Day 122: Noumea, New Caledonia

I was awakened by G setting a bowl of mixed fruit on the nightstand and urging me get up so we could get to the visitors’ terminal early before its WiFi got bogged down. Two bites of fruit, eyes pried open, contacts forced in, clothes thrown on and we were off.

He was right; the WiFi was pretty fast before it had been discovered by everyone else. I was able to publish the blog posts from the last three days, check finances, call Mom, even get caught up on the news. New Caledonia is a country that is not part of T-Mobile’s international roaming plan, so while we’re here, it’s WiFi or nothing. 

I’ve mentioned it before, but that new ‘slide to type’ feature on the latest iOS update is saving me. The BlogTouch Pro app on the iPhone does not support a landscape keyboard. In the past, I’ve had to type my posts into Word on my phone (which does), and then copy and paste into BlogTouch Pro. I did it for years, but it was cumbersome. Slide to type has changed all that. I can achieve laptop keyboard speeds in the palm of one hand. Blog posts get written whenever I have a few spare moments and the post then resides in my Offline folder until I get internet. Like today. 

Of course, the other issue is battery life, and since I had neglected to plug in my phone overnight, my battery was soon exhausted. We left the visitors’ center then, and instead of buying a HOHO bus pass for the day, just walked to the Noumea morning market.  No photos, but it is a feast for the eyes. It makes me want to return to the Papeete market. Fingers crossed that we can someday. 

We backtracked to the visitors’ center and boarded a shuttle back to the ship. It’s mandatory and free...and fast. Just a 5 minute ride or so. They simply don’t want passengers roaming around an active freight port on foot. We returned our phones to the cabin to charge and went down to Alfredo’s pizzeria for lunch. We got there just before the crowd hit, and the wonderful headwaiter had our pizza to us quickly. He knew we had more sightseeing to do. 

There was one final museum in Noumea that we wanted to see on this, our final visit. The World War 2 Museum is small but highly reviewed, and it was within easy walking distance from the visitors’ center. As a veteran, G’s admission was free, and mine was only XPF100 (less than US $1). Note: like the Aquarium and the Maritime Museums, they only take French Polynesian Francs or credit card, not Australian dollars. We had all three of these, and paid in XPF. 

We spent quite a bit of time there. I’m unsure how much, exactly, but the exhibits certainly captured our attention. It started from the Caledonian perspective, how nearly 300 troops were trained to aid France when Germany started to encroach, but, before they were even in France, the north was under Nazi control. They then assisted the Vichy effort in the south and in North Africa. 

The bulk of the exhibits dealt with the US using New Caledonia as a huge base from which to conduct its a Pacific theater operations. Over one million US troops passed through New Caledonia, and 11 military hospitals and seven clinics were constructed. New Caledonia was forever changed as a result. First, the Americans brought new technologies to what has historically been a small French penal colony in the South Pacific, but the Americans also brought a sense of equality which did not, to that point, exist. Native Kanaks people, Melanesians and the Chinese here were all treated as second class citizens to the French. That changed because of the war. 

New Caledonia WW2 Museum

We had two of these fans during my childhood, only larger. 

They would blow the furniture across the room.

Three kids and none of us ever lost a finger.

:-)

That is an awfully narrow hospital bed. 

G had a good laugh thinking about the Army maintaining a chicken farm. 

Pencil drawings of New Caledonia sent to a love at home. 

Notice the censor stamp. 

The museum isn’t large, but it’s very good

G stood and looked at this plane engine for at least five minutes. That’s my guy!

Many of the exhibits were in English, and we were also given a Samsung tablet, which provided a nice interactive experience, but it took a fair bit of concentration to take in all the information, and I was wiped out when we started to walk back to the visitors’ center to catch a shuttle. We didn’t even have time for showers, but went directly to dinner in Concerto Dining Room. I could have been convinced that a pass through the buffet would be our dinner, but, oh no. Still, I begged off going to the show and returned to the cabin. The day hasn’t been especially hot, just in the mid 80s and not humid, but it wiped me out. 

