Good value things to do here

It's expensive in Noumea. Some things are expensive and avoidable - like the NZ$ 20 loaves of imported kiwi bread (I'll admit to caving in a few weeks ago and relishing the having a vogels toast for a week or so) - but you need to buy toilet paper (NZ$18 for 9 decent rolls) and fruit (NZ$12 for a pineapple in the market) and the odd bit of meat (NZ$30 for a good sized non-organic chicken). I seem to blow most of our budget on food...

But!

There are good value things here. Like champagne ($NZ40 a bottle from a small producer) and delicious cheese and yummy bread ($NZ 2 per baguette) - the list goes on. You can also have an introduction to windsurfing with a teacher and board rental for an hour down at Anse Vata beach and it only costs $NZ 20. Or you can head out to Kuendu beach (you can even catch the bus there from Anse Vata) and spend the day on the water slides.

A trip to the market is lots of fun and it's free - although you might be tempted to check out the little cafe and have a yummy fresh orange juice. If you're there in the weekend, you might also be tempted by the homemade sorbets that are sometimes on offer out beside the car park. The coconut ones are delicious and only a few dollars.

Of course - it's free to swim and snorkel and go for a stroll in the warm breeze on the beach. Ok - it's sunny outside and time for me to go and enjoy it. A la plage!

Duck Island

One of my favourite day trips in Noumea is Duck Island. Actually - it's not really a day trip, it's a five minute blat in a speed boat from the beach over there. Somehow it feels a long way from Noumea though. You jump off the boat, splash on to the beach and find yourself a good posi for chillin'. Ahhhhh bliss.

There's a little snack with funky carvings where you can buy a beer and a toasted sandwich if you feel like it - or a more substantial feed. If you want a deck chair with an umbrella you'll need to fork out some cash - I think it's 2000 per day and 3000 for a larger fare - but you can avoid that by bringing your own stuff and parking a bit further around the island. It's very laid back.

The snorkelling's great. It's protected from the wind and there's a nice array of coral. There's also a resident moray eel who I have enjoyed following around on a few occasion and lots of tame fish who will come up to you and just about tap you on the mask to say hey - come over here and check this out!

We went out a few weeks ago with my nephew. He enjoyed going for a snorkel with Charlie and I dipped the bump in the warm sea. The boys also tucked into some food at the snack. A good way to while away some time as we wait for this baby to make her appearance!

Spring is in the air, along with the kites

It's suddenly warmed up here. The evenings are warmer and the beach is getting more and more tempting.

The people who are making the most of the changing seasons though are the kite and wind surfers. At the far end of Anse Vata beach, behind the Meridien is the spot where all the gun kite surfers go. The afternoon winds are strong and it's cool fun to sit and watch them fly. When I feel like a touch of holiday buzz Charlie and I head to the Phare at the Meridien to sip on a yummy drink and watch the kites go.

Charlie did a kite-surf course a few months ago. The aim was to get it done before baby was due but in fact he was stymied by the lack of wind in winter. So he got to have a few goes out at the back of Ilot Maitre - the safest place to learn - with warm, knee deep water. Unfortunately, after too many weekends of waiting for the wind to pick up, he only got half way through his course and probably won't finish. So I don't think we'll be seeing Charlie down with the guns behind the Meridien any time soon. Now we know that it's worth waiting for Spring to learn to fly.

Noumea is one of the best places to world to kite surf. Here's a pic of the sun going down on the kites, with the Phare Amadee in the background.

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!

Putting roots down here

I always think it's nice to leave a house with a little more soul than when you moved into it...we're staring here early. A lemon tree was put into the garden a few weeks ago and Max loved digging the hole with daddy, watering the new tree and running around outside in his gumboots. Next on the list is a herb garden and vege patch. We just need to find a way to kill all the snails here first! It's wet and feels cold (17 degrees at night, 22/23 degrees during the day) and the snails are loving it.



We also welcomed ourselves to our new pad with a little housewarming brunch. There were probably more kids than big folks here and the resulting chaos of kids outside and adults inside watching the rugby (NZ lost...) was very entertaining. Hopefully there will be more little parties like that one - this place seems to just soak up lots of people.





Finally, we went to a wedding that had me scratching around in the wardrobe for something suitable to dress me and the bump. The trusty pregnant wedding dress did the trick - even covering this large little baby!

Things have been busy with the France-Oceania summit. I'd hoped for a little visit from Mr le President and his wife (I'd have been out at the parade checking out her chic clothes!) but it wasn't to be. For me, aside from having an absentee husband for a few days, the biggest impact has been all the protests, road blocks and even more strikes than usual. Hopefully our trip to the Ile of Pines next week won't be affected. Our fingers and toes will all be crossed!

Dugongs!

A few weeks ago I got very excited by the arrival of some dugongs at Anse Vata beach. This is right opposite work and a great place to watch the sun go down, so when we heard they were there (and almost up on the beach they were so close) we all headed down for a look. It was very cool to see these lovely big animals popping up out of the water to have a look and then getting back down to business on a tasty patch of seagrass. I planned to don a mask and snorkel for a closer look but moving house got in the way. Next time.

What's the haps?

It's been a long time. With bubba two moving from a croissant to a brioche and now a great big loaf of molenberg....things have been a bit crazy. We've also bid farewell to our wonderful view and moved into a great new house that's in a new subdivision in Noumea. It's a big maze of houses, all built in a similar style, all with red roofs! Wonderful suburbia and I can almost imagine Kevin Spacey popping his head over the fence and singing 'Don't rain on my parade' a la American Beauty... it's great.

We love watching max run around the garden, take his ride-on out for a spin and generally enjoy all the space. The area's also very close to the beach so we can whip down there for an evening swim when the sun comes back...Coup de ouest today...bleurgggh (wind and rain)