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Hmmm....where to start. Ok. We´ve been to New Caledonia and there´s a lot to write about.
Guess the easiest thing is to start at the beginning.
After Fiji, we arrived in sunny and warm Noumea, capital of New Caledonia, a small french colony in the pacifics.
After renting a car at the airport we drove off to find some accomodation downtown.
Right away it was obvious that this country was a whole different story from the two other pacific islands we had visited.
This was Europe - only with year around fantastic weather. With the french influence very clear everywhere, it was a
sort of shock return to civilization.French was ofcourse spoken everywhere as the official language, the driving was
right-hand side, the rental car was actually not a wreck, streets were in good condition and so on. When
driving through Noumea, it might as well have been Cannes or some other semi-fancy south-of-france town by the sea.
A pretty city, with ports filled with sailing boats, small beaches in cosy bays and long stretches of boardwalks along
the beaches. Even the supermarkets were well known french ones. The city is not that big though, so we easily found
a place to stay. A nice hotel just in front of one of the central beaches, Anse Vata.
Best thing about it was the huge lagoon-like pool. The kids were overjoyed :-).
after a quick dip in the pool, we went for lunch. You can say many things about the french - but they know good food
like noone else in the world. After months of eating all sorts of exotic more or less good stuff - we were now in food
heaven. We stocked up in one of the supermarkets where we could get flütes, patés, saucissons,redwine, cheese of all sorts,
roquefort, goat cheese - you name it - and french pastry - oh good life.
We spent the first couple of days in Noumea, agreeing on that this place had it all - beautiful lush nature,
lovely beaches, different cultural experiences all around, great food, a fantastic climate (20-25 in wintertime,
25-30 during summer)- and all the good frenchness without the attitude, blended with a laid-back pacific lifestyle.
(we later on discovered though, that the attitude was still there, just a bit more suddle... :-) )
After the first days we wanted to explore the country a bit more. We decided on a two-day drive up north and back.
It´s not a huge island, but there´s still roughly about 1200 km from one end of the island to the other,
and a lot of mountain roads. The first day we drove about 6 hours through a faboulous scenic route up and down
mountains. Small rivers, waterfalls, villages,seaviews and amazing views from the mountaintops all along the route.
As we left Noumea, the capital, it was immedietly clear that the rest of the country was nowhere near to resembeling
Europe. Noumea might be flashy and modern, but this is still in many ways like a third world country.The villages we
drove through, can barely be called villages. The biggest ones had one gas station,a bakery and
a tiny grocery store that often looked like it would fall apart any second.
During the 6 hour drive, we didn´t pass a single hotel or guesthouse. Only a couple of camping sites.
We arrived in Poindimiê late evening. This is close to the only city upnorth that has accomodation.
We found two hotels. The first one we´d been warned about, so we stopped at the other one.They didn´t really have room
for four people, but after pleeding for a while, they managed to squeeze us in a small bungalow with two mattresses
on the floor for the kids.
In the morning we continued to arrange for the rest of our stay in New Caledonia.We´d read and heard a lot about all the
islands around the main island - the loyalty islands and Ile des pins. Everyone said that these islands were pure
paradise. As Sofies birthday was coming up on the 13, we wanted to find someplace special to celebrate her 8´th
birthday. We´d been trying to arrange a trip to Ile des pins, but the tour operator we´d been speaking to in Noumea,
said that everything was sold out at the resorts, and when we tried the airline, we met people who´d been
queuing for two hours outside the office. So we almost gave up.
But then as a last try, Patrick called one of the resorts directly, and they said there was plenty of space,
and as we talked to the director of the hotel in Poindimiê, he was very helpful and arranged for plane tickets for
the following day, and ferrytickets back a few days later.Great, so it was doable after all.He told us though, that
there was a slight possibility for the flight to be cancelled, since there might be a cyklone on it´s way heading for
New Caledonia.
As we drove the trip back to Noumea, we made a stop at a beach wich was recommended by the manager. A beautiful spot
with caves and a lovely beach. After only a couple of minutes in the water, the kids suddenly called out that they had
touched a snake in the water. I´d read about theese water snakes, that they were extremely poisenous, but had too
small mouths to harm humans.We still didn´t feel like staying in the water. Probably an ok decision, since we later on
found out that this water snake, called a tricot rayé, is about 10 times as poisenous as a cobra, it is deadly, and can
bite humen - although they very seldomly do.
