CONTENTS:

1. Getting There 12/24-27/05
2. Christchurch and "Tramping" the West Coast 12/28/05-1/1/06
3. A Bike Tour: Christchurch to Mount Somers 1/3-7/06
4. A Bike Tour: Mount Somers to Broad Bay 1/8-13/06
5. Dunedin and the Otago Penninsula 1/13-15/06
6. Dunedin to Glenomaru Valley 1/17-18/06
7. Glenomaru Valley to Stewart Island 1/19-23/06
8. Invercargill to Queenstown 2/1-11/06
9. Queenstown to the Scargill Valley 2/11-21/06
10. Scargill Valley to Christchurch 2/22-3/20/06
11. On to Singapore 3/20-25/06
12. In Japan 3/26-4/3/06
13. In Japan: Hagi to Daisetsu-san National Park 4/4-9/06

Betsy Kepes, a regular NCPR commentator, shares her homemade house in Pierrepont, New York with her husband, Tom VandeWater, and her sons Lee and Jay. She teaches piano to children and adults and performs with the Little River Trio. In the summer, she works for the United States Forest Service in Idaho as a forest fire lookout and contract trail crew. (See audio slideshow) In her spare moments she is an amateur historian, a gardener, a runner and a writer of women's history, poetry and short stories.

Betsy and her family are sharing an excursion to New Zealand with us in this new Letters Home feature.