For my first day in New Caledonia, I decided to stay in the region of Nouméa, the "capital" of the island. I started my day by walking around the nice area of Nouméa, in the neighbourhood of Anse Vata and going up the Ouen Toro hill. The weather that day was quite tropical : Very hot and the air a bit humid, but at least, it was sunny !
The views were nice and clear !
Baie des citrons, in front of my hotel, with sunny weather this time !
Up the Ouen Toro hill
Anse Vata
There are several islets in the bay of Noumea, here is ile St Marie
Former canons on the top of the Ouen Toro hill
Ilots aux canards
Tropical weather means tropical plants and flowers !
I stayed about an hour walking but clearly, I started to feel exhausted quite fast as it was already very hot by 11am, with zero breeze to cool you down...
I went back to my car and decided to go to the Tjibaou cultural center at the north of the city, which features exhibitions and different experiences about the Kanak heritage. The center, located in a beautiful area along the bay of Magenta, opened in 1998, and was designed by the architect Renzo Piano. Several exhibitions are presented indoors about the Kanak culture indeed but also some facts about the melanesian, polynesian and to a lower extent Micronesian cultures (Melanesia is pretty much the area west of polynesia and south of Micronesia, and it includes territories like New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fidji, New Guinea).
Tjibaou cultural center
Cattle industry is quite big in the central part of New Caledonia
Some of those colors remind me the Australian Aboriginal paintings.
Well... :-)
Outside of the main buidling are located different traditional houses from the different regions of New Caledonia, with a short trail along the bay. As there was a small breeze at that time on the day, I recall that was very pleasant walk...
Traditional houses from New Caledonia, there are 3 main types depending on the region (North, South or Loyauté islands)
I recall that the top distinguishes which area the house is from
Short walking trail around the cultural center
Bay of Magenta
I had a quick lunch at the museum cafeteria and finished my visit by looking at the exhibition related to the hostage crisis in 1988 and the subsequent political crisis and wish for indepence from a part of the population.
As it was still the early hours of the afternoon, I intially wanted to drive to the south of the island towards the N'Dua cape natural reserve. As a first timer on the island, I just trusted google maps which showed a main road going there. But the locals call the region outside Nouméa "La brousse" (Translation from French : The bush - The outback) for a good reason : While the road network in Noumea is pretty ok, as soon as you get our of the metropolitan region, this is different and as I was driving towards the south the rain started to come from nowhere and the road was having a few fords, I unfortunately decided to make a U-turn as I was not sure if I could go back in the evening. With an SUV I would have continued this little escapade, but my little Citroen C3 1.1 liter was maybe not fit for this job ! Another reason I decided to U-turn is that I also clearly underestimated the time I would need to get to my destination - at the speed I could drive on those roads, I would have arrived at night time at my destination - which was pointless...
South of Nouméa, the weather was starting to get worse...
Until that point where I decided to abort my little escapade...
So... going back to Nouméa !
Yup. The rain showed up from nowhere...
On the way back I stopped at the local toursit office in Le Mont Dore where the two very friendly ladies working there gave me some advice on where to go for some good picture / drone shooting...
Melody and Isabelle from Mont Dore tourist office.
While their recommendations were very good, local road construction in the area, combined with the lack of road signage, and poor google maps coverage, ended me getting lost... I fortunately managed to find an isolated spot up hill to play a bit with the drone and take some shots...
That isolated area will do the job to play with the drone !
Sunset on Magenta bay
On my way back I stopped at a local supermarket from a famous french brand and felt like home for a few minutes... Like in every remote area in the world, the prices, especially of the fresh and imported products reflect the challenges to bring goods from the other side of the world. As I was feeling a bit tired and somehow a bit frustrated of not having been able to see all I wanted, I just grabbed some snacks and bites to go and had dinner in my hotel room.
French yogurts, Pacific island prices ! (About 1000 CPF is about 8 euros) - most of the fresh goods come by air...
That guy came from quite far away !
My feast for that evening !
Unfortunately, I was not able to visit all I was hoping to during this first full day on the island, which left me a sentiment of frustration by the end of the day as this is not the kind of destination I am planning to visit every other weekend !
Fortunately, the next few days in New Caledonia were more eventful.
Next post : Going in the North district with some stops in the Central, "cattle ranch" area of the island.