New Caledonia July 2011
Robert G. Barnes
Written 2019
Written 2019
Usually, when you are planning a holiday, you seek places with anticipation, searching for the best places to visit and stay, looking ahead to a new adventure. But sometimes there are surprises - like when our lovely daughters decided that mum and dad needed a holiday and bought us a two week trip to New Caledonia. It was not even vaguely on our list, but the gift was gladly received. It’s difference - we were working with someone else’s itinerary and dates, but hey, am I complaining?
So off to New Caledonia. The trip from Australia is just a few hours and before long we were seeing steep mountains jutting out from the endless ocean. The Pacific is BIG.
We transferred to our resort style hotel, The Nouvata Park Complex on Promenade Roger Laroque, at the southern end of the main tourist strip south of the Noumea city centre and overlooking Anse Vata bay. A series of large resorts and hotels are scattered along the coast line, along with strips of tourist shops and restaurants and cafes. All very tourist brochure, with overhanging coconut palms.
We had a luxurious room overlooking an expansive pool with cliche palms. For all its luxury and appointments and an “over the top” bathroom, I realised that I had arrived but hadn’t travelled.
Across the road from the hotel was a promenade and narrow park and an arc of beach stretching around the bay. It was a place for families to picnic and relax. A lovely location for a stroll, especially near sunset with the bay aglow. Restaurants and tourist shops were scattered all along the bay, this being a resort destination after all. It took a stroll a few blocks back from the beachfront to encounter a more “local” feel. Many places were modest or a bit run down. Roads were jammed with mainly small European cars. And then a genuine French style patisserie absolutely full of pastries, baguettes, cupcakes and an extensive selection of ice creams. Time to stock up. Nothing quite like fresh crunchy bread.
Our other adventures took us on a walk to the Aquarium Des Lagon at the other end of the bay, while a hop on hop off bus tour to the local sites dropped us off at the Parc Zoologique et Forestier. Located in a steep valley the Park was full of local birds and flora. Another drop off was to the Centre Culturel Tjibaou. This is a quite impressive, almost abstract, series of buildings designed to reflect local villages and also celebrate a pro independence leader. It is a meeting centre with local cultural artifacts on display.
As part of our holiday package, we were programmed to rent a car and drive about 200 kilometres north along the Grand Terre (as the main island is called) to a resort on the other side of the island. It didn’t take us too long to conclude that this was a little too adventurous for us, as it would have taken a day’s drive each way in an unfamiliar country and on the “other” side of the road. So we chose to simply spend a few days in the capital, Noumea.
Noumea is a small city, more like a large country town. It looks and feels like a colonial relic, with old European style buildings in various states of repair scattered amongst more modern but very modest buildings with shops, clubs and offices. The town is centred on a large park, La Place des Cocotiers. Full of pathways, open concert areas, pagodas and fountains and shady trees, it attracts visitors and is clearly a major meeting place for locals. One thing which brought a smile was a plaque noting the importance of nickel to the territory. Scattered around town were a few genuine French restaurants, usually offering French wine. There were also cafes offering a wide range of dishes with a French influence. A strong Asian influence was not evident, but maybe we just didn’t notice while on our search for the French influence. And things are overall very expensive - no bargains here.
The west coast of New Caledonia was visited by Captain Cook on his second Pacific voyage, but his visit was brief. The Musee de la Ville de Noumea was full of local and cultural interest. Interestingly you could not take photographs unless you filled in a log book and described why you wanted to take them. It seems things like the patterns in carvings and textures in weaving where highly valued in a cultural sense. There are clear similarities to such items throughout the Pacific and especially in New Zealand.It is amazing to think of the boldness of the original inhabitants who ventured into this vast ocean in small sailing canoes with no way of knowing what they may find.
Overall, the weather was very mild to warm, but not hot enough to use the pool which was only frequented by robust youngsters. Our final day involved the fairly long drive 45km north to stay at a motel adjacent to the airport, ready for our flight home. On reflection, the trip was very similar to our very first trip overseas when we went to Vanuatu (then the New Hebrides), but nowhere near as adventurous, as this time we didn’t get to climb a volcano.
FIN