Day 4 dinner menu, page 1

Day 4 dinner menu, page 2

Day 4 dessert menu

Surprisingly, G was not too far behind me. He said guest entertainer Chris Gable opened his show with Waltzing Matilda on the saxophone, and G just wasn’t feeling it tonight, either. It’s not yet 9pm and he’s already asleep. I’ll be there in just a few minutes. 

Day 4 Princess Patter, page 1

Day 4 Princess Patter, page 2

Day 4 Princess Patter, page 3

Day 4 Princess Patter, page 4

Day 75: Noumea, New Caledonia

The alarm went off at 4:20am, and I immediately picked up my iPad to watch the live stream on McGee’s race. It was wet and cold in Portland; these guys were head to toe mud by the time they reached the finish line.  Knowing I would have been there if I hadn’t been cruising, I was grateful that our weather today was gorgeous, sunny and a tad too hot. McGee and his teammates, through sheer grit and determination, had a great performance today. 

Next up:  McGuy and the basketball season. Their different interests mean nearly year-round spectatorship opportunities. Life is fun. :-)

Since today was Sunday, most museums in Noumea were closed. We decided over breakfast to visit the Noumea local market for the first time ever, and then spend the rest of our day on one or two of the beaches on the HOHO bus route.  Before we walked off the ship, we went up to the jogging track on Deck 19 for a birdseye view of Grand Terre, the largest island of New Caledonia on which the capital of Noumea is located. 

The island is mountainous except along the shore. 

This is a nickel processing plant near the freight port. 

The ship was flying several flags this morning. 

The ferry terminal and the Maritime Museum in the foreground

I haven’t talked much about it, but the Ruby Princess is going to go live with the new Ocean Medallion system in January. The many digital displays around the ship are being set up by several contractors on the ship for the next few months. This is the one in the Deck 14 midship elevator lobby. It has some interactive features that are already operational. 

There is daily itinerary of the cruise; this one is for the first day in Sydney. 

We thought the photo was beautiful. 

The photo for today in Noumea

We took the free shuttle out of the freight pier to the tourist information center and purchased all day Hop On Hop Off (HOHO) bus tickets for AU$10 each (about US $7.50). Before we boarded the bus, we walked across the street to the Johnston Supermarché to get some snacks for the beach. G bought chicken flavored potato chips (yuck) and I bought a small bag of almonds. The store closed at 12:30pm today because it was Sunday; we were lucky it was open at all. 

Our first stop on the HOHO bus was the Noumea local market.  This was going to close at noon, but we were there before 10am and so had plenty of time to explore. The outside was mostly canopies filled with local crafts and souvenirs; however, the covered inside stalls were full of locally grown produce. 

Outdoor local crafts and souvenir stalls

The produce stands inside

A few stands offered tropical flowers, just as in the Papeete Market in Tahiti

These were those tiny, very sweet pineapples such as those grown in Moorea 

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I would love to shop this way at home. 

I was looking for a reason to buy some of these gorgeous herbs but couldn’t come up with one. 

I did buy this peeled and cut up papaya to enjoy on the beach. 

Sweet as candy. 

We started our beach day at Lemon Bay Beach, sitting in the shade of a tree while we ate our snack. There was a race going on of small jet skis, called jet pilots, and that was fun to watch while we ate. 

Lemon Bay Beach

A little girl dressed in local attire

Next, we went further along the route to Anse Vata, which we think is the prettiest beach in Noumea. It is also the location of the water taxis to Duck Island.  We took one to the island when we were here two years ago. 

,

Anse Vata Beach lined with palm trees. 

Duck Island in the distance 

While we were comfortable when we were in the shade on a beach, catching the breeze off the water, the day grew much hotter, topping out about 95F. Adding in the sun and humidity, it was definitely a beach day. Even then, by 2pm or so we were cooked, and took a HOHO bus back to the tourist information terminal, and then a shuttle bus back to the ship. The heat had wiped me out so thoroughly that I just wanted to collapse in bed and nap and cool off. G went to the Horizon Court Buffet for a quick lunch, and then joined me. 

With plenty of time today, we showered and went first to the Elite Lounge.  Because it’s held in Skywalkers this cruise, we had fantastic views of the island from 18 decks high, just below the jogging track we’d been on early this morning. I was very hungry by then, and enjoyed a few crudités before we went to dinner in the DaVinci Dining Room. I had ordered three courses for tonight's dinner, anticipating that I’d be hungry tonight. The stir-fried calamari was fantastic. Headwaiter Mehai delivered a special dessert for me, peach cobbler made dairy free. It was delicious. 

