The Isle of Pines

Wow - it's been more than a year since we arrived here in Noumea. With baby two about to arrive, and Charlie's parents over for a visit, we decided to take a few days out over on the Isle of Pines. Which was stunning.

It's mid-winter here and when I booked the tickets and hotel the agency asked me if I was sure I wanted to go in the deepest, darkest, depths of winter. Well, being a good kiwi girl at heart that just seemed like a bit of a challenge...would the weather be ok? We did get a bit lucky - and winter here is pretty tame. We lounged beside the still blue sea at about 23 degrees and in the sun it was up around 25. It was fabulous. We didn't spend much time in the water - I only did one snorkel in the natural aquarium but it was the perfect temperature for walking around and lounging too.


The best parts of the trip were probably the walk up the river to the Natural aquarium. It's only a 15 minute walk, but it feels like an adventure because you can't the see inlet when you start. It's glorious walking out and seeing the water open up in front of you. We lunched at the Meridien afterwards (Laughing at the reaction of our guests to a $NZ 50 hamburger - it's amazing how you start to become immune to the silly prices!) and decided that our accommodation at Oure Lodge was way nicer.

Oure Lodge is at the far end of a beautiful sheltered bay. I loved walking through the gardens around the bungalows with Max, chatting to the cat and watching the butterflies come and play chicken with us and enjoying the shade of the banyans. We'll be back with bubba two, to show her this lovely place!