Saturday a very wide catamaran became our neighbor. It was a tight fit to say the least. Our fenders were squished and our Canadian neighbor on the other side, Larry lent us a couple of his, which are fatter. Susan was gone when the cat came in and I was sure she’d want to move, but she was happy since their captain said they’d only stay overnight. They changed their mind late in the day and we agreed to move first thing in the morning. This only after the cat’s captain said he had a very thin hull and was afraid our rubber fenders would puncture his boat. Thats absolutely preposterous. Hysterical. If his boat is that thin he shouldn’t be sailing it. Still, we moved yesterday morning. It’s a pretty good slip, but the pier is much smaller and way more wobbly. Susan backed the boat in so we can board from the stern ladder and avoid the pier.
Saturday night Steve took us out to our favorite French restaurant for dinner. This was our second time and just as good as the first. It’s about $33 per person for a three course fixed price dinner. We’ve now sampled 18 dishes there in our two visits and everything is excellent. We came back to the boat and got Steve to his shuttle for the airport. We assume he made all his connections….
Yesterday, Susan and I did a museum day. We started out at the Zoo where the emphasis is birds. We both enjoyed them but were most impressed with the flying foxes, i.e. bats. Big bats. They’re nocturnal but were moving around in their cage jockeying for a better place. There were also smaller bat that huddled all together in one tight ball in their cage. The endemic and endangered bird is the Cagou. They’re very pretty and have a nice headdress.
The video shows Cagou and Flying Foxes
From zoo, it was on to the Tijbaou Center. It’s a Kanak cultural center that the French made a big deal about building. It’s a big political move to satisfy the Kanak. The structure is an amazing piece of architecture that reminds me of the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco. It’s a series of huge half finished, local traditional, thatch roofed house like structures rising 3 or 4 stories tall. The center has some things on Kanak Culture, including modern art. We both loved the traveling exhibit of photos of Vanuatu. It made us sorry we missed it. It made me wish that we’d taken more trips off to the countryside and met the locals more. Next time. I’d love to come back here and explore more.
Today we picked up our rental car and went exploring. We trekked off to the mining town of Thio. There isn’t much there, but it’s on the north/east shore and we wanted to see life outside of Noumea. The land is beautiful and during our day we thought its similarities to Hawaii, Marin County, Scotland and the Australian Outback. The latter wasn’t a comparison of geography, but of large stretches of uninhabited land. Outside of Noumea the population drops and suddenly there isn’t anybody for mile after mile. It’s about 240 miles up the coast to the tip and we only went a short way in that direction before heading east. It drove home the point of how big New Caledonia is.
The mines have stripped the tops off of tall mountains and left red dirt/rock outcroppings that look like they come from Monument Valley Utah. We learned that the mine owners now have to re-forest, but the old ones stick out badly. Below these outcroppings are rich green forests.
We’e now back at the boat and pooped from two days as tourists. Susan just had her dinner: a piece of cake from a local patisserie. I probably do something simple: open a can.
Gerard arrives tomorrow and I’ve only got a couple of weeks left on the trip. It’s been just amazing, but I miss home and will be glad to have a hot shower and sleep in my be everyday.
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