Pilgrimage of Faith
[Owing to space restrictions this story was not able to be included in the November issue of The Olive Tree]
4th to 10th October, 2010
Wellington to Marton.
Recent history takes up where Pr Mark Whitfield left off with his background history to the Pilgrimage of Faith already well documented in The Olive Tree and The Lutheran. This pilgrimage was for me a connection with the faith of my forebears, although not descended from the Lutheran pioneers to Marton one could say I am a product of the faith of those pioneers in that my parents became members of St Martin’s Lutheran Church in 1959.
I felt privileged to join Pr Mark and others on this pilgrimage to retrace the steps of the Lutheran pioneers as closely as practicable as the faith they carried with them to establish St Martin’s in Marton.
Added to this personal history is the journey my mother’s family took along the same coast line in 1875 when they sailed in a coastal steamer from Wellington to Wanganui to eventually settle in Bulls and then Marton. To walk for six days and meditate on the blessings received from previous generations of both spiritual and genetic forebears was a highlight of the 12 days I recently spent in New Zealand with family and friends.
On a beautiful sunny day, the 4th of October, 2010, we gathered at Queen’s Wharf, a small number of Lutherans, representatives of the Bible Society, descendants of the Lutheran Pioneers who walked the beach highway in 1860, adults and children for the first of the pilgrimage’s devotions prepared by Pr Mark Whitfield. The reading was from Luke 17:5-6 The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’ The Lord replied, ‘If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea”, and it would obey you.
Some of us had faith that we could walk the 160 km’s in the six days set aside for the pilgrimage, others that they could share in one or more of the days. Jokes had been made about having paramedics on standby and a rescue helicopter to pick us up at any time.
After the presentation of a Bible from the Bible Society of New Zealand we set about the first leg by following the old main road out of Wellington to Kandahla. With the easy walking to begin some of us caught up with old acquaintances.
Leaving the old highway we climbed what seemed to be a phenomenal number of steps through perilously perched hillside houses to the suburbs of Tawa and Johnsonville to walk through suburban streets to the end of the first day at Mana Railway station.
A train ride to back into Wellington for the first night’s accommodation and a well- deserved rest prepared us to begin the second day’s walking when on the morning of the 5th we caught the train back to where we left off at Mana.
With the Bible reading from Mark 11:12-14,20-24 and the reminder that faith can move mountains (in our case it was kilometres), a prayer for protection and the reassurance of Psalm 23 we stepped off again to link up with State Highway One.
We were joined by RogerWilson and Jillian Bibby for the walk through Taupo Swamp just north of Plimmerton to join State Highway One. We stopped at Pukerua Bay for an ice cream while Pr Mark was interviewed by Radio Rhema from Wellington.
For the next 6 kilometres it was a narrow footpath, hot dark bitumen reflecting the heat of the day and all manner of vehicles flying by on the highway until a welcome lunch break at the Fisherman’s Table. A change of pace again as we hit Whareroa Beach which was littered with drift wood, flotsam and jetsam and now a crew of determined walkers. We alternated our walking between the beach and a rough stone path along the top of a breakwater, depending on what was easier going.
Arriving at Paraparaumu we made our way from the beach to the carpark near the commercial area where some would end their day’s walking while four of us continued walking an extra few kilometres to where a car had been left closer to the southern bank of the Waikanae River.
We returned to Wellington by car for the second night’s rest and re-creation in preparation for day three. Dropped off on the northern bank of the Waikanae River on Wednesday morning we began huddled in the shelter of a tree for our devotion from Matthew 8:5-13 and a prayer for “courage to take the risk of answering Your (God’s) call into joyous adventure.”
Now the serious beach walking really began as we strode out on the broad flat Waikanae Beach to Peke Peke, TeHoro and the mouth of the Otaki River. With no way to easily cross the Otaki River we were transported from the southern bank by car to State Highway One where refreshed with a coffee and a short break we walked along the Highway to cross the Otaki River by bridge where we were returned to the northern bank of the river mouth by car. From Otaki Beach we continued walking north. Weary, but well, we all arrived at Waikawa Beach and were met by Pr Mark’s family and we enjoyed a welcome night’s rest in our privately pre-organised accommodation.
Re-grouping on Thursday morning at 9:00am with encouragement from 1 John 5:1-5,13-15 and a prayer of thanks with the singing of Nun danketalleGottwe donned our backpacks and crossed the bridge at Waikawa Beach to walk through sand dunes before re-joining the beach.
As we pressed north we encountered more debris on the beach, washed down the rivers and out to the Tasman Sea by recent floods and returned to land by incoming stormy tides. Weaving our way in and out of soft sand, large pine trees, tree stumps and an incoming tide we wrapped ourselves up in jackets to fend off the cold wet wind.
Welcome rest breaks for water, a museli bar and passing on the cross to carry broke the day’s walking into manageable periods of muscle stretching. We crossed one creek on a convenient driftwood log, while others were waded across.
Speaking to a local on a four wheeler we were told that the Ohau River mouth was forked and that we should be able to wade across it. Eventually arriving at the first fork of the river we debated the best place to cross while we put on our beach feet (sand shoes), Roger and myself boldly stepped out into the cold water feeling our way with a stout stick to ensure we did not go out of our depth. With water lapping the bottom of our rib cages we crossed to the sand on the other side. Meanwhile Pr Mark and Jillian chose a different section of the river to cross and reached the other side with water having reached just above their knees.
With a change of footwear and dry socks we pressed on to the second fork of the Ohau River mouth. The tide was on its way in and the river was running deep. White baiters indicated the river was too deep to ford. We thought that waiting till the tide went out might allow us to cross so we rested with an early lunch.
