hellocloud photography by Ken Lönnström » rotorua

A rainbow in the night

Ken — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 21:31:44 +0000

I tried to upload this post last night, but unfortunately our Internet connection was down so here it goes. The above picture is taken in Rainbow Springs Nature Park which is a stunning place. It was one of the locations we wanted to visit while we were in New Zealand.

We thought it would be alot bigger. We walked around everything in 45-50 minutes during the day and had quite a close look at everything, read the fact signs. All the touristy things. In the night time it took a few more hours, but just because of all the pictures. Had my whole gear included the tripod and remote. Everywhere you turned they had lit up with different kind of lights. We even got to see some kiwi birds by night, though I didn’t take any pictures. They are a bit shy.

Have a lovely nights sleep you people on the other side of the world. I’m just getting up from bed.

Driving to nowhere in particular

Ken — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:58:00 +0000

After our zorb-adventure we had planned on going to Rainbow Springs in Rotorua which is a beautiful spot to watch nature. In the tickets you get a 24h access to the park and they have open til 10 pm. From what I have read they light up everything very nicely so you’ll get a whole different experience.

Unfortunately because of the rain, we skipped that and will take it on our way back to Auckland in the end of the trip. What we did instead was to cruise along some small roads until we got to Matamata where Hobbiton lies. We just wanted to have a look at the place since we’d be returning the day after.

In New Zealand they drive wonderful cars. Both new and old ones. Compared to Australia they don’t seem to be as strict on the whole customizing area. The cars here are modified. So when we parked our campervan Bamse I saw this amazing Dodge Charger and just had to take a photo for my friend Lars-Daniel.

Then our journey for a camping ground began. We drove around for probably for hours. Followed some signs, that ended up in this upperclass village. Anyways, that’s what we expect. It is called Karapiro Village. We drove and drove until we came to a road. And that road was named “Luck At Last Road.” We took a picture and turned. Found the campsite but no manager were there and it was quite expensive so we decided to have a wild camp. Again. Great fun though.

What’s this thing called zorbing?

Ken — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:00:46 +0000

We are keeping busy. We are keeping so busy I can’t even get the time to sit down, organize and write on my blog. Two days ago we went zorbing. That was on the 29th of August. Yesterday we went to Matamata and looked at Hobbiton and had some fun in Bag End.

And today, we came to Waitomo Caves. THAT is the most amazing thing I have ever experienced. I was completely spechless and I encountered this gruesome pain everywhere! No one was permitted to bring along their camera. It hurt, it hurt so much and it still hurts. Probably will keep hurting me as long as I live. But that’s for another blog entry. This one is concentrated on zorbing or the new thing zydroing.

The Kiwis, of course, came up with this a few years ago. It concerns you, strapped spread eagled into a big sphere in a sphere filled with air, rolling down a hill. Sounds dangerous but it is not. The ones who work there are the elite. We didn’t do any zorbing, we did zydroing. Almost the same principle. Only in this one you are not strapped onto anything and you got some water in it. In certain cases, you can go two in one, which we tried out first just straight down a hill.

Just imagine being in a round ball with some warm water on a typical rainy day coming crashing down a hill. What better way to spend the day?

Needless to say… it was so fun we had to do it again. But this time solo and we came down a twisted slope. THAT was insane! At first I tried to run down the hill but just after the first corner, I dropped my balance, fell and then rolled around with the waterproof camera, up and down, down and up.

As you will see from the pictures, the way you enter the zorb is by jumping in through a hole which the crew later closes. When you are down the hill they open it up, and it’s like the zorb gives birth to you. Yes people, you should understand what I mean. They open the hole, turn it to the bottom and then you go out along with the water. Feet first.

Jenny would however describe it as like when you go to the toilet. You probably get that picture quite clearly in your head right now. And now. And now. And now. And soon it will be there everytime you think of zorbing. Then blame Jenny for that picture. It is great fun anyway.

Click here for a whole collection of funny pictures from the day!

Being in a washer machine

Ken — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 11:43:29 +0000

That’s how it felt like. Honestly. You’ll only get one picture tonight from the adventure we experienced yesterday but I’ll upload more tomorrow. Today we have been busy wandering around Hobbiton, walked into Bag End and had a great time. And tomorrow… we are going to Waitomo Caves. A new day, another adventure. Fingers crossed we survive!

A day of planning and contemplation

Ken — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 22:52:00 +0000

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.

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.

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!

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

Ken — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:10:37 +0000

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.

Ken and Jenny goes pimpervan!

Ken — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 09:10:51 +0000

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’.