I took the sleeper bus from Shenzen to Yangshuo in the Guangxi Province. Definitely an experience traveling horizontally in a bed made for chinese size standards. Even I was barely fitting in it´s been a quiet comfortable trip.

Yangshou. A vibrant city embeded in hundreds of karst mountains. Misty views from top of the television tower.

Yangshuo is internationally known as the sport climbing mecca Chinas. According to the chinese stereotyp the crags are accessed by bicycle, so as fixing bikes becomes a daily routine.

The limestone arch of moon hill, tourist hotspot and climbers obsession. Air pollution and weather patterns did´nt provide enough light for bright photos, but fabulous climbing though.

Anyways we have been very lucky to catch a periode of decent climbing conditions this time in the year. Another onsight sending day for Jon at white mountain. Watch out this guy is definitly killing it.

A hard work out day is over.

Besides world class rock climbing epic bike rides through magnificent landscapes will remain as remarkable memories.

Karst is dominating the place all over.

And: yes it is true... they eat dogs in China.

Arriving in Hong Kong. After six month travelling in western societies it has been mind blasting for a small warrior who grow up in the silent austrian countryside. A mysterious world was absorbing me. Out of the blue. Infinite impressions of a fast and crowded city, a different culture and strange language. Everything seemed to be totaly unrelated to anything I´ve seen before.

Though my sedulous curiosity made me ride the tiger again. Mystery turned into magic another time.

A butcher doing his daily business in the streets of Kowloon.

Bamboo scaffolding is extraordinary light and provides tailormade solutions also for bigger buildings. A main characteristic in asian building technology.

Mong Kok is HK`s busy sneakers and athletic sportswear district. Crowds.., almost like ants, rushing for the newest models and the best bargain. Asian feet are small. Nothing in stock that even slightly fits my size.

...south of Hamilton the capital of dairy farming in New Zealand. Obviousliy there´s is a need to put up a note like that.

On a last little road trip around the Coromandel Peninsula with french guys again. Sun, fun, beaches and a flat tire on my car. Luckily I found exactly the same tire within an hour for cheap. problem solved - la vie est belle!

Narrow windy roads another time.

New Zealand and it´s green reputation would be a long and interesting story to write. To be honest it´s like anywhere do not look to close.

Car saled, laundry done, luggage optimized, restored and already excited about the next chapter of my journey. to be continued ...

After New Year I hit the road north again. Endless driving reminds me on Canada.

Castle hill. A magic place on earth. Heaps of lime stone boulders waiting to be climbed.

I end up bouldering with a good growd of people. Sun, fun and couple of hard moves as well. Wish I could have stayed longer but I needed to catch my ferry back to the north island. Photo creds to Ashtyn Renée Photography. thanks.

Cristchurch is still suffering from that devastating earthquake in 2011. Quiet intimitating and intense how mother earth is able to shake us up easily.

Though it´s fascinating how people in a metropolis like that are dealing with such a catastrophe. Here the anglican cathedral temporarily built out of cardboard, designed by the japanese disaster architect Shigeru Ban.

Besides that a lot of freaky art is going on in Christchurch. Lucky that I got the chance to see this amazing performance. It´s all about processing the pain I learned that day... so "pain is temporary, glory last forever" is still a valid saying.

I was driving north from Wellington when I picked up Roger hitchhiking. He is a 65 year old maori guy who was going to surprise his sister for a birthday party after beeing away from home since 8 years.

While driving I learned a lot about maori culture and at some stage Roger got super excited about seeing "his" mountain - Mt. Taranaki - again. It was an easy thing for him to convince me doing a little detour to the base of the mountain. Felt pretty much like myself and Mt.Ötscha back home in Austria. Anyways, the maori legend says seeing the summit free of clouds is a good omen - so it might gonna be a good year for us!

Unlikely kiwi we celebrated christmas quietly and on the 24th the european way together with Nico and his friends Marion and Lena in Queenstown.

The various wheather conditions require maximum effort in short periods of time. Wye Creek is the best place for pumpy workouts above lake wakatipu.

Verena working her way up on this overhanging piece of schist.

The great journey went on to Milford Sound in Fjordland. Sunshine is supposed to be very rare there, lucky us. Less people but an incredible amount of sandflies were joining us for dinner.

Climbing in NZ is always a bit of an adventure, unsurprisingly in Milford as well. Proper route descriptions are difficult to access like the climbs itselfs. Besides that you have to find creative solutions getting down as well.

... but the scenery is worth the effort an other time.

Mt. Underwood glowing in the evening light.

Wind directions...

Steward island at sunset. Just epic!

The famous moeraki boulders attract people with there sphericaly shape.

Christmas is slightly taking over on the southern hemissphere as well. I had the pleasure to celebrate Santa´s appearance at the Hawea Flats community center together with an incredible crowd.

Joy was´nt over that day and I got the chance to hunt rabbits on a spotlighted drive-by shooting adventure with locals. Crazy as.. just need to buy rubber boots to become real a kiwi style hunter.

Untouched environment in the Mt. Aspiring National Park.

I met up with Verena who is from good old "mostquarter" as well. Deliberating schist-rock faces together since that. Austrian alpine power in action.

Lake Wakatipu in the evening light.

Sunset viewed from the Remarkable Range in Queenstown.

The ultimate destitination.

We followed the rugged west coast where changeable weather conditions are comon.

 

Three guys in a car without rear seats, space enough to pick up hitchhikers for sure. Maximum flexibility is required.

Finaly we made it to Wanaka.

Breathtaking views to Mt. Aspiring.

After a week on the road I felt like staying on one place for a while. So woofing at Amanda & Randy´s place was a great opurtunity. Nico decided to join me. Our labour skills have been very handsome for the fence building project and a couple of other odd jobs. Great success for everyone!

Besides chainsawing and concreting we found enough time to explore the schist climbing crags at the other side of town. 

Every story has an end. Thanx Amanda, Randy & Dexter I had a great time!