Our Day in Noumea

Today has been the breakthrough day.  Someone has finally switched the heating on in the great outdoors, we’ve finally got all the on board spending money promised by Celebrity sorted and the sea has at last calmed down so that we’re not rocking and rolling as we have done since leaving Sydney.

The other breakthrough has been that the selfie stick has been put through its paces a bit today – at last!  More on all this later.

Here's where we are - off the north-east coast of Australia.  Our first stop is in Noumea - can you see it at the bottom of Grande Terre?  Our next stop will be on Lifou - that's part of the Loyalty Islands Group and the island with Wé on it.

Map courtesy of Google

The day started well with another beautiful sunrise .... 

....  although the skies looked a touch threatening where we were going!

Elizabeth enjoyed her breakfast in the Ocean View Cafe (cafeteria!) as we came into Noumea ....

We stepped ashore and took the compulsory shuttle to the modest cruise terminal (it’s a commercial port with lots of port traffic, so you're not allowed to walk through.)  There we linked up with our private tour operator.  It turned out there would be 12 of us in a minibus –a group of 10 Aussies all travelling together and us!

We set off on a tour of Nouméa ....

Here's our guide, François

François is half Kanak and half Vanuatuan.  He looks just like a Fijian rugby player might but tells us that they don't play rugby in New Caledonia.  Kanaks are indigenous people who are now mainly confined to the north of Grande Terre.

We heard only one side of the story, but François told us a story of naked colonialism and apartheid, 21st century style and how the French oppress the New Caledonian people.  They have been fighting for independence for many years, but if civil unrest develops, then France sends in the marines to restore order.  'Normal' prisoners are held on an offshore island, but any locals convicted of offences linked to the independence movement are shipped off the prisons in France, a sort of transportation in reverse.

New Caledonia is run totally by the French and locals can't get jobs in the administration of the islands.  They hope to get independence one day, but nobody knows when. The French government can compulsorily purchase land from the locals if they want to build homes for French functionaries on the islands.  We heard of a case of the son of a prominent French official who was convicted of the death by dangerous driving of a Kanak boy and was fined £350. François said that if it had been the other way around, then the outcome would have been much different.

So why are the French so unwilling to let go?  Because Canada and New Caledonia are the world's largest producers of nickel and you can't have a mobile phone without nickel.  In fact Grande Terre is almost 100% nickel and the French want their cut of the income that produces.

François told us that dissidents in the north stop tourist minibuses to ask what language they speak.  If they are French, they are turned back.  He said that the protesters also burn the cars and houses of their French masters.

Fish Market

Prat in a hat!

Acknowledgement of the support by the US in WWII to keep the Japanese out - plus an ad for the only McDonald's in New Caledonia

There is indeed only one McDonald's on the islands and is well used.  The French have put in a lot of French equivalents of McD, called 'Quick', but the problem is apparently that the service in those 'Quick' outlets is not very fast!

Lemon Bay - but all the lemon tress have gone because of development

Always reassuring to know that the ship is still there!

We made a number of short stops. This was at Lemon Beach

Hope Elvis doesn't pull a muscle!

In fact, Elvis doesn't look well at all!

Haven't ever seen one of these at home

From Lemon Beach we went on to Ouen Toro ....

The Australian forces placed some guns up here at the lookout point of Ouen Toro as a deterrent to the Japanese in WWII

This was an alternative way to tour the area

View from Ouen Toro

From Ouen Toro we went down to the sea and boarded a glass-bottom boat to Duck Island, a postage stamp sized piece of land for a swim ....

The glass bottom boat was a bit disappointing!

We were allowed to walk round the outside of Duck Island but not the centre as the signs in French said that there was a lot of 'reproduction' going on and the ducks shouldn't be put off that ....

Duck Island

You could rent a sun bed but they were very expensive and were only there for a few hours.  We retreated to the only bar/restaurant on the island expecting to be stung, but a local beer and a mineral water were about a fiver ....

Retreating to the only bar on this tiny island to wait for the ferry boat back to the mainland

Traditional construction methods for this bar.  The island is itself a World Heritage Site

There were some uninvited guests at the bar/restaurant

And when you've had a hard day as a tourist, it's finally time to crack open that complimentary bottle of champagne from Celebrity ....