Make My Lemonade Blog
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the only constant: change
NEW ZEALAND - AUCKLAND
As you probably know, last month I went on vacation for 18 days away from the Lemonade Studio - as far away as possible, in fact! I discovered a website that locates the antipodal point according to your geolocation, obviously impossible to remember its name at the time of writing, but to cut a long story short, the farthest you can go from France is New Zealand! I'll spare you the details of the sleepless journey due to the excitement of the destination. I watched about twenty films between the 24-hour flight and the stopover in Singapore. I've been catching up on my filming over the last 6 months, so much so that I'm having trouble remembering the stories - it's like a mashup of synopses in my head...
All this to say that New Zealand has to be earned! Once we'd arrived, we went straight to our hotel in Auckland, the Hotel DeBrett, right in the center of town. It was really nice, but we were dead tired, as it had been 30 hours since we'd last slept, and there's an 11-hour time difference there. I won't hide the fact that it's hard to keep in touch with home. But if you still need to stay connected, or if you have a terrible need to share your adventures on social networks, I recommend you invest in a 4G key on the spot, as a new SIM card with a very limited amount of data (to be topped up) will be more expensive at the end of your trip... On the technical side, the local currency is the New Zealand dollar: $1 is equivalent to around 59 eurocents, so you'll quickly feel like the king of oil if you round things up and divide them by two... Beware, the temptations of shopping and indulgence are great! The country's emblem is a Kiwi, not a fruit, but a flightless bird covered with feathers so fine they look like hairs, round as a football with a small head and a very, very long beak, which digs insects out of the ground... All New Zealand natives call themselves Kiwi. Example: "You frogs are always complaining, but we Kiwis are super relaxed...". Welcome to another planet: Paradise.
Don't forget to click on the arrows to the left and right of the photo to scroll through the gallery!
Downtown Auckland doesn't leave a lasting impression on me, it's a big city that reminded me of Vancouver or Brisbane, but I think Thomas and I would agree that we fell in love with the Ponsonby district, like, "we leave everything and come and live here". It's a sort of suburb 2km from the city center, with a mix of adorable little colonial-style wooden houses, and a long, wide main street with cafés, conceptstores, bars, markets and restaurants, each one cooler than the last... But it's still nice to get lost in an airy city like Auckland, so if you're too tired some nights to go to Ponsonby, you can go:
Pour Manger (check out the websites - their design is a feast for the eyes)!
Ortolana 33 Tyler St, Auckland, 1010
Odettes Eatery : 90 Wellesley St, Auckland, 1010
The Glass Goose : 78 Federal St, Auckland, 1010
Where to sleep:
Hotel Debrett : 2 High St, Auckland, 1010
There are plenty of Air B&Bs in Auckland too, and the people are so friendly that you don't want to hesitate! And if you're ever back in Auckland before going home and the weather's nice, I'd recommend taking a ferry around Rangitoto Island, for an amazing view of the city, but be careful, when you get to the island, take the bus... You'll thank me later!
In the Posonby district, I had the feeling that boutique concepts, restaurant decorations, packaging and merchandising in general are more daring in this country! Everything is meticulous, no one is trying to be "Brooklyn like", there's a real freshness and freedom in execution, as if no one had to prove anything but just do what they feel like doing. So inspiring! A couple of friends live in Ponsonby and really confirm the sweetness of life in this neighborhood. To give you an idea, rents are higher than or equal to those in Paris...