Off to Stewart island

We got back home yesterday afternoon- luckily without running out of gas. There was no gas left in Kaikoura, and every small town on the way home was out too. The gas stations here had line-ups 30 cars long and set a limit of $50-$60 per car. A lot of people are trying to leave town, but some people can't- unless it's by foot or bike because many roads are badly damaged with gaping cracks, and many streets are flooded or filled with silt from liquefaction. Only 20% of the homes in Christchurch have running water, and 50% have power- so we are very lucky in our area because we have both. They even picked up the garbage today which was a huge surprise! We hope that we can continue to live here- with a huge lack of livable homes in Christchurch, it's hard to say what our landlord will do.
We have decided to leave again tomorrow (Friday) morning. Air New Zealand is offering $50 out of Christchurch to almost anywhere in New Zealand to make it easier for people to leave if they want. We are flying to Invercargill and from there going to Stewart Island (a small island off the south tip of the south island) to go hiking for a few days. Since the water treatment and sewage systems may not be back up and running for many days, and the university is likely to be closed for at least a couple weeks, we thought we should try to make the most of this time. We'll be back on Tuesday and hopefully things will be a bit more organized so that we can help with the clean up.