New Caledonia

Antoine's view

New Caledonia a -second choice -... What a mistake! Its true that you can't expect to find in New Caledonia the sweet swaying of the vahinés' hips (although many Tahitian women and men have come to settle on -le caillou- (the pebble), nor, at least on the western shore, the lush tropical forest that covers the Leeward Islands of Polynesia (still, the Eastern shore, open to the trade winds, has truly tropical vegetation). But New Caledonia, above all, is an immense island, almost a continent, with changing and fascinating scenery At the Southern end of the Southwest coast, Noumea is -the Paris of the Pacific-; it's a sleepy town, scattered among hills and along bays hemmed in by beautiful beaches; other deserted beaches, particularly attractive, line the western shore, to the North of Bourail's -Bonhomme-, one of New Caledonia's most photographed sites.
One of the most vivid memories I keep from New Caledonia is a day spent in farm in the island's center, in Koné, and also horse riding in the -chaîne-, the mountain range that occupies the center of the -Grande Terre-. Also spectacular are the Karstic rocks shaped as sharp needles (comparable to Madagascar's -tsingy-) that rise in the region of Hienghène Caledonian place names, once orthographied by geologists, result in pleasant spellings, such as Lindéralique or Ouaième (when English speakers would probably have written, as in most areas of the Pacific: -Wayem-

Little known, yet magnificent, the Loyalty Islands stretch in a northeasterly direction from Grande Terre The largest one, Lifou, is almost as large as Martinique, but it is shaped like a raised plateau. Although steep cliffs fall to the sea all around the island, the center is flat, covered by rather poor vegetation; the few beaches are magnificent, and kanak tradition, that mingles with religious influence, is fascinating. On these islands, do not forget to pay tribute to local customs, by giving the chief of the tribe that welcomes you a customary gift of cigarettes, a small, symbolic, amount of money, and a -manou- ... the local equivalent of -pareu- or -sarong-, and telling in a few words what brings you here, and attesting that it is with due respect for their customs that you pay them a visit. In Mare, I have witnessed the revival of an ancient custom, the distillation of sandalwood, to extract a praised essence, used in perfumery. Centuries ago, the crews of sailing ships in an undiscerning way cut all the trees of the Pacific islands; Nowadays, attempts are made to re-create this riches.

Ouvéa, certainly has one of the world's most beautiful beaches; it is a low island, almost an atoll, but it has also a raised area which gave birth to caves that are -taboo-: you'll have to ask for the customary permission even to get near them. Visitors say that the Isle of Pines is -The closest island to Paradise-; it is not what the convicts thought about it when they were sent there at the time of a French revolution, in a penitentiary that was quite as bad as the one in Cayenne or Devil's Island.

James Coo gave sle of Pines its name: he had been amazed who wouldn't be ...) by the extraordinary Norfolk Pines, much taller than plam trees , that rise over the whole island, just like over a large area of the southern part of new Caledonia.
The whole region is a paradise for cruisers, in a vast archipelago, with numerous anchorages, from the bay of Prony ( on Grande Terre, the large island) with its numerous coves, to the bays of Kuto ( one of the world's finest sands), of Kanumera, close by, of Gadgi or Oro.
Tourism has not developed much on the isle of Pines, except for small family homestays, usually located near the island's most beautiful beaches, and a luxury bhotel, depending from Noumea's Méridien, in magnificent Oro Bay
For me, the Isle of Pines is truly one of the nearest islands to Paradise, and when I head for this part of the Pacific, I always think about it, about the small islets that surround it, Moro, îlot Brosse, not forgetting Nokanwhi and it's unreal sand bank.