the published and unpublished works of angeline koh

Bringing The Flood of Genesis 6-9 closer to home
© Angel’s original . Written 23 November 2001, New Zealand

The water levels rise high as the winter rains fall. The trees and vegetation along the river are submerged in water. The river is deep and the currents fierce and strong, washing away sediments from the cliffs.
Today, however, the sun peeks through this unusually fine late-spring morning. Seven hopeful fossil-seekers make their way up to the Waipara River north of Christchurch New Zealand. The team is led by journalist Sandy Fairservice and his wife Judy. The couple who do not consider themselves “scientists but informed journalists” have been on the trail of fossils for about ten years.

The river is low and the vegetation is green and new. We unloaded our gear and set out to track up the river. I dipped my foot into the clear icy water. For a brief moment I have second thoughts about continuing our venture. With some encouragement, I pushed on, braving the chilly shin-high water till my cold feet became accustomed to the cold. The water levels varied as different turns. We waded through rushing waters at some places. The rocks were slippery and uneven. Right foot first to anchor ourselves, and then followed by the left, one step at a time. I had to learn how to walk in the water. At some places we were able to walk on dry rivers beds. Our shoes dried quickly in the warm sun.

Majestic mountains and fresh green foliage surrounded us. The quietness was only broken by the sound of rushing water, the rustling of leaves and the chirping of birds. Sandy pressed us forward – beautiful as the scenery was, we had not got to what we were there for – to find fossils.

As we turned around the bend, we were suddenly faced with high sediment cliffs to our right and left. The sediment stretched some distance before us. Some of the team excitedly hurried on ahead. Beate, Anne and later Sandy found three pieces of fossils that day. Judy said that it was an unusually good day – there were days when they found none. The winter rains had washed the sediments off the cliff. Throughout the river, large round concretions or boulders lied in the water. The fossils embedded in the concretions had been washed off the cliffs and fallen into the river and on the riverbeds.

Sandy and Judy explained that a sudden catastrophic flood had caused the land formation of the earth. High pressures and gushing waters from inside and around the earth pushed the land causing the mountains to rise and deep gorges to be formed. The sudden flood killed all life forms. All living things buried caused a chemical reaction to the land surrounding it resulting in the formation of solid concretions.

We were able to break the smallest of the three concretions that we had found and were able to see the fossils embedded. Along the river, we were also able to see other fossils embedded in the large boulder. Waipara River is particularly known for the Plesioaur and Masasaur fossils, marine reptiles that are supposedly extinct. In the mid-1800s, truckloads of fossils were shipped to Museum of Natural History in London. The Canterbury Museum of New Zealand also had a display of a large fossil of a rib cage.

Though fossils may mean little to the untrained man of the street, in them lie many great secrets of the origin of the earth and creation. Many philosophies and consequently beliefs originate from what is understood or not understood of the origins of mankind.