Follow the Journey

On October 9th the first week of Student Directed Travel begins. Every student was either booking, researching or supporting those who were working hard. We spent a lot of energy in the short amount of time given to us to plan. Very early, on the morning of October 9th, we will depart from the beloved Riverside Community and drive to Nelson where we will catch a Maxi Cab to Picton. In Picton, we will catch a famous ferry, known for its beauty, to take us across the Cook Straight to arrive in the North Island. Once arrived we will walk to our first hostel which all of us will crash at because of the strenuous travel day we would have just had. Monday, October 10th, will be our first full day we have planned for student directed travel. We will pick up the two rental vans that our two OEs will be driving for the duration of the week. After that we will walk to a free museum and spend the afternoon getting ready for the next travel. That afternoon we will depart on the longest drive of the week, 5 hours to Tongoriro, to an Air B&B that the group reserved. The next day we will split up in groups, one will traverse the trail that lies on Mt. Doom, and the other will do free rainy day activities. The rest of the day is unplanned but will be spent doing things as a group. The 12th is completely free to give people a time to do what they need to do or just explore the vicinity of the city that we are in. On the 13th we are leaving the Air B&B we have been in for the past three nights, we depart early that morning. Later that day once we arrive in Hamilton will return our rental vans and catch a bus from Hamilton to Raglan, where we will spend the remainder of the trip. On the 14th, the last day of our Student Directed Travel, we don’t have anything planned. It will give us time to get rested and get ready for our next week in a North Island Marae. Thank you to all to people who helped plan this week, its gonna be a good one. — Zach