My last stop in New Caledonia was the Ile des Pins. I spent four days in a great hotel (Hotel Kodjeu). It was expensive - but as New Caledonia is anyway very expensive I decided to finish my time here in style.
The first day I hired a car and drew around the island. Lots of beaches and views but also a bit of history. The second day I did a tour on a 'pirogue', a small hand built boat, sailing up the baie d'Upi. Then we walked through the forest to arrive at the baie d'Oro and its famous natural swimming pool. This place not only looks like paradise, it also is great for swimming and snorkling.
Day three and four were dedicated to diving: just a few minutes by boat and we were in amazing dive spots. Highlight this time was not the big once (although we did see several sharks). No this time I was introduced to the 'hypocampes pygmees' - tiny, tiny pygmy seahorses which were only discovered in 2003 and which you have to know were to look for them to see them! They are about 1.5 cm big and sit on big coral leaves the same color as themselves. So if you don't know they exist you don't see them. Some more info on these under wikipedia.
On day four it was time to head back to Noumea by boat (2.5h). I haven't said much about Noumea so far: it's a city (how original!), with some nice beaches, where you can find everything you would find in 'metropole' (France): shops, nice restaurants and bars. As a tourist it's difficult to understand the local culture and especially the interaction between the Kanak (original black people), the Caldoche (white people living in Caledonia for several generations) and the French community. At a first glance all seems to work smoothly, but there are undercurrents especially with regards to becoming an independent state or remaining with France. This question seems to split the society and will need to be answered in the years to come.
With regards to tourism I realised that the almost the only people travelling around the country are either French living in New Caledonia, French who have lived there or French who have relatives or friends there. Then there are a few Japanese tourists around (all taken care of by tourist operators) and then... not many more. Hence my difficulties in the beginning - but once you know you have to plan and book your days to the minute, accept that they decide when you can do something and that everything is overpriced - well then it is a fantastic place to be!
These entrees are done from Sydney. Tomorrow I fly to Chile and then it is time to discover the Latin American culture - Hola!
The first day I hired a car and drew around the island. Lots of beaches and views but also a bit of history. The second day I did a tour on a 'pirogue', a small hand built boat, sailing up the baie d'Upi. Then we walked through the forest to arrive at the baie d'Oro and its famous natural swimming pool. This place not only looks like paradise, it also is great for swimming and snorkling.
Day three and four were dedicated to diving: just a few minutes by boat and we were in amazing dive spots. Highlight this time was not the big once (although we did see several sharks). No this time I was introduced to the 'hypocampes pygmees' - tiny, tiny pygmy seahorses which were only discovered in 2003 and which you have to know were to look for them to see them! They are about 1.5 cm big and sit on big coral leaves the same color as themselves. So if you don't know they exist you don't see them. Some more info on these under wikipedia.
On day four it was time to head back to Noumea by boat (2.5h). I haven't said much about Noumea so far: it's a city (how original!), with some nice beaches, where you can find everything you would find in 'metropole' (France): shops, nice restaurants and bars. As a tourist it's difficult to understand the local culture and especially the interaction between the Kanak (original black people), the Caldoche (white people living in Caledonia for several generations) and the French community. At a first glance all seems to work smoothly, but there are undercurrents especially with regards to becoming an independent state or remaining with France. This question seems to split the society and will need to be answered in the years to come.
With regards to tourism I realised that the almost the only people travelling around the country are either French living in New Caledonia, French who have lived there or French who have relatives or friends there. Then there are a few Japanese tourists around (all taken care of by tourist operators) and then... not many more. Hence my difficulties in the beginning - but once you know you have to plan and book your days to the minute, accept that they decide when you can do something and that everything is overpriced - well then it is a fantastic place to be!
These entrees are done from Sydney. Tomorrow I fly to Chile and then it is time to discover the Latin American culture - Hola!
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