April 2023
Hello everyone,
A short trip to the land of Kiwis
Having given up taking Banana Split to New Zealand because of the very bad weather conditions, after our trip to Brisbane and the return to our lake, with a new stopover in the quiet Port Macquarie - where the shoreline is lined with painted rocks almost as remarkable as those of Horta, in the Azores - we chose to fly there for a few days, especially as the return ticket Francette, on Air Tahiti Nui, passed through Auckland...
We had a short stay in this city, one of our favourites in the world, which is slowly recovering from the damage of tropical storm Gabrielle; many works were in progress on the shoreline, and landslides were visible on the heights overlooking the pretty Orakei Bay, lined with beautiful beaches much appreciated by the Aucklanders, at a short distance from the city centre, which I salute once again for its human size, a reasonable number of skyscrapers surrounding the iconic Skytower. We went up there for the first time, I think. From the top, you can see the city, which is very large and dotted with many parks, with a preference for the vast Botanical Garden, full of multicoloured flowers and endemic plant species that are often endangered. There are also some amazing plants such as the Farfugium Japonicum, or giant leopard plant, which really looks like it's made of plastic8
In another of our favourite corners of Auckland, if our Headquarters has disappeared from the Viaduct Harbour quay, there are other restaurants with appetizing menus.
In a few days I'll take a Japanese airline ANA, to go back to Paris, with a one-night stopover in Tokyo, where I plan to try out one of these "pods" given as hotels but quite close to a boat cabin. My multicoloured suitcase having given up the ghost, I was lucky enough to acquire an even more chic one at the local bazaar.
I hope that the turmoil in France will soon subside, and I will tell you next month about my reunion with the Auvergne mountains.
In the meantime, be careful, don't lose your nerve!
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