Day 1

BY JO:

With a 9:30am church service to attend, Jo rose 4 hours prior to sort out last minute things and pack the car…at a leisurely 7:00am Katie pulled herself up and got ready too. The car was packed, father’s day present was given to dad and breakfast was eaten.

Once at church, it felt quite celebrity like with cheers and clapping whilst we blocked our faces from the flashing cameras and outstretched arms of fans. We went up the front with mum and many different people said lovely verses and thoughts of encouragement for us. Errold Paynter from the Hamlin Fistula Trust New Zealand flew up from Christchurch for the occasion and he read an amazing letter from Catherine Hamlin to us.

Quote of the morning: Evan Giles – “when an engineer writes poetry, it’s a disaster” (but…it was most certainly not a disaster!)

The final song was ‘I Walk by Faith’ and then we headed out the door…slowly…as hugs were to be had and photo’s were to be taken. But we then went off with a small group in hot pursuit…Arlene and Laura stuck with us until, what may look like the Glenfield McDonalds, but to quote Arlene, “we’re in Orewa!”

As we continued on, Dad was following close behind…he was then lost…but Janelle Coombridge was dropped off on Constellation Dr and she stayed with us for a good amount of time down East Coast Road. We had a great chat and learnt all sorts of different things…’what is said on the walk, stays on the walk’

There were some awesome cows that met us on the way. They did this cute little sneaky thing and then ran away once eye contact was made. Was awesome. A road sign telling us that there was no longer a speed limit meant we felt safe to boost it by another 0.2km/hr. Katie pretended she was going to run…she’s a good pretender…

Orewa was seen in the distance…it wasn’t as close as one might hope. But in the wise words of Rod Palmer, “if you keep putting one foot in front of the other you will make it”. As we got towards Orewa we jogged down the hill and coming in the opposite direction Rachel and Vicky Hagan with their cousin, Caitlin came running towards us with party poppers and huge smiles. Was fabulous. We were then at the Orewa Beach Top 10 Holiday Park, we checked in to room 10, dad arrived…

…looking remarkably chirpy after his 30km walk. The car was unloaded, we did our ‘hot and cold’ (an awful awful experience that shouldn’t have to be endured unless completely necessary).

This evening our wonderful cousins, Ryan and Rebecca Bradley, who are residents of this fine township picked us up and took us to dinner. The food was good, but the company was outstanding. A truly wonderful and hilarious evening.

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