Les Aventures d'une Baroudeuse en carton // Tales of a Novice Adventurer.
Except that Taranaki’s shitty weather seems to be around here too. First snows have fallen, and even if the hike is doable, the conditions look really bad. And the fog, the rain are ruining the views. Not to mention that… the Ruapehu volcano is slowly awakening!
Flo, aka Monsieur Wellington, and I are leaving Northland driving our Nissan Tilda to explore the western part of North Island which neither of us had seen before. After dropping Martin and Wiebke in Paihia, here we are, just the two of us, singing at the top of our lungs some silly songs on the radio. We’re driving through green fields.
Today is Wednesday and my heart is heavy while I’m leaving South Island for good. I land at Auckland airport like I did on my very first day in New Zealand, except that now Monster is lighter and that I know exactly where to go to catch a coach towards the city centre. It’s raining outside and the sky is grey. I only have one month left on North Island before leaving the country for good. Ouch. Same for Flo, aka Monsieur Wellington, who’s having only two weeks left here before flying to Hong Kong and then going back to France. That’s why we’re meeting up again, for our very last road trip in New Zealand.
-FEBRUARY 2016-
February starts with the dance of fruits and veggies. It reminds me of my previous boss, M. Moreau, while I was working as a bookseller at Virgin Megastore, who used to tell me to imagine my decks as an orange stall in a supermarket. You don’t want to buy some when it’s empty, you have to make a beautiful pyramid of oranges to attract the customer. Clean, Full and Tidy. That was his motto. Only a small step from mangas to oranges ? Let’s see.
This Friday, with my colored hitch hiking sign, I raise my thumb in Invercargill, hoping to go to Te Anau. Some Indian guy picked me up and drove me until Winton. In this little town, it’s getting harder to get picked up. And there’s this weirdo guy who’s offering me a ride :
J’vous laissais le dernier jour de novembre sur le port d’Oban sur Stewart Island. Le ciel était bleu, la mer turquoise, les Kaka virevoltaient dans les airs… Qu’est ce qu’il s’est passé depuis ?
Ex-libraire, boulimique d’images et de rêveries en papier. Reconvertie en agent de voyages adepte de nouveaux horizons. Reconvertie en apprentie baroudeuse. Baroudeuse en carton depuis 2015 en Nouvelle-Zélande, au Japon, à Bali, à Singapour, à Taïwan, à Hong-Kong, en Equateur et au Mexique. J’ai chopé la bougeotte et je compte bien ne pas m’arrêter là.
A former bookseller, who couldn’t get enough of pictures and paper dreams. Retrained as a Travel Agent, who couldn’t get enough of new travel inspirations. Retrained as a novice adventurer. Novice Adventurer since 2015 in New Zealand, Japan, Bali, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong-Kong, Ecuador and Mexico. I caught the travel bug and I won’t stop anytime soon.
Let’s take a walk with me!