New Caledonia Baby – Yeah
Well before we moved to Sydney I had booked us flights to New Caledonia. 9 nights of island bliss in the middle of winter. The idea was to get away to a place where the weather is warmer than Wellington (granted, that was not hard to find) and enjoy some down time together.
Then everything changed. We packed up the house, the dogs, the husband and moved to Sydney. Where, on average, the temperature in winter is around 18 degrees. But quite often is around 24 degrees.
Not only was it not overly cold in the middle of winter, but we now had to travel back to NZ to head out to New Caledonia. Oh, you have to laugh.
Another wee complication, we now lived in Sydney, all our wonderful Dog sitters did not live in Sydney. The cost of putting the dogs somewhere nice, they may as well have their own holiday in New Caledonia. What to do? I asked the Facebook family if anyone would like a free vacation in Sydney. Liz, Mother in Law and Grandparent to the fur babies, leaped to the rescue. Sorted.
All this aside – we were bloody excited to be going, beaches, cocktails, no work, French cheese, relaxation. EXCITED!
Friday 29th June
We flew out of Sydney on the 700pm flight. All went according to plan. We arrived safe and well, thank you Air NZ – as always, in Auckland and we stayed at the IBIS.
The IBIS is less than 1km from the airport and the prices were reasonable.
The room reminded me of the first ever hotel room that Toad and I had in France. You could walk around the bed, barely. There were no cupboards and nowhere to put your bags.
You had a bed, a jug, a TV and a shower. Essentially it was all we needed but damn it, it was squished. Thinking about it, I have become accustomed to space, and ease. I must be getting old!
Saturday 30th June
It was a brief and not very comfortable sleep, before we had to be up again to head to the airport for our flight to New Caledonia. The flight is 900am, but you need to be there two hours before, etc. blah, blah.
I dragged my weary self out of bed, showered, and played Tetris with our luggage in the room as we tried to get ready.
In a nutshell, IBIS has what you need, it is cheaper than other hotels, but if you have more than one bag, be ready for the struggle, and the struggle is real.
The one highlight of the stay was the airport transfer. 5$ per person, in a 4 seater (including the driver) tuk tuk. Bloody awesome, http://kiwigoa.co.nz/home/, our driver Mike McMaster designed it himself. Talk about Kiwi ingenuity at its finest. The wee tuk tuk has a Suzuki Swift engine, seats three in the back (get ready to become friends with your fellow travellers, if you are not already), has handle bars and not a steering wheel, and is just bloody cool.
If you are staying near Auckland Airport and need a shuttle, contact them.
Just for a good read, look at their website http://kiwigoa.co.nz/the-kiwigoa-story/.
Anyway, we arrived safe and sound, spirits lifted by our little shuttle ride, at the airport. Ready for out New Caledonia experience.
The check in was fabulous, Gold Elite is awesome. You are shown to a check area out the back, invited to sit down in comfort, whilst one of the friendly staff check you. Bliss. Private elevator up to security, express lane, and through to the lounge!
Where we waited.
Air New Zealand were having a bit of a rough morning. Flight to Sydney delayed for hours due to wiring issues.
Flight to Rarotonga delayed by around 10 hours – operational requirements.
Phew, not us we thought.
Then our flight was called and we walked the, what seemed like 2kms, to the gate. Gate 18. The furthest gate in the airport. All good, we needed the walk. Got there with time spare and buckled in for our flight.
And we waited, we waited some more, the last of the late ones got on the flight, and still – we waited.
The pilot came out of the cockpit, oh dear, this cannot be good.
Apologies lady and gentlemen, oh shit, this will not be good.
But it appears that someone, in the fog, has driven into the side of the plane.
THE FOG WAS NOT THAT THICK – BUT THE DRIVER OF THE TRUCK WAS.
They hoped it would only be 30 minutes, so hang tight and they will get back to us with an update.
And they did, and it was not good.
Everyone off the plane, it was going to be about 2 hours, and then we will be called back again. They will provide vouchers for food and drink. Much apologies and see us soon.
Luckily we had Koru to return to, so we stomped the 2km back to the wine and beer. Could be worse right.
We met a lovely couple on the way to Koru and ended up sitting with and chatting to them. Rodger and Tina (Rodger with a D and Tina without a D).
2 hours, turned to 2.5, turned to 3, ended up 5 hours delayed in total.
Air New Zealand are a good airline, I prefer to fly with them over any other. But this time around they should have smarted up their communication. The Sydney flight, which was cancelled after many hours, the pilot came into the lounge to speak to people individually. But we were left clueless. Note, Air NZ, please do better.
We eventually got onto our new plane, the one without the hole in the side, and we were off. Wahoo.
We found out on our way back that once the new plane was identified and commandeered they had 60 minutes to have it cleaned, luggage loaded, passengers boarded, and wheels up or the flight would be completely cancelled. They did it in 50 – thank you Air NZ, but next time, keep us informed.
It is also interesting to note that vehicles hitting airplanes is not an uncommon occurrence! In fact pilots are no longer surprised when this happens. Isn’t this something that should be looked into and remedied? Just a thought.
Due to the delay we arrived in New Caledonia much later than we had planned. Getting through customs was super easy and fast, our shuttle was there, and off to our accommodation.
