Excursion to Kitekite Falls and Piha Beach

Saturday morning, 30 January 2016, we got up early and headed west. We were headed for a track to Kitekite Falls and Piha Beach.

Though we were following Sister Garmin, we struggled to find the best place to park and start the hike. We pulled off one place, jumped out of the car, started down the trail, going great, downhill then came to an intersection. . . Jeff recalled that the hike should be on a gravel trail and flat?! What?! We went back to the car and tried again.

We realized that we needed to drive to Don Esk road. We started the trek there and it was perfect. Nice trail, pretty flat for most of it and totally in the shade. The trail followed the river and the trees and foliage made the hiking not too hot. It was green and lush.

The Falls were very beautiful. They were tall, cascading down the mountain over rocks into a pool. We arrived just before the crowd. There were a few people swimming and enjoying the falls.

We saw that you could go to the top of the falls. We didn’t know where the trail was so we started climbing up the side of the mountain, grabbing anything we could to pull ourselves up. It was a bit muddy and steep, when we reached the real trail. The rest of the way was easy sailing.

At the top we saw a group of young adults getting ready to repel down the side of the falls. We could just imagine Max wanting to do that.

We hiked back down to the pool. More and more people were arriving. We headed back to the trail. We stopped at a lookout to watch the repellers. Pretty cool.

We drove down the road to Piha Beach.  It is one of New Zealand’s beautifully rugged beaches, with black sand, the beach stretching along the coastline forever and gradually disappearing into the horizon. There were lots of people surfing, swimming, body-surfing, and building sand castles. The holiday had brought lots of people to the beach.

Lion’s Rock has a path to the top. We were tired and hungry by then so we opted to head home instead of hiking to the top. 

Public Affairs Training in Suva, Fiji

The blessing of being in Public Affairs is meeting new people. We were privileged to attend a Public Affairs Training in Suva, Fiji.  Joining us there were our Director, Richard Hunter; Assistant Director Robert Dudfield, from Australia; Manager of Public Affairs Kim Woodbury, from Salt Lake; along with Directors of Public Affairs (DPA) from the New Zealand, Australia, and the Pacific Islands.

We had two days of training.  Wednesday morning started off with guest speaker S. Gifford Nielson of the Pacific Area Presidency. He talked about the importance of having a PLAN: Pray, Learn, Assess, and Navigate.

Kim Woodbury addressed us the first morning too. Each DPA participated on a panel discussion ranging from Government and Strategic Relations, to Media, to How to Build a Self-Reliant PA Council. A breakout session was also held to address issues concerning the different areas. Success stories of projects and events were shared by the DPA's.  Dinner was served that evening at Tikos Floating Seafood Restaurant. A game of "I have never, ever, ever" was played with lots of enthusiasm.

The following morning we all drove to the newly renovated Suva, Fiji Temple.  Kim Woodbury took us on a tour of the Temple.  The Open House was to begin that day for dignitaries and special guests, with the official Open House beginning the following week. The Temple is beautiful inside and out. The Temple would be rededicated in February by President Henry B. Eyring.

After the tour, we gathered with all the Sister missionaries from the outlying islands to meet with their respective DPA from their country.  Photos were taken and hugs were exchanged.

A little tender mercy. A teacher from Sunset Elementary in St. George, Utah who worked with Talia was serving in the Fiji Mission Office. We were able to meet her and give her a hug from Talia. Sister Gerri Alldredge was busy helping with the Sister missionaries.

Yummy wraps were served in a sack lunch. We returned to the hotel to be taught by President Kevin Pearson of the Pacific Area Presidency. The message of his presentation was that it is crucial that each of us align our will to the Savior's will. When we are in alignment we will be able to accomplish great things.

Dinner that evening was at the Governor's Restaurant. It was very historical, with pictures and memorabilia from generations past. It was interesting. It was especially exciting to see how the group had bonded over the two days we were together. Each person sharing ideas and just good old getting acquainted. It was a great experience.

Friday morning we all headed our separate ways. Leaving with a greater understanding of who we were working with and some ideas of how we could be more helpful.

Jeff and I were able to spend the rest of the weekend in Nadi. Jeff had made arrangements for us at the Hilton. It was right on the beach with a gorgeous view looking out to sea from the pool. The weather could not have been better. We spent that whole day relaxing and enjoying the beauty around us.

Saturday we went on an excursion. Took a boat ride out to a private island. You could walk around it in 10 minutes. Just before docking we were able to go snorkeling.  I haven't been for such a long time and it was very interesting. Then to the island for lunch, tanning, swimming and kayaking. We also got to feed the baby sharks. The boat ride home was an adventure.  A wind had picked up and the sea was quite wavy. I do love a good boat ride.

