd of cattle, it was fun watching them run. Mavora Lakes was nice and warm. We met two people there, and enjoyed talking with them and making dampers over the fire.



















At Mavora Lakes



















TEA 01/09 at night






Next morning we packed our tents up again, and headed for Wanaka. Driving through Queenstown we picked up some hitchhikers, who drove with us to Wanaka. We had good talks with them, it is interesting hearing their stories and about their life. The weather in Wanaka was very good, and we didn't have time to do all we wanted to do the first day, so we decided to stay there two nights. On our second day there we walked up to Roy's Peak. A hard 1200 metres climb in the burning sun, but it was all worth it when at the top, with views over Lake Wanaka, surrounding mountains and Rob Roy Glacier. And straight after coming back down we went to the bizarre Puzzling World, with fun optical illusions and a 1,5 km. maze. We also realized that New Zealand is not so big after all, we met a guy that we had talked to in a hut 4 weeks before on the North Island.



















Spectacular view from Roy's Peak























Holding the tower at Puzzling World

Early next morning we woke up hearing raindrops on our tents, and we had to pack up in pouring rain. This was the weather that haunted the next few days. In Fox Glacier we therefore stayed in cabins, and we were thankful not having to stay outside in the stormy rain. Because of the rain we could not go too close to the Fox Glacier, so we were only there for 20 minutes, but we were all soaking wet, but in our rainclothes, so it was not too bad.

We reached Greymouth later that day. Again in cabins, we enjoyed being inside in the warm and watching the film Shadowlands, which is about the life of C.S. Lewis.

In church the next morning, we were again reminded about the importance of missions. This was a very timely message for us as we are here on TEA. After church we headed for Westport, stopping at the Pancake Rocks. We also went into the Punakaiki Cavern. In total darkness we prayed for our lost family and friends.

Pancake Rocks

Inside Punakaiki Cavern

The next day we drove from Westport to Nelson, picked up Norm and Christy at the airport and drove to Riwaka. Where we will be staying for the next few days.

Next day we went on a kayaking trip in the Abel Tasman National Park. The weather was lovely when we left shore and headed out on the sea, and we had a good paddle to Anchourage Bay, where we would camp in tents for the night. The camp site was quite full, so there were lots of people, and again we met three people there that we had met before, two of them 6 days before and one that we had met about 3-4 weeks. This was a lovely surprise. Again we talked with them and hasd some good conversations about our faith and why we are here, and had a good time.

Heading out from Anchorage Bay!

The plan for the next day was to go further north and camp in Mosquito Bay for the next night, but the weather changed, it started raining quite badly the night before and it did not really stop, and the sea was a lot more rough than the day before. So we decided to stay in the Anchorage Bay campground and do a shorter kayaking exploring in the bay in the afternoon. The Anchorage was such a nice spot, so this was also an enjoyable afternoon after all.

On the next day the sea was again a lot calmer and the rain had stopped, so our paddle back to Marahau, where we began, was lovely. We were not in a rush, so we did some exploring, we saw some seals, on the rocks and in the sea. We also saw a small penguin, which we were very happy to see. We have been looking for them! We also paddled a bit further and went to see the Split Apple Rock, which is a huge rock that looks like an apple split in half.

Kayaking in God's beautiful creation

Even with changes in our original kayaking plans we had a good time. We talked to different people during our time there. We also had good talks within our group about things that are on hearts at this time, and our personal dreams of what we would like to do for God to honour Him & give Him glory.

Tomorrow we start week 8 and have only three weeks to go, so we are beginning to think about what we will be up to when we go back home. We want to make the most of our last three weeks here on TEA. Within a month six of us will be back home, and one will stay in New Zealand for a little longer.

Please pray for us, as we make our plans for what to do after TEA. Some of us know what we are doing, some don't. Pray that we will be prepared and ready. We don't want to go back into all our previous habits, we want to be changed, and we want to continue in our relationship with God.

Also pray for these last three weeks that we will be safe and healthy. God will keep working in us, and that we will keep being reminded that the world is watching how we as God's children live our lives. Pray that we cease the oppurtunities we have with talking to people and sharing the Gospel.

With love,

Timon, Rahel, Daniel, Eva, Hanne, Naomi and Gunnva.