Just as we´d gotten out of the water and were changing out of our bathing suites, a police car drove up to the beach,
announcing cyclone risk.We hurried up and got out of there.
The day after, we had a short 20 minute flight to Ile des pins. We were picked up by the resort mini-van
(there are no taxis or rental cars at the tiny airport - there´s actually just one taxi on the whole island )
we were shown to our bungalow and afterwords we went for a stroll at the beach. And there it was. Paradise.
This was THE beach. The beach we´d pictured to find here in the pacifics.One of those picture perfect beaches
that´s always staged in the travel magazines, (but when you get there, it looks nothing like the pictures)
exept this one wasn´t staged. This was the real thing. The perfect beach, with it´s powder fine soft white sand,
water so clear you could count the sandgrains at the bottom, glimmering in all shades of blue and green.
Secluded in a small bay surrounded by cliffs, small islets, palm-trees and the tall, thin pine trees,
that the island is famous for.
I´ve seen a lot of pretty beaches, but this easily beats them all. The water was perfectly temperatured,
just chilly enough to cool you down, without turning your lips blue after beeing in for five minutes.
The perfect spot to celebrate Sofies b-day and for a couple of days of pure relaxation after some heavy, intense travelling
lately, where we´d been changing places as often as our underware (probably even more often...long-time travellers life....
you don´t wanna know... :-) )
The day after, sofies birthday, we woke her up with a song and gifts on the bed. It was raining heavily and quite windy.
After breakfast the rain paused, so we went for a quick swim and some amazing snorkelling (best snorkelling ever - just
a stone throw away from the beach - colourful coral and thousands of fish of all kind )
Then the rain started again. We passed the reception, and were told that we now went from a pre-alert cyklone stage
to 1st-alert stage. There are three stages in cyklone warnings. Pre-alert, which means that there´s a cyklone building up
somewhere nearby, and it might be heading your way, so keep that in mind. Then there´s 1st-alert, which means the
cyklone is coming your way, and you´re likely to be hit in the next 24 hours or so, so stock up with water, flashlights,
candles and find a secure place. Then there´s 2nd-alert, this is the final stage, which means the cyklone is close, and
will likely hit you within 6 hours time. You aren´t allowed to go outside, and you are adviced to stay in the bathroom and
make sure you have water, blankets and light.
So we were now in 1-alert. The resort staff told us to keep inside, since there was heavy winds already building up,
and a lot of falling branches and coconuts. They came with candles and matches, extra water, and duck-taped the big
terrace windows (in case they´d brake, so we wouldn´t have glass all over).
So we sat in our bungalow and awaited more information. The wind increasing in power outside and the rain poring down.
At lunch time we were allowed to go to the restaurant for lunch, but after that they told us to stay in for the rest of the
day. Cyklone Vania was heading towards New Caledonia, and most islands were already in 2nd-alert. But it was moving
slowly. So the rest of Sofies b-day, we stayed inside, playing cardgames, reading stories, watching tv.
For dinner, the staff came over with sandwiches, and you gotta´hand it tho them, they´d even managed to bake the cake
for Sofie we´d requested for the day before. The locals kept their cool - they´ve seen theese cyklones come and go all
their lives. The rest of us were a bit worried.Carrying pillows to the bathroom, filling up the bathtub with water like
we´d been adviced to do (in case we would´t have acces to water, we´d still be able to wash up a bit )
It continued to rain and storm all evening and all through the night. We were waken many times from the sounds of
falling coconuts, branches and trees aroud us. At one point during the night, Patrick woke me up and said the bed was moving.
Great - now he´s imagining things as well - I thaught, but a while later, I felt it as well.
Patrick figured it was the wind that was so strong, it was about to lift the bungalow (that was standing on poles)
But in the morning we found out there´d been an earthquake. Quite far away, but strong enough for us to feel it, 7,3 on
the richterscale. In the morning we were contacted by the receptionist, who said that it was ok to come to the restaurant for breakfast.
When we showed up, along with the other 10-15 guests, we found out that the receptionist had misunderstood,
and we actually weren´t allowed outside, since we´d just went from 1st-alert to 2nd-alert, and were now in the red Zone.
