Good-bye New Zealand

Today we leave New Zealand and fly to Singapore. We've spent 65 nights in New Zealand and enjoyed it immensely so it is with a twinge of sadness that we're leaving. However, we're excited to be heading to Singapore and starting our Southeast Asia swing of the trip.

As we mentioned before when we came back to Christchurch from Stewart Island we stayed with couchsurfing superstar Sue. We can't say enough good things about her. She's super generous and hospitable and we were lucky enough to stay with her while she hosted several other people so as a bonus we met some other cool travelers. We already mentioned the couple from Alaska who are biking all around New Zealand, but last night Sue hosted a couple from England who are also on an around-the-world trip. They went from England through Russia, Mongolia, China and now New Zealand and are heading to Australia next. We felt like seasoned travelers because we were able to give them some advice on where to visit in Australia.

Speaking of travel tips, if you ever come to Christchurch, visit during the World Buskers Festival. We spent two days viewing all the performances. And despite the crappy weather we saw all sorts of performers from all over the world. We also caught a late-night comedy show and a night-time fire show.

Here's Mario, Queen of the Circus on top of the World's Strongest Woman:

From Christchurch

David from Duo Hoops balancing a bike from the audience on his chin:

From Christchurch

And it wouldn't be street theater unless there was a guy on a giant unicycle juggling fire:

From Christchurch

The Buskers Festival was a great end to our New Zealand trip and we left Sue with her saying she would come visit us in the US. A note to Aunt Betsy and Uncle Neil: we promised Sue and her daughter Loren cross-country ski lessons so you are forewarned!

Now we're going to catch the bus to the airport where we have a 10 hour flight awaiting us. We'll attempt to check-in with our Spot, but since we know Singapore has weird rules about stuff we might not want to draw attention to ourselves with a big orange GPS.