As it was
sleepless night number 5 (curse this time-change insomnia!), I got up with the
birds with the idea of finding a French boulangerie (bakery) or patisserie
(pastry shop) and buying fresh pastries for breakfast, along with some really
good coffee, to bring back to the room so that we could have breakfast on the
balcony. (Yes, in spite of yesterday’s
lock-out!) I drove into the heart of
Noumea, but couldn’t find such a place.
So I hate to admit it, but I availed of McDonald’s and brought home McD ‘big
breakfasts’, along with McD coffee. The
wind was chilly this morning, but we enjoyed our meal overlooking the ocean,
all the same.
Almost
every attraction is closed in New Caledonia on Monday, so we struggled with
what to do with our day. In the end, we
decided to just drive as far south in South Province as we could. So at 9:30am, we set out to do just that.
We passed
the impressive mountains in the towns of Mont Dore, Mont Dore Sud, and Plum,
and then began to notice how mountain sides have been impacted by the pervasive
nickel mining the country is known for.
We had
read that, very near the extreme south of the island, the village of Prony once
had a ‘convict centre’ that is now decommissioned and overgrown. We decided to head there and were doing
pretty well, until the road became very narrow, filled with holes, and was
underwater in places. So that was the
end of that idea!
We headed
back to the hotel around 11:30am, stopping for a fresh ‘chocolate au pain’ pastry
at a bakery enroute.
What began
as a chilly, rainy day, burst into a sunny, hot day at noon. By 12:30pm, we were down by the pool. We felt we had seen enough to justify another
half day of sun-soaking.
Just after
4pm, I decided it was time to face my fears – my fears of water snakes, that is
(refer to my July 16th entry).
After learning about their presence in New Caledonia waters during last
Saturday’s visit to the Aquarium, I vowed not to set foot in the water at
all. But I decided the risk was
sufficiently low and went in for a very, very short snorkel. And guess what? Not a snake to be seen!
However,
when I returned to my beach chair, I got to talking to the Kiwi couple seated next
to us. They relayed how they had been to
Amadee Island yesterday and how the beach and water there were infested with
the highly poisonous banded sea-krait. I’m
glad I didn’t know that when I made my decision to take the plunge! It seems my irrational fears weren’t so
irrational after all!
To
end the day, we left the beach and walked to a nearby park, which has 3
hectares of rain forest, not to mention an amazing view of the bay. Sunset was still a way off, so we left there
and walked the beach through the trendy Anse Vata section of town to see the
sun set.
The view of the bay from Ouen Toro Natural Park
Moo?
We
walked back to the hotel along the beach, had cappuccinos in the lobby, and
then headed to a Vietnamese restaurant for supper at 7:00pm. We leave for Australia bright and early, so I
will sign off from New Caledonia now. I
hope you have enjoyed a few pics and some insights into this island country in
the South Pacific.
No comments:
Post a Comment