Advertisement
Published: June 22nd 2019
"Gaillac" in the sun
That's the name of our boatUs Stevensons have always been a holiday loving tribe who took every opportunity to spend extended periods abroad to see interesting places and come home with new experiences and memories. So, it will come as no surprise to know that I have made changes to my work life to allow more flexibility when it comes to holidays and travel. At the end of last year, I finished up as an ongoing member of staff at McKinnon Secondary and now I work on a casual basis and take a few contracts to fill in when other staff take leave (generally for their holidays). That means that we have three holidays planned for 2019 and I’m going to tell you about No. 2 through this blog. No. 1 was a week at the Gold Coast, which was great fun and we spent some quality family time together and visited Dreamworld three times. It was memorable, but not blog worthy. We are now in a tropical paradise on a Yacht that we are sailing though the tranquil South Pacific waters and I feel compelled to tell everyone about that.
I guess our first taste of New Caledonia was the journey from Tullamarine to
Dusk at Ile ouen
At the stern of our Catamaran our boat in Port Moselle, Noumea. I find it frustrating that I can’t communicate with these French speakers. Having spent so much time in the Spanish speaking world, I am used to being able to ask for things and understand simple instructions without depending on locals to know some of my language. But day by day we are all learning and remembering a few words that will help us out over our ten day stay. So, the accents remind me of France and Paris, but the friendly attitudes and smiling faces on people who try to help us out are a stark contrast to the home of their idiom. In markets and shops people seem glad to help us in English where possible or find someone who is able to. It makes me feel bad for not following the advice of the French teacher at work who told me to study a bit more Duolingo in French before I left.
When we got to our boat, late Thursday afternoon, we met our mates Jeff and Lyn, who will accompany us throughout this adventure. Jeff is the skipper, with lots of sailing experience and we are crew, following all of
his instructions. We had to do a bit of preparation before we left home because we knew that there would probably be nowhere to buy provisions after we left Noumea. They gave me permission to make an awesome spreadsheet and I’m so happy with the outcome. We had to bring a few bits and pieces that we might not have been able to get when we arrived and then Jeff and Lyn had already made one trip to the supermarket to stock up by the time, we met them. Because of strict liquor laws here, we had to visit the supermarket again to get the beer and wine we needed the next morning. Had to get a taxi to transport that heavy load home!
After a safety briefing and a navigation briefing and a how to wear flippers briefing, we were finally on our way. We headed in the direction of the Isle of Pines, East. That was directly into the wind so we ended up using the motor most of the way and progress was slow. We stopped at Ile Ouen for our first night. Having been told it was just a stop over and not to expect
much, we were delighted with this location. We took the tender to shore and explored the beach for an hour before a very nice sunset. The sand had lots of coral mixed in with it and as the tide was low, we could see the top of a reef just metres off shore. Nathan still has the fascination with coconuts that he developed in Fiji two years ago. He tried his hardest to crack into one using rocks as tools but the coconut won. There were a few giant mushroom shaped structures that looked like rocks from a distance. But upon closer inspection we decided they were living things. They looked like a lot of oyster shells cemented together by some natural mix. Quite unusual!
Having arranged our own provisions, you can be sure we are eating well. Friday happened to be Jeff and Leanne’s birthdays. Their birthday dinner was fresh prawns and fish from the Noumea market that morning. (Right next to our birth in the marina, and they started setting up at 4AM. So not a great night’s sleep in the big smoke.) We washed it down with a bottle of Verve then finished off with a
Funny Mushroom shaped organism
It is definitely a living organism, Life but not as we know it Jim! selection of French cheeses and a Cote du Beaune red.
Having kept the prawn heads for fish food, we were entertained by a school of reef sharks that came to munch on the scraps from our plates. During our meal we heard a few loud splashes from the back of our boat so I guess the residents were anticipating our offerings. Our entertainment and their meal: a symbiotic relationship.
Today we completed our journey to the Ile des Pins. We started by navigating a shipping channel between Ile Ouen and the mainland. We were close to a Nickel mine and again had no high expectations of what we might see. But before long we found ourselves paused to watch a turtle, then a dolphin in the clam waters. And it just got better after that. Twice we stopped to see whales and the fishing lines we had been trailing both had bites. We decided to throw them both back as we’d had our fill of seafood the night before.
When we arrived at Ile des Pins it was afternoon and we had a wander on the beach before heading back to the boat where Lyn and I
had a swim. The sun has just set and as I post we are snacking on beer and nuts. Soon we’ll prepare another feast.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.075s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 12; qc: 33; dbt: 0.0398s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Nina
non-member comment
Wow!
Oh Jon, thank you for doing a blog of this trip, brilliant!!