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I arrived tired but in a good mood at 4.30 o'clock at the airport of Auckland on 10. December 2001. My brother Raphael was going to come to Christchurch three days after for my birthday. So there was that minor distance of 1,000 km in between. To fly was by financial reasons not possible. I decided to get on my bike and headed south. The trick was to pedal with only one hand on the handle bar and the other one sticked into the traffic to hitch. I didn't believe it myself but it really worked. By van, on the back of pick-ups, trucks and buses I reached Christchurch even within two days.

Raphael carried heaps of luggages and was terribly tired. As usual he had been preparing and organising day and night before he had left. So we started cycling slowly across Banks Peninsula near Christchurch before we headed off inland. Now our bikes carried ice-axes and snow-anchors for decoration. Our bags were more than full with rope, crampons, climbing-belts and climbing-shoes. After having crossed the virtually flat Canterbury Plains we climbed our first mountains of New Zealand at Mt. Somers. Christmas and New Years Eve were rather unusual calm and warm.

Middle of January 2002 we came to Lake Wanaka in the centre of the South Island to start our first mountaineering tour in the Aspiring National Park. With heaps of good luck we reached the Upper Volta Glacier and climbed "Glacier Dome" (2,367m) and "Fastness Peak" (2,383m) from there. Few days after we stood on the Bonar Glacier stunned by the view of Mt. Aspiring (3,030m) - the so-called Matterhorn of the south. Climbing along South-West-Ridge rewarded us with breathtaking views across the Southern Alps. The days between these tours were used to stuff ourselves with all sorts of food. Middle of February we stood on the feet of the highest peak of New Zealand, Mt. Cook (3,760m). The climb via Grand Plateau Glacier wasn't any easier but at least as stunning.

Finally we sat back in the saddles of our bikes and moved south towards east coast and Dunedin. We followed the Kathlins' wilderness along the coast down to Invercargill, the southernmost city of the Island. We were warmly welcomed by Betty and Jack who we had met before on their oldtimer-ralley further north. Jack proudly showed us around his collection of cars and the close by race track near Teretonga. In his times Stewart and McLaren had already been racing there. Their tremendous hospitality once again gave us a bad conscience, as we didn't know how to say thank you and how to show our high appreciation for all that. On 26. March 2002 we flew across the Foveaux Street to Stewart Island. That was deep wilderness; most of the Island is accessible only on feet. For 10 days we fought our way through the jungle and knee deep mud of this green paradise.

Via Te Anau and Queenstown and after a short trip to Milford Sound we pedalled down to the mystical West Coast. The amount of rainfall in that region exceeded all imaginations as the vegetation did. Still though we enjoyed fantastic views of the Alps where we had been standing ourselves only 3 months before. Raphael had decided to go back to the mountains and I made my way north, because my budged was less than zero.

Not until Nelson I saw a chance to find a job. I just started knocking doors until I met a German who was looking for a helping hand. Soon I was fixing doors and stairs in a new log-home and eventually managed his business for one month while he was away. That way I got to know Luciano where I started as a tiler after. I wasn't just richer for a lot of experiences - I had also made a lot of new friends. So once again the hardest was to say goodbye when I left after 5 months Nelson at 05. November 2002 ...

Much time wasn't left because my flight to Singapore was leaving in a few days. The time in Nelson had opened me new possibilities and I had started to dream of making my way back home overland via Asia. Unfortunately I couldn't see much of the North Island, but I met Raphael, Christiane and Martina in Stratford (Christiane had already started her second big trip). The volcano of Mt. Egmont was my last stop en route to Auckland. On 28. November 2002 I left New Zealand.

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