Journal Entry - June 10 & 11, 2008 - Road Trip to Noumea

Author: Scott

As I type this Log-Blog entry we are barreling down Rt. 1, the main central highway that snakes along the spine of New Caledonia. The radio is murmuring on in French, while our new friend Nathaniel expertly navigates the challenging road on a very dark night. We are returning from our day trip to Noumea on our way to Kone where Nathaniel and his girlfriend Malia live.

We met Nathaniel and Malia through Bruce and Tony in Newcastle. Bruce came to know Nathaniel and Malia while in Koumac on a boat delivery trip. Apparently, Nathaniel and Malia were struggling with a failed engine as they entered the Koumac Marina and Bruce gave them a hand. This is a fine example of how randomly new friendships can be made in the boating community. Bruce quite unexpectedly met Nathaniel and Malia, Tony then introduced us via email and now we have come to make friends with these lovely people in New Caledonia, with Bruce's brief encounter being the only common denominator.

After enjoying dinner together on Starship this past Sunday, we were invited to ride with Nathaniel to Noumea so we could get a better understanding of the port, find a marina berth, seek out trades people for repairs, and in general learn more about New Caledonia's largest city. On a voyage where we are almost always arriving in completely foreign environments it is a real treat to actually visit a destination in advance, gather local knowledge, and mark waypoints on a portable GPS. So, when Nathaniel mentioned that he needed to travel to Noumea for work, we jumped at the invitation to join him.

This small adventure started yesterday evening after a day of continued boat work and drying the contents of Starship out after the wave incident. Malia showed up at 17:00 and announced that she would be driving us to Kone as Nathaniel would be doing all the driving to Noumea the following day and this would help share the driving responsibility. Malia also told us that we would return the morning after our trip to Noumea as Nathaniel had work to do in Koumac. Pam and I threw a few more clothes in our bags and set off with Mailia to experience some New Caledonia culture.

The drive to Kone takes approximately an hour and passes through some beautiful countryside with the west coast of New Caledonia to starboard and the central mountain chain to port. Malia told us about the various villages and tribes in New Cal. We also learned about the great wealth the country enjoys from nickel mining and extracting and of a new project to bring a large mine and production factory to the Northern Province. New Caledonia has three provinces; the Northern Province, the Southern Province, and the Outer Island Province. Apparently, the Southern Province already has a large mining operation and the new project in the Northern Province will help build a more stable economy for New Caledonia's potential future independence from France. Twenty years ago a separatist civil war was ended through an accord to plan a ten year and later thirty year separation plan. In 2014 a special election will be held and the inhabitants of New Caledonia will be given the democratic opportunity to become an independent nation. For now the new mine operation in the north will further the financial stability of this island country.

Dinner at Nathaniel and Malia's home was a result of communication challenged by the couples busy work schedule. We had a shrimp curry but the coconut milk was forgotten and therefore replaced with cream. The rice was also forgotten and replaced with a pasta that had never been attempted. The end result was a wonderful meal starting with foie gras, fresh bread, the fore mentioned curry and pasta, four cheeses, chocolate, and ICE CREAM and SORBET! We were treated to Muscat wine with the appetizer, red wine with dinner, and delicious fresh coffee with desert. We dined al fresco on their front porch which serves as their main dining area, and we were visited by their very interested cat. The cat did not get to join in the dining experience until the completion of the meal but was treated to the shrimp tails when the meal was finished. We also learned that she is quite a hunter specializing in mice, birds, lizards and cockroaches. Any cat who eliminates the roach population is a friend of mine, but I will reframe from any kitty kisses.

Over dinner we learned of the interesting way that many people in New Caledonia eat lunch while working or at home. There are services throughout New Caledonia called Gamelle Service. This service delivers hot meals either to your home or work place in special containers provided by the client. The meal is a balance of a salad, hot vegetable, protein, and desert. Each day the service brings lunch and takes away a second set of containers for the following day's meal. What a great idea! And I thought Netflix was a unique and convenient idea. Forget the DVD's I will take hot lunch any day. Maybe there is a future business opportunity in a no hassles US based Gamelle Service.

Before we went to bed, we were given access to their internet, which has been challenging thus far.

We were up at 05:00 with a three hour drive lying before us. We gulped a glass of orange juice and hit the road. Nathaniel was a sport as we drove through the countryside pelting him with questions about New Caledonia. Not only was he constantly translating our questions but simultaneously having to make split second estimates, calculations, and doing his best to quench our endless stream of what, when, whys ad hows.

We stopped midway to Noumea for my favorite meal of the day "coffee". We actually had a light breakfast at a delightful roadside café where we munched on fresh croissants, bread, butter, jams and drank wonderful café a lait and hot chocolate. The claim to fame of the little café was the plethora of baseball hats that the owners had cultivated from the clientele and hung in the main dinning area from the ceiling. There was probably a baseball hat for every person living on New Caledonia.

Our breakfast break did put us behind schedule making Nathaniel late for his morning meeting in Noumea. Despite being late for work Nathaniel insisted on coming into the marina with us to act as negotiator and translator. As it turns out it was fantastic to have Nathaniel's intervention because the marina is very busy and did not have available space for a possible month's stay. Not to worry, after some quick discussion in French a berth was somehow arranged and Starship would have a home when she arrived in Noumea.

After Nathaniel departed for work, Pam and I took a look at our future marina berth and marked various spots on the GPS. We then returned to the marina office to meet the marina Manager, a nice man named Bruno. It tickled us a little when Bruno finally put it together that not only were we visually impaired, but that we had sailed from San Francisco. Bruno thought that we were Australian, and upon learning that we were Americans he had many questions about how we managed at sea. What struck us as funny was that the trip from Australia was actually one of the most challenging aspects of the voyage, and that all of our challenges sailing from the states were nearly encapsulated in a single voyage from Australia.

The remainder of the day was spent sorting out Internet access which will be available on the boat and exploring downtown Noumea. It turns out that we only managed to see some of the older parts of downtown and completely missed the bustling city center. Nathaniel filled in the gaps on our way out of town that we missed on our exploration and we now have a much clearer understanding of downtown Noumea.

Our drive home through the night was settled into a much quieter journey as we are all comfortable to dwell on our individual thoughts, listen to music and write this Blog. We did make a quick detour to admire a beautiful pink and red sunset. Tomorrow we will return to Koumac and prepare for our 158 mile ocean voyage to Noumea.