I had booked our apartment through Air BnB. My experience with them has been pretty good. Sometimes the descriptions are a tad exaggerated, but in general they fit the need. And the same was true for this little place. Very close to the beach. A bar downstairs. Everything you need.
The host had also sent through a truck load of suggestions and recommendations. Good man Phil.
Once we had unloaded we found the local dairy (100m away), stocked up on cheese and other essentials (really just the cheese), and figured out where to go for dinner.
Our watches were all up the shit, the shuttle driver had also put us out by an hour, so when we rocked into the restaurant they were not open yet. It was 600pm not 700pm. Oops.
So we walked around for a while and ended up back at Miretti Gascon. The best French restaurant on the Island – in our humble opinion (but we are right, of course).
We both ordered the steak and MY GOD it has to be one of the best steaks we have ever had. Take away the fact that the beef is from NZ (granted) it was cooked to perfection, the sauce was idyllic and the flavour spot on. We were in meat eater’s heaven. Served with a side of French bread.
This was all washed down with French rose, for me, and the local beer Number One, for himself.
By 800pm we were shattered, it was time for bed.
YAY, we were in Noumea. YAY, no work tomorrow.
1st July – A full day in Noumea
We woke up a little groggy and tired, it was a bit tough to get moving. Yawn. But we are in New Caledonia, and we are on vacation! There is no rest to be had! There are things to see and do, move it body, move!
We had been map surfing to get the lay of the land. Figure out where to go, what to see, and how to get there. First and foremost we needed to figure out where to get some breakfast, we had no food in the house.
Our host and our shuttle driver had mentioned the city market. A great place for fresh fish, vegetables, and local souvenirs – crap as Jason calls it.
The market was shown as number 12 on the map, awesome cause that is super close to the hotel and we will just pop over and see what it is like. We follow the blue dots, and we follow, and we walk in circles and there are no markets.
Referring back to the map I discover that there is actually TWO number 12s on the map. How awesome is that, not only is it a map, but it is also a treasure hunt and puzzle. Awesome! It appears we are still around 3 kilometres from the market and we are hungry now.
There is a boulangerie, L’ Atelier Gourmand, a few meters back, so we decide to give it a try. And OMFG we found heaven, freshly baked heaven. Croissant, pain chocolat, pain raison, pain Suisse, baguette! So we some fresh favourites. Jason was in croissant heaven.
So we loaded up the backpack with pastries and bread and we started walking
Breakfast provided us with enough incentive to walk the rest of the way to the actual Number 12! Got to love an accurate map J
We get lost, and found again. Our walk went a little around the long way. Completely my fault, but it was interesting. Seeing the back streets and some parts of Noumea that you normally wouldn’t.
EVENTUALLY, we make it to the market, and we made it before it closed, double bonus. The market is open from 500am (though who would really know if anyone was actually there, seriously 500AM) and closes at midday. Most stalls start shutting down at 11 and the good fish and fresh produce is normally sold out before then.
The Market: yeah there are the usual sarongs, hats, trinkets and magnets that you see in every tourist location, but there are also some really cool local artists who produce beautiful pottery and paintings. I feel in love with the pottery there and decided to go back and get some another day.
We leave the market and head into town.
SUNDAY IS DOWN DAY! Nothing is open other than the little Asian stores selling Hong Kong style bits and pieces, we spend an hour or so walking around town.
The 1st Sunday of every month they close the centre square to vehicles. And it is a free for all for any kid or adult on a scooter, skateboard, rollerblades, and bicycle (actually, anything with person powered wheels)! So very cool, all these littlies zipping around the place 🙂
We stop and eat baguette whilst we watch the little kids zip around, have tantrums and try again.
As we head back to our hotel, the correct way, we stumble across Carrefour! Oh Carrefore, how I have missed you. Bisous, bisous, bisous. I introduce Jason to the way of French supermarkets, especially the cheese selection. Apparently we have enough cheese already – sigh (not in my world)!
However we do stock up on beer and wine and a few other essentials.
Le Fare du Palm Beach – is our restaurant of choice for lunch, it is on the way home, has wine and beer, and seems pretty busy. The food was a strange combination of everything though – salad with spaghetti, and meat, and fish. Ah well, it tasted alright 
The afternoon sleepies were knocking on the door and Jason was in desperate need of a nap. Not me though, I decided to walk back to town and around the bays, it was stunning.
It was very cool to see the locals gathered around the community petangue pits, all playing and wagering. Memories back to Switzerland.
The water looked lovely but was cold, the pool looked amazing, but was cold. Ah well, the Isle des Pines tomorrow, swimming will occur there.
We ate at the local Mexican restaurant – it was not good – do NOT recommend. Jason says his was good but mine was not. However, the margarita went down alright.
Another day in paradise – Isle des Pines tomorrow!
NOTE: My French has not gotten any better through lack of use.
NOTE 2: Even in New Caledonia they can be very French… condescending, impatient…
NOTE 3: Not everyone is condescending and impatient, we met some real gems.
NOTE 4: There is a cruise ship in town 6 days a week. With their lanyards and wrist bands, fat bums and loudness. Damn tourists 😛
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