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Back in New Caledonia for our last port day today at Noumea, the capital. Mel was on a tour again, which left me, Robyn and Adam to do our own thing for the day.
The ship was docked at a working pier so we had to get a shuttle bus to a nearby tourist information centre, rather than us getting into town by ourselves. There were lots of tour companies offering their services, and we managed to find an all day hop-on hop-off shuttle for $5 so we grabbed tickets. The bus started in the town centre and had stops at shopping centres, a couple of beaches, a resort and the town square.
Our first trip we just stayed on the bus for the whole loop (the driver didn't seem too happy as she kept stopping where she was meant to but nobody was getting off-they all had the same idea as us!). The second time, we got off at the shopping centre (small and not really anything special), then caught the next bus to Lemon Bay (Baie de Citrons), one of the beaches. It was very nice, but we had been spoiled with the Fijian beaches, and it just didn't compare. While we were walking along the beach, we found a couple of shops and a Beach Rock Cafe which had life size statues of the Blues Brothers, Marilyn Monroe (white dress and all), Elvis and a not life size Statue of Liberty. It was funny seeing something like that there!
We got back on the bus again (did I mention these ones had air conditioning?), passed another of the beaches and the aquarium and got off again almost at the start of the loop. Adam wanted to find the Catholic Church, and after a quick walk we found it in a prominent position on a hill. It was a beautiful building, built in the late 1800s as the congregation had outgrown their first church. Inside were lots of stained glass windows of saints a high vaulted ceiling and a nativity scene that was not yet taken down. It was a much bigger scene than the Lifou one, but didn't have as much character.
We only spent a little bit of time in there (I noticed at least one person praying in there), then it was back out into Noumea and the walk back to the tourist information centre. On the way we found the city square-named after something to do with coconuts and then more shops plus a few Christmas decorations. All the while we'd been looking for a patisserie without much luck (I had been asked to scope it out for someone who misses good French bakeries), so when we made it back to the centre, I asked and was happy that there was one a block away. Eating French pastries is not something that I often do, but man were these good! I can understand why they are renowned for their breads and cakes. I had some sort of cheese and bacon flat bready tart and got a croissant for the road (yummy!).
It was then time to get back on the ship after a few port side photos, our last time on land before we get back to Sydney!
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