Day 30, Noumea, New Caledonia

As Dottie, a now retired cruise director, loved to say, "You learn something new every day." This day, I learned that Charles Cook who discovered these islands decided it looked very much like his homeland - so he named it "New Caledonia." Though I have a dear friend named Caledonia, I had absolutely NO clue that it meant Scotland. Be honest, how many of you reading this knew that? Not been to Scotland yet, but this is nowhere similar to what I have envisioned Scotland to be. Must wait and see...

Whether it resembles Scotland or not, it is a beautiful city surrounded by coral-filled turquoise waters and, on this day, equally beautiful blue skies with puffy white cumulus clouds scattered about. It is also the most affluent stop since Honolulu. Not knowing what to expect to find here, and not being a sunbather/snorkeler/wind surfer/swimmer, I chose to tour the city and its aquarium. Great choice!

Cannon Site View (more below!)

  Our guide - whose name escaped me - proudly informed us that New Caledonia possesses 25% of the world's nickel, that their nickel is far superior to that of Indonesia, but due to Indonesia's lower production costs, two of their five mines have closed. Today, even though it is a superior product, they cannot sell it. That plight seemed to have little or no effect on the majority of New Caledonians, however. Newly constructed and/or not yet completed, upscale residential neighborhoods abound! Founded in 1854 as Port-de-France, it remains a French Island Nation, thus protected by France, recipient of French aid, votes in French elections, but also maintains a local government. We passed blocks and blocks of walled governmental homes and offices in the most affluent neighborhood. All very pretty. No trash. Well-kept infrastructure. Well-dressed workers hurrying off to work. Clean beaches filled with people at play and a captivating aquarium!

Lights On

Lights Off!

Their heads are constantly drifting

Inside the aquarium, I was struck by the variety and beauty of the coral, the yellow seahorses at play (even a lime green one), the glow-in-the-dark royal blue coral, the spotted garden-eels sticking out of the sand and waving around, and the vividly-colored fish. All kinds of God's creatures I'd never before seen.

The vast majority of the population is Catholic so understandably they have erected a shrine to The Virgin Mary high atop a hill overlooking the sea, surrounded by what appeared to be permanent Stations of The Cross. My friends, Ron and David, did request some further explanation at one or two of the stations, however.

Ron and David

Our final stop was to see one of the very much appreciated cannons Australia provided for protection during WWII - the locals also appreciated even more that the use of said cannons was unnecessary. They sure had a clean shot at anything approaching for miles out to sea!

Today is Someday! Be kind to those you meet!