Sunday we went to church. We went to one closest to the hotel. We realized that the one we were at was all Fijian speaking. The one most people go to is a little farther away but English speaking. We stayed anyway. We were able to share our testimonies during Sacrament meeting. I went to Relief Society, and one hour of Primary. The Primary teacher drew pictures on the board so I knew the lesson was about Lehi's dream of the tree of life. After primary, I took selfies with the children. They showed me how to pull the stamen out of a flower and suck the nectar.

Monday we returned to Auckland. It was a great weekend. We were rejuvenated and ready to get to work.

Church Public Affairs training in Vanuatu

Throughout the Pacific Area the Church has 21 members who are called to serve as a Director of Public Affairs (DPA) for their region, country or stakes. As senior missionaries we support them in their work, dealing with media, opinion leaders and government leaders.

A new director was called for Vanuatu, James Tounguen.  He will be assisted by his wife Christiane. We traveled with Richard Hunter, the Pacific Area Public Affairs director and with associate director of Public Affairs Robert J. Dudfield, to train James in his new assignment. We were being trained ourselves on how to train a DPA.  We were met there by Kim Woodbury from Church headquarters.

Part of the training consisted of  meeting with local newspaper, radio and TV reporters, including Lilyrose Welwel from the national TV station.  She interviewed Robert Dudfield and James.

While in Port Vila, Robert - who is also an Area Seventy - conducted a fireside for members.  We participated on a panel and responded to questions.  The saints came out to the meeting in large numbers and welcomed us warmly.  There are about 7,700 members in Vanuatu, with the largest concentration in the capitol of Port Vila.

Meeting President Yvon Basil of the Port Vila Vanuatu Stake. 

The stake center is a standard church meetinghouse for the tropics.

The stake center is located in the capitol city which is on the island of Efate.  There are three Church meetinghouses on the island built to modern standards.  Below is one that is not.  It is a bush chapel for a branch on the opposite side of Efate from the capitol. 

Cathedral Cove and the Gannet Birds at Muriwai Beach

Cathedral Cove

One of the awesome things about being in New Zealand is there is always somewhere to go and something to see.  Whenever we can, we go on a Saturday excursion. One of these excursions was to Cathedral Cove on the Coramandel peninsula on the East coast.

At the trail head to Cathedral Cove.  In New Zealand hiking is called tracking.

There are two ways to get to the cove, kayak or hike. We thought about kayaking but Jeff is having trouble with his shoulder and so we opted to hike.

View from the cliff top along the track.

We left Takapuna early in the morning.  The drive was beautiful. We drove over some mountains that reminded me of Logan Canyon with all its twists and turns. The hike itself was about 3.5 miles long. The trail went up and down with stairs to and from the various inlets on the way to the cove.

Stingray Cove is before Cathedral Cove.  After you get to the beach you track up to the top of the cliffs and on to Cathedral Cove.

We definitely got our 10,000 steps in that day.



Cathedral Cove is a huge opening in a rock that you can walk through.  Beautiful white sandy beaches on both sides. Inside the rock the ceiling is high like a room in a cathedral. It was very impressive. Looking out to the ocean there are several smaller islands.







After the hike we took a different way home, but it was similar to the mountainous drive there, except the road we took over the mountain was mostly dirt.  The road was only paved on hairpin turns and over narrow one car bridges. After coming out of the mountains we followed the coastline. It was very curvy but fun because we could see the ocean the whole time, and thankfully it was paved all the way.


Muriwai Beach

The other fun excursion was to Muriwai Beach on the West coast. This is the Tasman Sea side of New Zealand and the beaches and water are much different.  On the East side the water is calm and the beaches are white.  On the West side the water is much more tumultuous and the beaches have black sand.

Cave below the Gannet nests.

On the West side is where the surfers are. There are also lifeguards on this beach. Muriwai Beach was very long and disappeared into the horizon on the one end and was rocky and mountainous along the coastline going the other way.

Looking down from the Gannet nest Northward.  The beach goes to the horizon.  The dots in the water to the left are surfers, to the right are swimmers and boarders. 

Looking Southward from the lookout above the nests.  The dots in the water are surfers. 

Muriwai Beach is where the Gannet birds come every year in October/November to lay their one egg. They hatch during December and January.  The birds stay on the rocks above the beach until about April then they head back to Australia.

Gannets and chicks.

These birds mate for life and lay just one egg a year. There are thousands of them.  The baby chicks are so fluffy and white when born.  Their feathers eventually come in black and white. Adults have white feathers with black on the edges.



The parents of the chicks take turns flying out to sea and getting food for the chicks. It was interesting to watch the interaction between the birds.  They are very territorial and don't like other birds coming into their space.

Closer view of the swimmers and surfers.  Elder Champlin in the blue plaid shirt.