| | May 29, 2006 - Noumea, New Caledonia - Killing the Budget on Cloudy Days | (click to enlarge)
 |  | (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | | show all 13 | | Playing with a new toy on the flight to Noumea - and underwater camera! | | Flying in to Noumea | | Hurray - another country! Welcome to Noumea, New Caledonia | | |
| Noumea, New Caledonia - Killing the Budget on Cloudy Days
In Sydney, packing our bags and lugging them down the elevator to a taxi seemed like such a chore. The idea of starting to live out of our backpacks again after two weeks of living in Sydney in a gorgeous loft was not overly appealing to either one of us. It is incredible how foreign it felt after we had just spent over eight months on the road. However, by the time we were in the taxi and at the airport the feeling was already changing. It was more like we were going on a winter vacation especially since our first stop was The Meridien Noumea, one of the nicest resorts on the island of Grande Terre in New Caledonia.
We were both rather excited about coming to New Caledonia. After all, how many people do you know that have been here? In fact, how many people do you know that have ever even heard of New Caledonia? The bulk of the tourism, which is not much, is Japanese, French (as it is a French colony), or Australian (as it is only a 2 and a half hour flight from Sydney). The islands are often described as a blend of Melanesian traditions with French sophistication. Our first stop was on the main island of Grande Terre in the capital city of Noumea where we were spending a couple of nights before heading off to explore two of the eleven outer islands known to be very quiet, peaceful and lined with idyllic, tranquil beaches.
Arriving in New Caledonia, we were put back into traveller mode rather quick with some challenges with the customs agents. They were very polite, however, had a hard time grasping why our onward plane ticket did not have a date and they were not going to allow us to spend unlimited time in their island paradise. Luckily for Eric speaking French, it simplified communication rather than me trying to mumble my way through with my few select words 'en francais'. Eventually, after examining our printed itinerary showing a confirmed onward flight, they stamped our passports, returned our open tickets, and our steps echoed as walked from the terminal - the last two passengers to leave. We hit the ATM for some local currency and checked but found out the local bus didn't come for another hour and a half. Luckily, we were still able to get a shared minibus to our hotel. This is when it sunk in how expensive the country was going to be to travel. For our 45-minute shared transfer, it cost us almost $100 CAD! I could not imagine what the cost would have been if we had missed this shared bus and had to take a taxi! These islands are certainly going to be a challenge on our budget.
Despite the expense, we knew it would be worth it by the pictures we had seen of New Caledonia - absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately, in our first two days we had a total lack of sun to bring out the brilliant colours in the water. Instead, the days were filled with solid grey skies, occasional rain and generally miserable weather for a beach holiday. Nevertheless, we took the time to do some grocery shopping and organize ourselves for Ouvea and Isle of Pines where we are predominantly doing self-catering. On these two islands, like most of the outer islands, there is a lack of grocery stores or facilities of any kind and what is available is very expensive. Therefore, we opted for the self-catering option and were taking groceries with us from Noumea.
Leaving a bag and some valuable at the Meridien Hotel, we set off to the small Magenta Airport and our short flight to Ouvea where hopefully the sun is shining bright!
TRAVEL TIPS FOR NOUMEA, NEW CALEDONIA
1. Noumea has two airports. The first is called Tontouta Airport for Internationals departures which is located almost an hour outside of the city. The second is called Magenta Airport for domestic flights and is conveniently located close to the city centre of Noumea. Transfer to and from Tontouta are very expensive whereas to and from Magenta can easily be done by taxi or local bus if you are staying in the Noumea area.
2. The beach in Noumea is not that nice of a beach but pretty good for a beach located in the middle of a city. The best beaches, which are truly incredible, are located on the outer islands - The Loyalty Islands or Isle de Pins (Isle of Pines). I would highly recommend spending more time on the outer islands than in Noumea.
3. New Caledonia is expensive by anyone's standards. Be prepared and budget accordingly.
4. We spent our time in Noumea staying at the Meridien Noumea, which thoroughly impressed us. The rooms were large, clean and bright, the pool area gorgeous and most impressive was the service. Service was impeccable - friendly and efficient - could not have asked for better and would highly recommend this property.
5. Grand Terre is a very large island with a lot of diverse landscape to explore. If you would like to explore the island, you are best to book a tour or rent a car to get around. We opted to spend a quiet time around the resort and on the outer islands and did not really see too much of Grand Terre.
6. If you are in Australia or the South Pacific and would like to make a trip to New Caledonia, it is quite easy to do from either the East Coast of Australia or from Vanuatu with short flight times from both. If you have the time, it is worth the side trip!
7. For the South Pacific, Noumea is a very modern and liveable city because of the French influence. However, there is a tension you can sense from the local Kanuks (the indigenous people of New Caledonia) towards the French immigrants. They somewhat resent the French coming in and taking over their country and many of the jobs.
8. The Kanuks are lovely people to talk to - warm, welcoming and friendly. Make the effort to strike up a conversation with them for a nice discussion with a true local from the country.
9. If you are looking for warm weather, plan your visit to New Caledonia at the right time of year. Typically, the cold season is their winter from May to September and the warmer season is from October to April. As the country is further south than many of the South Pacific islands their temperature tend to fluctuate more than some of the other islands. Rainfall is spread out quite evenly between all months of the year.
10. English is not widely spoken except by some of the employees of the higher end hotels and resorts. Brush up on your French or pack a French/English dictionary with you to help you get by if you cannot speak French.
www.carlhenderson.ca
www.imagestoframe.com
|
| |
| |
