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hellocloud photography by Ken Lönnström bio picture

I love painting with words and describing life with pictures!

Born to this world screaming like everyone else, upset about leaving my safe and secure hidingplace. Where ever I looked there were unfamiliar things, peoples and expressions. Something was sounded in my so called ears, which I later understood were words. New places scared me.

As life has moved on I have come to realize that life really is meant to be lived the way you desire, no matter what. You and I, we can overcome all obstacles and live our dreams instead of just creating images of a different life.

At hellocloud you can read my travel stories, look at my photos and read some of my deeper thoughts or even perhaps some poetry. It will fulfill all my needs and hopefully you’ll find something worth reading or gazing at.

Stay happy!
Ken Lönnström

Tag Archives: new zealand

A day of planning and contemplation

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All we did yesterday was planning, scrambled eggs and then a bit more planning. After we had all our prioritizing fixed sorry the Kancoona-gang, no real food in the future) we took a walk downtown. For reasons unknown we took a wrong turn and ended up in this beautiful park, which is named Kuirau Park. It is filled with lots of geothermal pools and activity. Quite awesome really. Some of them are only small (yeah small, like your smallest hand) and from them are bubbling liquid.

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However how beautiful and pretty it is to see steam, it does smell like rotten eggs. Or even worse. When you are in Rotorua, you can always blame the geothermal activity if you accidently pull of a stinker. Good to know eyy.

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Also during our walk Jenny found a drive-in liqueurstore which is quite handy for the daily alcoholic who also drives drunk. On a different subject, in a few hours we are doing the zorbing! Amazing. You just can’t wait for the action-pictures. At least we can’t.

Talk to you soon!

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Writing a blog entry in a hot geothermal pool, is that nice or what?

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As the blog title says. I am writing this blog entry from a hot geothermal pool in Rotorua on my iPod Touch. It’s late at night and we are just soaking in 37 well-deserved degrees. We have survived our first days and enjoy New Zealand very much.

About the mauri people, the real kiwis… they are least to say, in lack of better words, massive. Not fat, just massive built. Look and move around like big treestomps recently uprooted. I’ll get you some pictures one day.

Tomorrow we are gonna plan our whole trip. There are so many things to see and do! We have already made some changes already, for instance we have rebooked our flight so we’ll be staying here until the 17th of September instead of the 6th. And also we have extended our campervan Bamse. :)

Lots of love from the hot (very hot) geothermal pool
Ken and his woman

Edit. We took some awesome funny pictures which you can see in this Facebook-album. Taken with my Olympus water- and shockproof camera, which turned out to be not fully as waterproof as the day I bought it. After some pictures I got memory card read error. Uhuh.

Took it apart and it was wet. Luckily for me, after some drying with papers and a hairdryer it began working again and all our pictures were still there. Very nice! Se nice, in german. Therefore the very happy picture in the end. :) And remember, all pictures are unedited.

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Ken and Jenny goes pimpervan!

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What do you think? Isn’t he a beauty or what? :) We drove late last night and found, at last, a rest area between Matamata and Rotorua where we put up our camp. We slept for eleven hours, after that eventful day which has come to be known as ‘one-of-the-longest-life-sucking-days-so-far-in-our-lives’.

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A one way ticket to Frankfurt please. Part 2

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Imagine early in the morning. You arrive at the airport, safe and well. A bit tired of course, but that’s not more than you expect from someone who wakes up to party music in to morning. You go through the thick glass security doors into the airport. The backpack lies heavy on your shoulders although the anticipation before the journey makes it almost weightless.

You are almost three hours early, so you can relax. Read a book, think about life, why a ball is round or perhaps watch people. Try to imagine where they all are going and why? What kind of people are they? Do they feel fulfilled? Are there life the way they want it? You have all the time in the world to dream away, since you are sitting in front of the check-in desk.

When they finally open the check-in desk you don’t rush forward. You are so calm and try to take in every moment, all that is happening, have happened. Realizing what goals you have finished and all the obstacles like thorn bushes, you have fought your way through. How all of them have torn you in some places. Some of them are still sore, some of them might disturb your sleep at occasions and some… Some you don’t even feel anymore. They are you. They don’t affect you. So in front of this check-in desk, you wait. Don’t want to rush.

But the world comes crashing back when you are standing there. Getting your sentence you weren’t even aware of. You are told that your precious Visa is not valid. Although you have your ticket to New Zealand for the so-called Visa-run and then your ticket back to Australia, you are not allowed to enter New Zealand. You can feel your heart, though uncertain if it beats faster or if it have just stopped. The reason why you can’t enter NZ is because you don’t have a valid Visa for the return ticket. There is only one solution.

You have to book a ticket from Auckland in New Zealand to somewhere in Europe. Your heart have unbelievably at this point now woke up and you feel the sweat while you run around the airport in search for a travel agency from which you got to have a valid fully-refundable ticket to Europe in the nearest 45 minutes. After several instructions you find the travel agency. Which does not open in another hour.

After some more running you find the Qantas Flight desk. Everyone in the line is just so slow. In fact, you are asking yourself whether they are alive, stupid or just are trying to mess with you since the check-in ends in 30 minutes. After several sweaty moments you are next in line. 20 minutes left. Lucky for you, in this moment you get the nicest person in the whole wide world. She is so helpful and time-efficient. She says however that this is gonna be expensive. Very expensive. Though you get the whole amount back except for an administration fee. You throw your VISA-card at her along with your passport and say ‘I’ll take it.’

The marathon back to the check-in is a fast one. Five minutes left. You’ll make it!

But you are not alone in the queue. Lots of other people are late and a few others also had problems with their Visas. It’s less than 50 minutes before departure when you get to the desk. You are supposed to be checked-in 90 minutes before departure. It’s the same girl as before and she is just so slow. Chit-chatting in a normal manor and really takes her time.

40 minutes left and you have the security to pass along with several others. Soon they will begin boarding.

It’s a miracle. You arrived at the gate just when they begin boarding the plane and you are thinking ‘This is just going way to smooth, is this really the flight to Auckland?’ Then you understand that you don’t really care. It’s just another adventure.

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A one way ticket to Frankfurt please

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There were some sort of anticipation in the air when we left the hostel early on the Thursday morning. We were going to New Zealand in a mather of hours, which is to say the least, quite awesome.

Our arrival to the airport was pleasant, we even found a parking after ten minutes searching. Even the bus ride from the parking lot felt calm which suited our early morning behaviour with yawns.

Needless to say, the calm did not last very long. And neither did this Internet time. We have to go now, but reassure that in worst case scenario I’ll be arriving in Frankfurt in October on the worlds most expensive ticket.

Lots of love.

ps. The picture has nothing to do with the text, except to set the mood on things. The red letters on the wall reads: “Prohibited to cross the rail.”

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Bit of a sidetrack

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It is a fact. We have rented a pimped up campervan for eight days in New Zealand! And now you ask yourself, why? It is a necessity. My visa expires in a few weeks and because of burecracy, of course, you (me) cannot apply for a new visa while in the country. So we thought a nice little vacation would do us good.

Of course life is hard as a wwoofer and without desserts! I mean, we can’t just glide around everywhere without a purpose, which we now have. :) We’re gonna travel the North Island for eight days, spend one day in Auckland and then go back to Australia. As long as they approve of my application… Honestly, how could they say no to cute little me? (Imagine that annoying little thing in the movie Madagascar which is so hyped and crazed, probably also high on both cocaine and coffein!)

Bedtime! Have fun and stay happy. :)

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