Whew! 4th Blog posted today.

I hope you can scroll back and read the others, but I thought I'd better wrap up this trip.

Saturday 10th July 2010
We have had rain and barking dogs in the night, but still wake up refreshed.
Duncan goes up to the office to pay, there is a little discussion, but we do not need to pay extra apart from our evening meals and drinks. The shuttle arrives and we get to the airport on time. A good flight to Noumea and to our surprise Arc en Ciel put on a transfer to the hotel. It is too early to check in, but we leave our luggage and take the Noumea Explorer to the zoo.

We did the native to New Caledonia section including some extremely large pigeons whose bass cooing sounded like the scary booming noise we heard at Queen Hortense’s Cave. Also Flying Foxes, a silver pheasants and peacocks, both white and blue.

Another highlight was the water dragons – thank goodness our little lizard in the aircon was just a few inches long.

We rejoined the Noumea Explorer and continued with our journey to Palm Beach where we had a late lunch – Croque Monsieur (like a toasted sandwich) and a burger with some delicious fruit smoothies. No baguette!!!
Then we walked along the Anse Vata to our hotel. The rain was limited to squally showers, but hundreds of wind-surfers and para-sailors were out on the bay, careening along at a great rate of knots.
At Casa del Sol we have an apartment – not that we need it now, but use the drier to dry Duncan’s running gear after he has been for a long run up the promenade while I go and book us into an Italian restaurant. We are really looking forward to it, but the French don’t do Italian very well. The entrees are so large we don’t enjoy our mains.
The bed is quite hard, the night is quite noisy – mainly wind, and we sleep fitfully until the wakeup call at 4.50am.

Day 6

Very cloudy today which is a disappointment after the glorious day we had yesterday. Duncan does another good run, and we head for breakfast – guiltily taking cheese and salami off the buffet for our lunch. After breakfast we check on the menu at the gite next door – Nataiwatch. It seems very friendly and informative, so we book in. Then we walk up the road to the boutique again as I have decided I want the pink and purple tshirt as well. We walk back along the beach.
We sit out on the loungers at the beach with our books until lunchtime. It’s mainly cloudy weather so neither of us go swimming, but Duncan returns later on for a snorkel. The man comes and attempts to fix our lock. This has been broken throughout our stay, and the little safe in the room can’t be used either.
We both finish our books! and then walk over in the dark to Nataiwatch for a beer and then dinner. Duncan has the mussels and I have the entrecote (faux fillet) and we have two half bottles of an excellent Bordeau. Surprisingly we are the only ones in for dinner, but the ambience is pretty relaxed, and the crème caramel is excellent!
I watch a program (en francais) about the French shoe industry, and then we turn in for an early night to help reset our time clocks for an early start tomorrow and an even earlier start the day after.

Day 5 in New Caledonia

What would go wrong today??
Duncan woke up to watch the world cup semi, and Spain won against Germany. Then he went for a run while I got up at a leisurely pace. After breakfast Duncan went to suss out dinner at the Gite next door, but since it features fish and taro it doesn’t really sound ideal.
Meanwhile I go to the boutique by the port where they make jewellery and screenprint tshirts and pareo. I buy a tshirt and a necklace and spend all my money.
When I arrive back Duncan has had the bad spot of the day – the manager has been, demanding money. Duncan tells him politely that he has paid, and he must recover the money from the travel agency.
It is brilliantly fine and we head down to the beach for our first real day of blobbing out. After a while we take a kayak. Some fish visible in the coral, but there is a surprising swell in the middle of the bay. Our midriff muscles are unaccustomed to paddling so we spend some time drifting over the reef.
The Beach Hut has run out of snorkels, and gives me a mismatch of flippers, on of which doesn’t fit, so I use Duncan’s snorkel and my crocs. The reef is quite close to shore and it is easy to get to the many fish – black and white, yellow, shimmery blue, but I didn’t see any of those lovely purple and orange ones of the Piscene Naturelle.
A late lunch of crackers, tuna and cheese – and a glass of wine followed by reading and snoozing before we returned to the beach. Duncan stayed down there until the very brief sunset just after 5pm.
We caught up with the World News before heading off to dinner at our restaurant. We both began with salads, then tuna for Duncan and chicken for me, and a decent bottle of red wine from Chinon. We are both engrossed in our books until bed time.

Premature Deafness

Duncan has always had a bit of a hearing problem, but it is with great sadness that I have to report it has got so much worse. And the cause - Ear candy!. Yes Duncan has joined the world of iphone users. Now he walks around all day "plugged in" to the National problem, and I have to wave at him to get him to take them out if I want to have a conversation with him.
And for a total change of image he has large black glasses, which reminds me of someone from the movies in the 50's - not sure who yet. Maybe Michael Caine.

Meanwhile I remain much the same!

Day 4 Ile des Pins

Hope Springs Eternal! – surely our holiday will get better – after all we are off on an excursion today. However the day does not get off to a good start as a seagull lands on our table at breakfast – I hate birds up close, and make a fool of myself.
We pack up for the excursion, which I understand involves an outrigger trip, a short walk and a pool of tropical fish.
We are picked up by the shuttle driver – who appears to be heading in the wrong direction. He drops us God knows where, and the extent of the tour guiding is a finger pointed down an estuary. We head off looking for an office or an assembly point. Then we see the sign to Upi Bay. I remember this is where the outrigger trip is. But were we supposed to go this way??? It was about an hour’s walk through forest and then we finally saw the turquoise sea. We stepped down off the track onto sinking sandy mudflats. We cautiously struggled along the beachline hunting for the outrigger connection. The place was totally deserted. Nothing for it, but to turn back again.
Duncan tried to persuade me to go back down some side track, but after a few terse words we kept on returning down the track. Although the bush was pretty and the track quite easy it was pretty much the same sort of forest throughout. Finally we make it back, and after taking some advice using my limited French skills. (Nous sommes perdu!- we are lost) we make a crossing over the shallow estuary and took a short path to the Piscene Naturelle. It was a large, shallow pool with some coral and fish just everywhere, weaving in and out of our legs, some large, some small, some brightly coloured orange and purple, many just sandy coloured. This is definitely today’s highlight. Some Japanese tourists who have actually managed a proper excursion have bought bread to feed the fish with. We were amused by the Korean tourists with their lifejackets on to snorkel even though the water was never over your head.