It became obvious that it would be late in the day before the tide went out and there was no guarantee we would be able to cross even then. A decision was made to retrace our steps for about an hour and a half to the car park at Waikawa Beach from which we’d begun the day’s walking. The highlight of the walk back was seeing a seal sunbathing on the beach.
A quick drive around to the highway and around to the beach on the other side of the river where we continued our beach walk to Waitarere where we met Pr Mark’s family who had begun walking down the beach to meet us. They had stopped by a creek which really required shoes and socks off to cross. I thought I would be clever and attempted to arrange driftwood at strategic points in the flow of the creek and step across with dry feet. I was too clever and one of the logs slipped out from underfoot and I ended on my knees in the creek with feet soaked to the skin and a few grazes on the legs from the drift wood.
A couple of kilometres further on and the day’s walk came to an endat Waitarere Beach. Friday morning’s sojourn began outside the Waitarere Beach Surf club rooms with the words of James 1:2-12 encouraging us with the message that faith produces endurance.
We headed North, struggling against a strong westerly wind while we wended our way through soft sand and the debris of recent floods washed out into the Tasman Sea and brought back into the beach by the tides. Arriving at the Manawatu River we were met by the Manawatu Marine Boating Club’s rescue boat in which we were ferried across the River. Our walk continued for a few kilometres to the Foxton Beach Surf Lifesaving Club building behind which we sheltered from the wind while we ate our lunch.
After the much appreciated meal we headed towards Himitangi Beach where we would be picked up and delivered to our accommodation in Bulls.
Returning to Himitangi Beach on Saturday morning we set out in horizontal rain together with 11 members of the Rangitikei Tramping Club along with a few fellow Lutheran’s from Marton on Saturday morning.
John Whitfield had brought along his four-wheeler and trailer to provide transport to anyone who was unable to walk this stretch of beach but who wished to travel with us. The four-wheeler was also used to ferry us across the stream at Himitangi and then later on across another stream where the incoming tide made it dangerous to ford on foot.
Tangimoana beach was the most desolate with bleak weather, high tide and the need to walk in soft sand avoiding the debris of the beach. Reaching the Rangitikei River at lunch time the Tangimoana Boating Club provided the ferry service across the mouth of the river which was deep and rough with a king tide. We were dropped off in about 150mm of water on the track used by white baiters near Scott’s Ferry.
As the first boatload waited for the second, we began our lunch in the park at Scott’s Ferry. Dianne Maas and friends arrived by car with delicious hot pumpkin soup to encourage us on the 21 km walk from Scott’s Ferry along Parawenui Road to Bulls. After a brief stop to examine the restored ferry originally used by the pioneers to cross the Rangitikei River and for photos and we trekked on along the road, stopping again as the Poppies from Marton offered us afternoon tea near Flock House. We were also joined by Margaret and Geoff Koch from Gawler in South Australia who shared some of the afternoon’s hike.
After our longest day’s walk, seeing the Bulls water tower encouraged us to press on to finish the last few kilometres and join in sharing a relaxing drink.
Early on Sunday morning we again met together for a devotion which included the rousing hymn Praise to the Lord, the Almighty before setting out for Marton along State Highway Three. With a pilot vehicle we arrived at the intersection of the Highway and Pukepapa Road for a brief rest before the last stretch along the undulating road to meet Martonian locals at the intersection of what used to be Goebel’s Line, but which had been renamed Henderson’s Line in the 1970’s.
Waiting at the intersection was Paul Czepanski’s vintage tractor and a wagon brought from South Australia in 1862 by the Friedrich family. With the Word of the Lord from the Psalms and the hymn We Look Behind at all You’ve Done we walked the last 400 metres, pausing along the way to sing The Lord’s My Shepherd on the way to St Martin’s,with senior folk and children travelling on the wagon.
Once gathered outside St Martin’s some 167 people processed into the church to give thanks, sing praises to God, hear His Word and receive the Sacrament as our forebears had done for some 160 years before us.
With the words of John 10:27-28 and Jeremiah 29:11 Pr Mark’s sermon called and encouraged us follow Jesus and be known by Him. St Martin’s chairman, Rod Lyons, in his sharing of greetings prior to moving from the church to the cemetery, encouraged those who had drifted away from fellowship with Jesus to return to the faith of their forebears.
From the grave of Heinrich Goile, whose family had walked the “Beach Highway” with his family and the Hentschke, Rockel, Neumann and Musch families in 1860, we were sent with the blessing, Haere I runga I tearoha. Haere I runga I terangimarie. Go in peace, knowing that God knows where we pilgrims are headed. Go to love and serve the Lord. (Amine) Amen. We go in the name of Christ.
I wonder, since having completed the pilgrimage, how similar our spiritual forebearers walking over the hills from Wellington, along the windswept beaches, across the streams and rivers, compared with our journey. We were blessed with comfortable beds and hot showers and fresh food each day – they would have camped on the beach (perhaps under a bullock cart), washed in a cold stream and eaten what they could catch in the sea or purchase from the local Maori.
Along the way, we waded through streams with shoes and socks off, some bursting into spontaneous song, interspersed with quiet conversation about faith, beaches, weather and assorted other topics as we conquered the beaches. I reckon our forebears experienced much the same in fellowship as they travelled.
Thank you to everyone who made our journey possible and who helped us along the way. Thanks also to those who so warmly welcomed us upon completion of the pilgrimage. The hospitality of St Martin’s folk and the fellowship we shared is a testament to the faith given us in Jesus the Christ.
Pr John Davison
