Mid-semester break

Well, tomorrow I leave for a ten day road trip for our mid-semester break (MSB). I haven't really said anything about it yet because I didn't want to jump the gun and give out our plans before they were pretty much finalized. There are seven of us - me, Andrew and Kelsey, along with Annie, Page, Laura and KC. We've rented a sweet van, and our plan is to basically tour the north part of the South Island - you can check out our stops on the map below:

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Basically, we're going to drive from Dunedin north to Arthur's Pass, a little mountain village in the Southern Alps. From there, we're going to travel from spot to spot in a clockwise direction. Among the plans:

• Arthur's Pass: We'll get there in mid-afternoon, with any luck, and probably have enough time to explore some little trails in this part of the national park in the afternoon and the next morning.
• Greymouth: We aren't staying here for the night, but we'll likely stop for a bit to visit the Monteith's Brewery - Monteith's is one of the best makers of beer in NZ.
• Punakaiki: This will be one of the most fun stops - it's a geologist's dream. The 'pancake rocks' are particularly famous.
• Takaka: This is our longest stop, for three nights, on Golden Bay. It's supposed to be gorgeous, and we're really close to Abel Tasman NP, which is excellent. This is the farthest north we'll go.
• Nelson/Picton: Not really sure what the plans are here, but both are near some cool places, like the Marlborough Sounds.
• Kaikoura: Over on the east coast, we'll stay a night and explore the coast, and maybe go whale watching.
• Hanmer Springs: This will be a great place to begin winding down the trip, the home of popular hot springs.
• Christchurch: We'll hit up Chch, as it's abbreviated, for a night, and get to ease back into city life. Then back home to Dunedin!

Well, that's just a cursory overview of what's going on...there's going to be a lot to do. I'm bringing my computer, so with any luck I may get to check in with a couple posts, but no promises. You, my large, faithful audience, may have to wait a whole 10 days for me to write again, but I'll see what I can do...I couldn't just cut you all off like that. Have a good one.