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| Entering the Havannah Passage early in the morning. |
It's about time to break up all these retro posts that I've been putting up while I recuperate on the couch after my leg surgery. My leg is coming along OK and I've got the thick bandages off now, but the doc says that I have to take it easy for a month and then build up it after that. This post will be a bit smaller than some of the recent ones about my around Australia trip, I really struggled to get those posts up, I think I was pushing blogger's limit with the size of the posts as I had all sorts of formatting issues, among a host of other issues. This will be the story of two visits to Noumea, the first over Christmas in 2013 with Sam and the second over Christmas in 2014 with Sam as well as my sister and her kids.
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| New Caladonia doesn't always look like your typical South Pacific island. |
Getting into or out of Noumea generally involves a trip through the spectacular Havannah Passage at least in one direction. This passage passes along a particularly scenic section of the coastline on the very south eastern tip of New Caladonia, the bare red rocky mountains rising out of the aqua marine water are worth getting up early, or staying up late for. The ground here is rich in iron oxide and the hills would look quite at home in Australia's Pilbera, well except for the palm trees and beaches at their base. Being the wet season we were even treated to some waterfalls cascading down the steep bare slopes, it is a bit of New Caladonia that I'm keen to explore more, interestingly I think the French are developing a GR on this part of the island I think so I may get back and do that one day, although I'm running out of days!
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The red iron oxide rich mountains are fringed by more typical tropical flora at sea level.
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Some of these mountains are quite high, the GR1 runs through his area I think.
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| Being the wet season there were some nice waterfalls cascading down the mountains. |
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The ships generally dock in Noumea at the container port, I believe that's because the tourist wharf can't handle the bigger boats. Buses transport you from the commercial wharf to the tourist wharf where there is all the usual information on hand to help you plan your day in Noumea. On our first visit Sam and I decided to head out to the Aquarium des Lagons, this excellent aquarium is worth checking out if your in town and you want to check out a few fish without snorkelling. As you would expect the aquarium is home to a wide variety of tropical fish as well as corals and sea snakes. The aquarium is in Baie des Citrons and as well as the aquarium the area is home to plenty of shops and cafes, as well as a nice little beach which, as it turns out has some great snorkelling.
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That's Noumea in the distance.
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Our welcoming committee in Noumea.
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On our first visit we checked out the Aquarium des Lagons.
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Where we found Nemo's mate.
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| Waiting for the bus back to town we checked out the Bais des Citrons, a place we would revisit a year later on our next visit. |
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On our second visit with my sister we headed straight back to Bais des Citrons, I'd heard a whisper that this unlikely looking spot provided for some good snorkelling. Now if you're in Noumea and you want to check out the fish and coral you need to go up to the extreme southern end of Bais des Citrons, when the concrete retaining wall takes over from the sand swim out and head further south towards the point. Things don't look that promising initially, but after a hundred metres or so heading south parallel to the promenade you will start to see tropical fish, soon after that the coral starts and you find yourself snorkelling in a most unlikely spot. It appears that there may have been a concrete jetty here at one stage and the remains of that as well as few other man made structures, are now being reclaimed by the coral and sea life making for some good snorkelling in the suburbs of Noumea.
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Back at Bais des Citrons a year later we decided to see if the snorkelling was any good.
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Some what surprisingly the answer was yes, the snorkelling was good.
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There are a few man made structures under the water that the coral is slowly reclaiming.
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Parrot Fish.
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| Hmmm, I wonder where its head is... |
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After a morning spent snorkelling with my nieces and nephew, Sam and I went for a bit of a walk around downtown Noumea. We did the walk described in Lonely Planet imaginatively titled Central Noumea Walking Tour, now normally I'd have some photos and I'd crap on a bit but for some reason today it looks like I didn't take any photos (don't forget the blog wasn't even on the radar at that time). Noumea is soft way to find your feet in the South Pacific, I don't mean that in a disparaging way though its just that Noumea is the most first world style of city in the South Pacific. With a population of around 92,000 and being a French territory you obviously don't have to go far to find great food and drink, oh yeah, and Sam says the shopping not bad either. After a few hours wandering around down town enjoying the French joy des vivre we headed back to the boat and enjoyed another great sunset as we sailed away fro New Caledonia, now if I could just win lotto.....
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I'm not sure if these are native or a pest, but they look pretty.
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| Noumea is probably the most modern, and probably the most cosmopolitan city in the South Pacific. |
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The Dirt.
As I mentioned above it appears that the bigger cruise ships dock in Noumea at the commercial port, the cruise companies then organise free shuttle buses to drop you off and pick you up from town so its no real hardship. On both of these recent trips to Noumea we used the Noumea Explorer bus to get around, the bus service runs from the city out to Anse Vata and allows you to get on and off where you want, including Bais des Citrons. Noumea is an interesting spot to check out for a day or two but I reckon any longer than that and I'd be getting a car and exploring a little further afield.
Relevant Posts.
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The shuttle buses from the ship drop you off here. Even though you can see the ship in the back ground you can't walk there due to it being in a commercial port.
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The building with the white roof on the shore line of Bais de la Moselle is the cruise passenger terminal.
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| The quick way to New Caledonia. |
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| But you don't get too many of these from the window of your plane, this is the sunset as we sailed away. |
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| My nephew Seb seemed to like the snorkeling. |
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