The wheels on the bus go ... tomorrow.

What a week, first flying up one end of the country, then tomorrow flying up to Christchurch to hop on a bus for the Words on Wheels bus trip, thanks to the folk at the New Zealand Book Council.

I get to spend the next seven days in the company of Steve Braunias, Anna MacKenzie, David Geary, Janet Charman, and our baby sitter and the poor person who has to try and keep us all under control, Kathryn Carmody - good luck Kathryn.

When I think back to all the road trips I've taken in my life, they have usually descended into infantile affairs with too much toilet humour and jokes about bodily emissions. But hey, that was with my family, or flat mates, I'm sure my fellow WOWers will display more class than that, certain.

The week away happens to be an auspicious one, where I celebrate one of those birthdays, and also get to miss my 10th wedding anniversary - sorry Honey. It is also the longest I will ever have been away from Hubby and the kids, goodness knows the hijinks they'll get upto while the boss is out of the way.

Today I get to go shopping for a decent suitcase, because the little Adidas sports bag I've always travelled with isn't going to cut it for a week away, especially as these little towns we're visiting always seem to have fantastic second hand book shops, and as you know, when it comes to books, I have zero self control. I might also have to buy a few more items of clothing as I realised I don't own enough clothes to go a week without doing some laundry.

I shall attempt to blog, but I don't know what kind of internet services our accommodation will offer. We are officially taking turns at blogging, and our travel blog can be followed at Beatties Book Blog each day.

So tomorrow we will kick off proceedings at the Christchurch central library, at 2.00pm, and then we hit the road and head for Darfield for a chat at the Darfield public library at 7.00pm.

Bon voyage.