We then returned to the pickup point – exhausted, not so much by the walk, but by the stress of not knowing where we were. On our return we were asked if we had enjoyed our trip to the Baie D’Oro (Bay of Gold). We replied we never got there.
After a bath or shower and a rest we set off to a restaurant at Kuto Bugny. We decide to go before the sunset at 5.30pm, but dinner is not served until 7pm,so we have a few drinks overlooking Kuto Beach and Harbour. We both have duck, and thanks to the handy torch I have brought, we make our way home in the pitch black of a tropical night. One small hitch as Duncan hits an overhanging branch.
A replay of the Dutch-Uruguay game is on – with a French commentary, but that’s OK.
We are getting used to the squeaks of the lizard that lives in the aircon.

Day 3 Ile des Pins

Tuesday 6th July 2010
Duncan went for a good run before breakfast. Then we went for a walk to Kuto sussing out other places to eat at and walk to. The torch I packed (hint on internet) may prove useful. We investigated getting a rental car.
By eleven o’clock we had signed up for our rental car.
First stop at Vao, where we finally found the ATM and the shop (sort of in someone’s front room). No beer as it is not sold to the Kanaks – Ile des Pins is dry except for the resorts and gites (guest houses) – but we buy cheese, ham paste, tuna, crackers and iced tea. Next stop is at the Bay of Joseph where we see outrigger canoes ready for use.

Then we drive inland through lush vegetation liberally dotted with Pine trees.
It is a short walk to Grotte de La Reine Hortense. This is where Queen Hortense rested or hid (both stories are told) when she ruled the island in the 1880’s. A large bush clad cave opening with rocks as stalactites hanging down and a pure stream following through it. The area is beautifully kept with wild flowers and plantings tidied up, and this was the highlight of our day.


Gadji is the most northern point with soft muddy sand on its small beaches. We have some lunch here.

Now down the western side of the island. We take a side road down to another bay. It has potholes up to a foot deep, but we also see the roading machines here and a bulldozer and a truck of gravel, just off the barge I would say, on its way as we head home. The beach at the end of this road is very pretty, and I make use of a small toilet – no toilet paper, just a bidet hose. Worked for me! Very refreshing if a little damp.


The next stop was in the area where the French Convicts were deported to from Paris after defying the order to surrender to the Prussians (I knew there was some point to me learning about the Franco Prussian Wars in History!). There is a melancholic letter from one convict roughly translated – “Here I am in Paradise, but what is it worth when I am separated from my family?” It is very moving.
The convent and the gaol are very overgrown, but the Water Tower is still functional and the cemetery is well tended – only 2 out of the 240 graves have names. The others have been lost.

We drive back through Kuto where there is a boulangerie and a bakehouse. On round passed the wharf, filled up with petrol and returned to the hotel. I had a little nap, while Duncan did a sudoku and went and did some snorkelling, but the sunshine was patchy so it wasn’t all that warm so I didn’t. We went for drinks at the outdoor bar, but a cool wind drives us back to our Fare (like Fale – our separate unit) and catch up on the News of the World before going to dinner. Dinner was not the greatest – Duncan citing the taro and coconut as the worst offender. We are told the boat will be bringing fresh supplies tomorrow.
We have discovered that we have a pesky lizard in the airconditioner. Let’s hope we get some sleep tonight.

New Caledonia Day 2

Monday 5th July 2010
The bed was very hard. The shower head required some expertise that we were not acquainted with and Duncan drenched his pyjamas.
The manager was very agreeable and took us to the airport where we got the shuttle to Noumea (XPF6000 or about $96). It took about 45mins.
We were picked up by the Arc en Ciel (Rainbow travel agent) people and left our luggage with them and set off for the New Caledonia Museum.
The museum was very well set out, with a preponderance of penis shaped objects, and a very jolly collection of fine woven penis sheaths. There is also an exhibition of intricately carved bamboo and photos of colonials – rarely smiling. A school class was being taught local dances to drumming with very enthusiastic responses.
We found an internet café and sent an angry email to Elliot Travel, followed by a visit to the Post Office to buy some stamps for my postcards.
We walked to the large park – Place des Cocotiers (Place of the Coconut Palms), then down to the wharves, hunting for a nice place to have lunch. We ended up at a not so nice place – their idea of a panini is to toast the French stick.

After lunch we went walking to the Bir Hakiem where there was a war memorial. Then up a hill to St Joseph’s Cathedral which is a huge, serene wooden building with the odd Kanak (Native New Caledonian) asleep on the pews.

We went back down into town, and stopped for a beer, then back to the Place des Cocotiers where Duncan read the Listener while I did a bit of shopping – being Monday in a French Territory must shops were shut.
We walked back along the docks – the water was teeming with tropical fish. A few big spots of rain, so we retreated to McDonald’s for a tea/coffee which was very difficult to procure owing to some problems with a machine. At least the loos are clean. The Arc en Ciel people organised us a taxi to the Magenta Domestic Airport where we catch the plane to Ile des Pins. The “all on, find your own seat” works well and means a fast getaway. We are soon settled at the resort and enjoying our evening meal which begins with snails.