A Weekend Away

Last Wednesday was a crazy day. It was the last minute scramble to get everything on board before the ship set sail. We were running errands, hitting up the grocery store, the op shop, blockbuster, and making sure all of the necessary goods were on board before the anchor was lifted. At around six o’clock on Wednesday night we threw off the lines and made way to Great Barrier Island. The sail was rough, but that didn’t stop our students from watching movies, and playing games well into the night. At about 9 the next morning we anchored in the bay outside of Orama Christian Camp on the island.
The next few days were filled with scary transport rides on our inflatable boat into the island. (we have to anchor several hundred yards offshore because the bay is so shallow!) We spent our mornings practicing our dramas for outreach and making new drama props to use in the islands. Our afternoons were free, allowing us to enjoy the amazingly beautiful camp that has been set up on the island. There are tons of hiking trails that take you all over the mostly self-contained island. Even though the water was rough the whole weekend it didn’t stop us from having a great time! We even had a big party on the ship…more on that later!

Me and Lauren and Patty waiting for a ride back to the ship!

On Sunday we packed up, and set sail at about 5 in the morning. After a stormy weekend, the sun broke through and the sail was one of the smoothest I have ever experienced. The ship was rocking less on the sail than it was at anchor! We were able to sit out on the bow as we made our way back down the coast to Tauranga. The sail was about 13 hours and the weather was beautiful the whole time. The sun was shining and the dolphins were jumping at the bow. It was breathtaking. It was a wonderful time for the students, staff and crew to rest and get ready for the next two months of outreach!

This is not the greatest picture of the camp, but you can see that it is right on the shore, and it is a beautiful, serene place! As you can see in the top right, our ship was pretty far from shore! The small dot in the middle of the picture is the inflatable Zodiac that took us back and forth!