Surf Noumea

... went for a swim and built Cammy a lovely sand castle and went for a walk around. Unfortunately most shops were closed (Saturday) but we found a few and had a look. The guys were thrilled to get 1000 francs but it didn’t take them long to work out that the exchange rate was roughly 1000 francs to $A15 - they soon told us!. Noumea is a funny place, temperature is nice, people - well don't really ...

... pour les îles et notamment la plus paradisiaque : l'île des pins part Mercredi et samedi. On aurait pu réserver pour la faire dans la journée mercredi mais on sais que la météo s'annonce mal. Du coup on a essayé de partir en bateau et revenir en avion, mais beaucoup de vols sont annulés car il y a des grèves (on a beaucoup de chance dis donc !) et nous ne pourrions donc revenir que samedi en bateau, ce qui nous fait perdre les nuits déjà payées à l'auberge. Et y aller en ...

... a very busy marina and a lot of people wind-surfing, kite-surfing and kayaking. During the morning we did a bit of shopping - there were twenty Status Quo CDs to choose from (versus zero in Papeete) so my walks will be bouncing along, plus some souvenirs, postcards, etcetera. We visited the town museum, which was OK on the early settlements but two-thirds of it dealt with first and second world wars ...

Happy New Year to everyone! I have had a great time celebrating Christmas and New Year's with Caroline in New Caledonia. It has been very hot- definitely not what I'm used to at this time of year- but it has been fun to spend Christmas day on the beach and wear shorts for the holidays. Caroline's family and friends were welcoming and very generous to share their holidays with this wacky American who can't speak French (but didn't ...

... turns since I was tired and banged up but was able to stay well upwind and had good control. I had wised up that morning and bought some booties so I avoided making my feet worse. We had planned to explore New Caledonia via rental car the next day so I told Ronan I wasn't available- but that moved to Thursday and luckily for me he came by the boat anyway. It was a great day- wind was a bit lighter, I felt pretty good, so I tried my ...

... m waves every 8 or so meters with a wind between 18 and 25 knots ( we learnt that later) .... as I said ...interesting ! But anyway the sun was shining and I got my turquoise waters. Snorkelling was not interesting as the currents were clouding the water. On Tuesday evening Loic was bidding his farewell (going back to Perpignan on Saturday) to the friendly mob of Garavia - the aircraft maintenance people of Magenta airport and very close friends of ...

... even hours south bound with 20 minutes lea way after the hours to start the journey. The perplexing oddity which defies my sense of logic is that at night the traffic becomes 2 ways. The landscape is exactly has seen in films; through (very) small clearings I see the canopy of the jungle below and conjure up scenes of aircrafts loosing an engine and crashing, never to be seen again. Thio, a very spread out gathering of houses, offers a beautiful church right at ...

... there and re-arranging the car into sleeping configuration. Our car is a Twingo and does not allow much reconfiguration besides reclining the seats backwards and sticking the crockery carton boy in the foot well to turn the whole thing into a bed. With good humour and a laugh as Nadege worries about the visit of a dog on a chain on her side of the car we listen to the story of Jack the Ripper and the latest theory about who he was on my little radio and eventually fall asleep.

... and we decide to criss cross it. Houses are " proper" houses with gardens around, lots of colourful plants and flowers, lots of them everywhere. I then realise what has been missing till now : flowers ! Nadege and I have for the 1st time the impression that we are returning to civilisation as we, Europeans, now it. We drive to the top of the hill surmounting the town to have the best shots of the town, the lake, the hills and the seemingly deserted ...