You know what sucks? Having typed a whole blog and accidently hitting a wrong button and losing all the work that you just typed. Yes, this is version two of the blog about hiking yesterday. I was too tired to make one last night, so now do it before I have to go in an hour.

The day began at 4.30 when my alarm went off. Unfortunately I hadn't found my memorycard yet, so I just put my luggage in a locker and waited for the 5.30 am bus to pick me up. We needed about 1.5 hour to get to the startpoint of the hike and the closer we got, the more excited I became. They had given us two papers, one with general information and a map of the hike and one with instrucations what to do in case this mountain would erupt. Because yes, we're on an active vulcano with the last eruption in november 2012...

In the bus they hired boots, and that was my best decision of the day, now I felt a bit more safe with the rocks out there. My first impression when starting the hike, wow, don't mess with mountains, especially not with the ones that can erupt from time to time. We were warned that the weather can change without warning, but we were very lucky with the weather. We had some clouds in the morning but once the sun rose and got more power, the clouds disappeared.

the first part of the hike was easy, it didn't rise much yet and we could prepare ourselves for the big work to come. Right before the real climbing started, there was the last chance to go to the toilet. I had the intention to go too but once I smelled a toilet from the inside, I didn't need it anymore. I stumbled out of the toilet, causing laughter by other people, and just continued my walk. And to be honest, I haven't even felt it for the rest of the hike.

This was the big work, the real hiking now. I took it slow this time, taking a rest every now and then to find my breath back and to have a drink. I can imagine very well that there are people who give up halfway and go back, but I was determined to find out what was behind those steep climbs. After the first one, there was a flat part. Here, you could choose to do a side walk, but I just kept following the main track. It's such a weird landscape, almost from another planet without human life. I feel so small between all those mountains and rocks and if you see a crater, wow! Impressive stuff. We are just guests here, who can enjoy the views for a day.

The second climb was even steeper than the first one, and it was partly with loose sand. Hands and feet were necessary to climb this part. It's funny to see the same people over and over again, sometimes they rest and you pass them, then when you take a rest, they pass you again. For me this worked good, because after the second climb sometone took a pic of me, and those people I saw again at the other side of the mountain too, and they took another pic.

One small climb seperated me from the highest peek and the best view possible. Right in front of me, i saw the blue lakes with that strange blue color of them, and to the right an impressive crater. In fact, everything was impressive here, but some things a bit more than others.

Now it was mostly going down, again through very loose sand. And that's harder than you might think. I slipped away one time too but not too serious. I shot some pictures of the lakes and continued my way down. The roughest part was done, and I felt happy for that because I felt that I didn't have the energy left for more climbing.

Slowly making my way to the car park on the other side of the mountain, the vegetation was changing. on the top there was no vegation, later some grass and flowers, and the lower I came, the more i saw. Some trees coming back and the very last part was just a bush walk and that could have been home. Except maybe that we had to cross water. It wasn't very deep, and you had to hop from stone to stone to try and stay dry. Thank god those shoes are not mine haha! Somehow I found my way through, and could continue to the end of the track.

Even the last few kilometers were heavy, I litereally felt exhausted. This is a strange experience for me, as it doesn't happen often after being physically active. But then again, I haven't had a decent night of sleep since I am here, I am not used to climbing and everything together probably makes me feel that tired. But the feeling once I completed this is amazing. I felt secretly proud of myself for finishing it. So I just sat there in the sun, smiling and waiting for the 3 pm bus to get me back to my hostel.

I had the best email that I could wish for, they found my memorycard in my room of last night! So I have my pictures back, what a relief. :)) In the bus to Taupo I had a powernap of half an hour, which made me survive the rest of the day. another trip to Rotorua because I'll do a halfday tour today before going to Auckland. Time flies here, definately.

My suitcase broke down yesterday by the way, two wheels are not working any more. Not sure how to solve this yet, it's sunday today, and tomorrow I am off to Melbourne. Maybe I need to buy a backpack anyway, once I am there. We'll see. Now let's hurry and get dressed, gotta go in 20 minutes ;)