Ah you know what I love so much this holiday down under? The only problems that I have, are the ones that somehow solve itself. Yesterday I got my memorycard back, and today was my new problem solved, the broken suitcase one. Now I probably better don't mention that I have two more little things to solve, but that's for Melbourne. ;)

Lat night I had the best night here so far. And I think that I can blame a sometimes erupting mountain for that. I did have a nice roommate from Switzerland so we had a good chat the evening before and we continued in the morning while getting dressed. Her bus left at 8.50, and mine would come between 9 and 9.15 am. Today's program would be a halfday tour to the geotermical parc Wai-o-tapu, you know, boiling mud pools, craters, steaming pools etcetera. I needed something that I could do before going to Auckland and this seemed cool to me.

Our group was very different, besides myself there was a couple from England, a German guy, a Spanish girl, and a couple from Australia/Canada. The first stop was a little lake with steam coming from it. The guide let us feel the water, just like a nice warm bath. :) Up next was a boiling mud pool, so weird to see that happen. Just bubbling mud, sometimes a metre up in the air, and the bushes around the pool are as grey as the mud.

We were a bit in a hurry because of the geisher. It's a geisher that blows water every day at 10.15, because they know how to activate it. The man from the parc told us that they know this because people did their laundry in the geisher, and it reacted on their soap and cold water in the clothes. So along with hundreds of others we saw todays eruption too. What a noise it makes, I can't even describe what kind of noise it is, but it was loud.

After the geisher we went to Wait-o-Tapu, to make a walk through the parc. I couldn't even imagine what it would be like to see all those colors, but it's the minerals that color the rocks. The hot water absorbs minerals and when the water comes out of the ground, it leaves the minerals on the stones and rocks, which gives those colors. I have never seen green water before in my life, or a pool that has orange in it, or green and yellow rocks, but it's one colorfull thing in this parc. We had only 1.5 hour to spend, but that's enough to take some pictures and to enjoy those natural miracles.

In fact, this was the end of the tour and the guide took us back to Rotorua in the minibus. I was the last one to drop off and I asked her if there was a store selling suitcases and bakcpacks, and open on sundays. I was surprised when she offered me to drop there, they were open on a sunday! See, one problem solved again, I had the chance to get myself a new suitcase, so the broken one could be left behind. Ain't that smart? I found a reasonable priced thing, looks a bit like a bag, but it has two wheels and a handle to pull it. Excellent, so back to the Rotorua tourist office I went.

I was allowed to change there, loading all my stuff from suitcase to bag, and I could even leave the broken one with them. Yes, ready for departure to Auckland! I had a quick stroll through some souvenirshops, before taking the bus back to Auckland.

Tonight is a night without plans. I am a bit tired, and to get my flight at 7 am, I need a bus as 4 am, so maybe I need some sleep, After all, tomorrow is a big day! The Australian Open begins!! I am so, very, very excited that I get to see Nicolas Mahut's match at least. He's up second, so i should easily make it. Will miss his practice, but then I will enjoy that the day after. Really, I could write a whole chapter about my excitement, but I won't. I'm just very happy to see him again. :)) And everyone else too of course, don't get me wrong. ;)