Cyklone Vania had been in the loyalty islands, and was now in Noumea, the capital we´d left a couple of days ago, and
was heading our way. So, back to the bungalow, waiting, waiting. The phonelines had been down since the storm begun,
so there was no internet and no phones were working on the whole island. We had no local tv and no radio, so the only
information was through the staff. and their only information came from the managers car radio :-).
The next 24-hours were spent like this. Waiting. Trying to kill time. Listening to the wind raging outside,the rain,
not even poring, but more like flooding, and trees, branches and coconuts falling down.
Then, next day, it had passed. we were out of the alert stages. We´d gotten the outskirt-storms, which ofcourse were
bad enough, but the epicenter luckily missed us.
We were allowed outside again. There was evidence of Vania´s visit all over. Big pools of water we had to jump over,
trees, branches and coconuts all around in the grass, the terrace, the pool and so on.
It was still windy and raining, but it was clear the worst had passed.
Now we had a nother dilemma. We were supposed to take the ferry back to Noumea in the evening, and then fly out of the country to Vanuatu
the next evening. Problem was, the ferry was cancelled due to the cyklone, and would´t be sailing for at least another
3-4 days. Since the phonelines were dead on the whole island, we couldn´t contact airlines or anything. The manager
from the resort was very nice and drove us to the only tourist office on the island. Closed. Then she drove us to the
airport. Closed as well. ??? They closed the whole friggin´ airport down.
So there was noone we could contact and there was no way out from the island. So we did what we´d been doing the past
days. We waited. Well, at least, we reasonned, we could´ve been stuck in a far worse place than this.
The weather was improving so we did some swimming before the rain started again. Which it did.
the rest of the day - well - we waited in our bungalow and harrassed the resort staff about news on phonelines or
airport. there were none. In the evening the manager told us she´d been to the airport again, and they´d be open
the next morning for ticket sales. they´d put in six extra flights for the next day.
So next morning we got up early, packed our bags ,checked out and took the resort mini van to the airport.
There we were. Standing in the ticket line. Us and the 2000 other stranded visitors on the island.
Some of them had been wating for five days to get out. We heard that the plane that flew us to the island, never returned
to Noumea because of the weather warnings. So actually we´d been the last ones to get in or out on the island.
So some of the visitors at the airport had been stuck since the day we arrived.Some were frustrated, some were angry,
some smiled about it, others were crying, and some just chillin´. There was a weird athmosphere at the airport.
Well we queued for about 1 1/2 hours, only to find out there was no way in hell we would be able to leave that day.
Instead we managed to book a flight for the next morning.
It meant we´d also miss our flight to Vanuatu, but that we´d have to deal with later.
We took our luggage, returned to the resort and got our bungalow back for another night.
This turned out to be a good thing. The weather had finally turned, and was perfect. Clear blue skies, warm and sunny.
So we got our day in paradise. We were bathing, canooing and snorkelling. We rented a car for a couple of hours and
drove around the island to see the few sights there was to see - the piscine naturelle (a beautiful natural pool),
a pretty little church and an old prison building. We also drove over to the couple of other resorts on the tiny island
to check if any of them had working phonelines - they didn´t.
Next morning we finally made it out of the island.There had been talk of another cyklone on it´s way, but luckily, it had turned.
We landed in Noumea, checked in at the same hotel we´d stayed at before, and then we started calling around.
We´d originally meant to try and visit some french family living in Noumea after getting back from Ile des pins,
but how things turned out, we instead were busy trying to arrange for new tickets to Vanuatu since we missed the flight.
We eventually managed - hurra - a couple of days later than planned, but with everyone okay and yet another different
experience richer.
New Caledonia was a big surprice. A place filled with contrast. some of the most beautiful nature I´ve ever come across,
breathtaking views everywhere. I read about New Caledonia that "everything here costs an arm and a leg, but it´s so
beautiful, you won´t even miss your limbs ". This kind of summs it up :-).
Now looking forward to Vanuatu - the next and last pacific island.
From home I kind of expected the pacific islands beeing very much alike. Now we´ve visited three, and they´ve all been
hugely different from each other. Can´t wait to see what Vanuatu has to offer.
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