New Caledonia
The alarm sounded at 6.30am and we rushed up to the viewing platform to see the cruise ship approaching the harbour of Noumea, New Caledonia.
As the sun rose, we watched as the captain delicately glided the giant ship into the semi circular harbour scattered with fishing boats. Drums started to beat and as we peered over the side of the boat native islanders dressed in bamboo skirts and smothered in white body paint were greeting us by singing traditional tribal songs.
Having survived three choppy days at sea we were eager to get back onto solid land and explore Noumea.
The majority of people from the cruise booked onto organised tours but we decided to break away and venture into the town on our own. Using a combination of Will's broken French and miming we managed to find out some bus prices and information from some friendly locals at the bus stop.
The islands of New Caladonia were colonialised by the French back in 1853. As well as their language the French left behind the Frank currency and an abundance of french-style buildings and bakeries.
We
navigated our way onto a bus, heading in the direction of Baie des citron (lemon bay.) Will used his French to chat to a local guy from Noumea on the bus who explained to us about the prices of food and accommodation which are comparable to what we are paying in Sydney.As we hopped off the bus there was a sudden downpour of tropical rain. With nowhere else to go our only option was to embrace the weather and dive straight into the bath-like waters of the Citron Bay sea.
The following morning we opened the curtain of our bedroom port hole to see a line of pine trees stretched across the horizon. We had reached our second island, the Isle of Pines in New Caledonia.
The ship was unable to anchor close to shore so we caught a tender boat across the crystal clear water. As the name suggests, the island is covered in pine trees acting as a backdrop to the stretching white sandy beaches.
We snorkelled around the sacred rock of Kanumea and although the water was slightly murky in parts we still managed
to spot some tropical fish and coral close to the rock.As we were leaving the island one of the locals offered us some of their traditional food, bougna. It's a parcel containing carrots, potato, banana and chicken, wrapped in a banana leaf and cooked underground for two hours with red hot rocks.
Our third island was Lifou, our final island visit in North Caledonia. The boat docked at Easo and we walked east from the jetty passing many traditional thatched houses dotted along the roadsides and submersed in vibrant foliage. The scorching heat was relentless and with 2km left to go we hitch hiked a ride off a local called Junior, who drove us to the next town along, Xepenehe.
He parked the car and we stood and watched the natural beauty of the glistening turquoise shoreline. Away from the bustle of the other tourists we got to see the natives living in their everyday environment - swimming in the sea, playing football and listening to music in paradise.
Vanuatu
Our next stop at Mystery island was aborted due to a
level five cyclone hitting the nearby coast of Figi. The captain diverted the ship north and we arrived in Port Villa, Vanuatu, a day earlier than planned.We hired a mini van to escort the seven of us around the island for the day. Our first stop was the Lagoon on the east of the island. We bathed in the cool salty waters and watched the rope swingers emerge from the trees and splash feet first into the water.
We arrived at the turtle sanctuary and the owner explained the history of the island to us and how until it gained independence in 1980 -Vanuatu was run by a combined English and French government. This meant two schools, hospitals, police stations and even different tax brackets for the population of Vanuatu.
The driver took us through one of the local villages, passing tin huts and their owners dressed in vibrant loose fitting robes and intricately braided hair. We were welcomed with waves and smiles as we drove along the narrow rocky roads back towards the ship.
Our final destination was Champagne Bay situated on
Santra island in the north of Vanuatu. This was our replacement stop for Mystery island due to cyclone Winston.The chief of the island had imposed a restriction of two stops a month on the island for cruise ships, but due to the cyclone they granted an extra day so we were able to dock up the boat.
At short notice the island had prepared an array of brightly coloured stools selling an assortment of souvenirs along the beachfront.
Overnight they had caught fresh lobster and crab to sell and cook for the hoards of tourists departing the boat. We purchased some presents from the markets and dived in the sea for our last swim before we departed back to Sydney.
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