Year Two
Date: 2/10/2009 14:00
Weather: Blue skies
Location: Noumea (22 16.967' S,166 38.26' E)
Author: Peter

We arrived in New Caledonia late on thursday night. After entering the reef in the dark we sailed until about 25nm short of Noumea and laid the anchor so that we could get some sleep. We awoke to some breathtaking scenery that was very different to what we had seen in both Tonga and Fiji. The high mountain ranges with their undulating contours highlighted by the long morning shadows reminded me greatly of the rugged hills in Tasmania but with one very remarkable difference; the soil was of a completely different colour, ochre.

This was our slowest crossing yet, averaging only 5.7knots over the 667nm distance. Although slow this trip was extremely comfortable with Kylie experiencing no feelings of seasickness. Whether this was due to the calm seas or the sturgeron she took, we can't be sure.

As we proceeded to make our way into Noumea to clear customs it instantly became clear that we were back in an affluent western country. Modern buildings, modern marina's and lots and lots of shinny cars (mainly Peugeot).



Noumea seemed huge and spread out over a large area, although our perceptions may have been exaggerated by what we have become used to over the past 4 months.

We berthed Jura in Port Moselle Marina. Cleared customs quickly and easily even given some language difficulties. This was our first experience with a country where english is not widely spoken. Throughout the remainder of the day when speaking with the locals if we asked if they spoke english many said "little bit". Translated this means no. We are learning the basic greetings however we will need to be much more prepared in the future when we return as most people do not speak english.

Whilst exiting the marina on our way into town three things became obvious.
Firstly many cruisers were not happy about having to wash their boats daily to remove the red dust that had accumulated on their decks. Surprisingly this dust had made its way across the Tasman all the way from Australia. A small reminder of home.
Secondly, quite a large number(the majority) of cruising boats are preparing to head across to Budaberg Australia and then on to further points in Aus for the summer.
Thirdly if you stand in the wrong spot ie. near a drain, you get a whiff of a pungent stink! The smell is not too dissimilar to the smell of the shit-farm (sewerage treatment works) in St Marys, bringing back some rather un-fond memories from when we were building the boat and the wind blew from the wrong direction.

We spent the rest of the day exploring town. We discovered the French obviously love their food. Their produce is only the best quality and every second person seems to be walking around with a baguette. We found two of the most amazing patisseries we have ever seen filled with pastries, tarts, breads and other delectable's . Pity we could not afford (justify) purchasing more than one item each. More about this later.



men and women dress very well, the women are all made up with perfect hairstyle's, makeup, very well fitting clothes and high heels (wow). Their clothing stores stocked clothes that made Kylies' mouth water. Is it just because you are looking and can't afford to buy that everything looks great???

Our largest difficulty so far has had to do with money. Conversion from Australian dollars to Pacific Francs is a little complicated for me to do in the head. Aus$1 = 61 francs. It feels weird using a 1000 franc note. So when 1000 francs is equivalent to about $16, what the hell do they need 1 franc coins for????? We are not sure why but everything here except for bread is really expensive. As an example a McDonalds cheese burger meal is about $16. Needless to say, we will not be doing our traditional birthday dinner in any restaurant here.

Our stay in New Caledonia this time will only be short due to Kylies bridesmaid commitments. As a result we have been using our time to do some homework for when we come back. So far we have learnt bring as much food as possible as we would be limited to bread and water and what we can catch from the sea.

Happy birthday for yesterday Alex.

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