In the early hours of the morning on a summer day in January 2021, a group of families left Perth and made their way up the coast of Western Australia to a beautiful place called Coral Bay.
Coral Bay is a beautiful little bay with a reef and sand dunes for four-wheel driving. It is about 12 hours drive north of Perth and is a very popular holiday destination for locals and tourists and great for families and children.
This trip had been looked forward to with much anticipation as it had been postponed for a number of months due to the Covid pandemic. The weather was warm and calm, perfect for holidaying.
Some of the group took a couple of days to get to Coral Bay, as they stopped overnight at another place; and others of the group did it in one go, driving half the night and most of the next day to get there. We finally all met together and set up tents and caravans and chalets, laughing and catching up with one another.
The first morning, once everyone had eaten breakfast and had worship, we all hit the beach with our beach tents, sunscreen, hats, snorkels etc., and had a wonderful day relaxing and snorkeling in the cool water. This became our pattern for the week that our group was at Coral Bay.
Some of the group had kayaks and there was a paddle board which was fun watching different ones trying to stand up on! Poor Br. Jacques (who was the owner of the board) found it not as easy as other people made it look, and he was the subject of laughter from the rest of the group, watching him try valiantly again and again! But he did manage to last a few seconds once, before succumbing to gravity!!
There was a small reef that was visited and snorkeled around by most of the group with lots of positive reports on the underwater beauty.
The evenings were spent socialising with each other and playing different games, with lots of laughter and fun.
Worship was taken by a designated young person each evening, with different points being brought out and some discussed at length.
Sabbath afternoon was spent walking along the beach to a cove where a lot of reef sharks were found and watched by those strong enough to make the full distance. In the evening we all drove a short distance up to the sand dunes and watched the beautiful sunset together. It was a beautiful ending to an enjoyable holiday with church friends.
The next day saw the group pack up and begin the long journey home.
We want to thank God for the beauty of the ocean and for the lovely fellowship with church friends and family and the opportunity to spend time in nature together. Even though this earth has suffered from close to 6000 years of sin, there are still little remnants of the original beauty God created all those years ago. We thank God for that and pray that all were spiritually refreshed and encouraged.
We also thank those who organised and planned the camp. It was very much enjoyed and well worth the effort!
Thank you and God bless,
Shelley Gurduiala