‘This is a harsh country. The people here are as tough as their environment. Storms, gales, 4 climates a day. To top it off; South Island borders Fiordland. Beautiful country but one of the most inhospitable places in the world where it mainly rains. And when the rain abates, the sandfly squadrons move in’

Geert found that the South Island was a better place to tour. The climbs are more gradual and long, and he followed a nice route starting in Christchurch, going down the East coast via Dunedin and the Catlins to Invercargill, after which he rode West and North via Te Anau and Queenstown, to the West coast, all the way up to Greymouth. There he turned East, crossed the Lewis Pass, and descended back to Christchurch where he arrived just one year before the devastating earth quake in 2011.