Day 4 dinner menu, page 1

Day 4 dinner menu, page 2

Day 4 dessert menu

Tonught’s Princess Theater entertainment was a mentalist, and that is so not our thing.  Instead we went to the Wheelhouse Bar to listen to a  new band that just came on board this cruise, a four piece Irish band called Full Tilt.  They are not replacing an existing band, but are an additional one. They are fantastic, and the lead singer also does Irish dancing, a la Riverdance. 

Our intention was to get to tonight’s tropical deck party, but we didn’t. I think the heat and the time in the water today wiped us out, and, of course, I wasn’t helped by that early wake up this morning. We have two more small island beach experiences in the next two days, and need to pace ourselves. 

Noumea Port Guide, page 1

Noumea Port Guide, page 2

Noumea Port Guide, page 3

Noumea Port Guide, page 4

Day 4 Princess Patter, page 1

Day 4 Princess Patter, page 2

Day 4 Princess Patter, page 3

Day 4 Princess Patter, page 4

Day 54: Noumea, New Caledonia

We had a tough time finding a purpose to our day in Noumea, New Caledonia. Though the weather was brightly sunny, it was wicked hot and humid, which, frankly, we found pretty draining. But before we realized that we’d never even get out of first gear today, we decided during breakfast in the Horizon Court Buffet to skip a beach today. We have another beach day tomorrow, and are trying to space out our time in the sun a little. 

Noumea Harbor from the Terrace Deck

We collected shuttle tickets and waited in the Bernini Dining Room until we could board a bus to get us through the freight port to the cruise terminal. That took quite awhile today; though we thought we had missed the first onslaught of passengers disembarking, we must have caught the second wave. We considered purchasing the Hop On Hop Off bus combined with tickets to the Noumea Aquarium, which is supposed to be quite good, for $30 AUD. That would have still given us the ability to also stop at a couple of other tourist spots in town later in the day. 

But first we needed to go to the Casino Supermarché across the street, for, yes, potato chips for G (always for potato chips for G!) but also for a birthday card and small gift for our cabin steward, Karen, whose birthday is today. The latter was a hopeless endeavor; there were no birthday cards at all (not even in French) and we couldn’t find anything appropriate for a gift. I knew she had just gone to the Cadbury factory in Dunedin and stocked up on chocolate; plus we believed we’d never get chocolate back to the ship before it melted. I ended up buying a pack of those dot stickers in red, blue, green and yellow, planning to use them to make a birthday card and enclose an assuredly acceptable paper gift inside. 

Because you know we enjoy wandering through grocery stores in other countries far more than in our own...

French fajitas kit

French enchilada kit

Au four does not mean for four people; it’s made in the oven 

I loved these in Tahiti and took home several for friends two years ago from Le Marché in Papeete.

Live in the American Dream. In a store in Noumea, New Caledonia

We laughed and laughed (discreetly, of course)

Playing with Google Translate

Because nothing says Disney like a story about the end of the world!

This had me in stitches (Get it? Stitches?)

Long bright green and red zippers in the sewing section; I bet they’ll still be hanging there years from now. 

Still, we were quite impressed with the Casino Supermarché.  It was bigger than anything we saw in French Polynesia aside from the large Carrefour near the Papeete airport. They even had fabric and sewing supplies and clothing. It was the New Caledonian version of a WalMart. We stepped out of the store with G’s potato chips and the stickers and were hit hard with the heat and humidity. They had us returning to the terminal to use the free WiFi and eventually just taking a shuttle back to the ship. I think if either one of us had been really keen on getting to the aquarium we would have made it happen. That we didn’t tells me it really wasn’t right for us today. 

Back on the ship, I collected a piece of paper and an envelope for my craft project from Guest Services and then joined G in the Buffet for another Big Salad lunch (I can’t help but think of Seinfeld every time I type that). G was kept entertained watching the freight operations until even the Buffet started feeling hot. We returned to our cabin, set the thermostat on freeze and G napped while I made a birthday card, using the multicolor dots as balloons (and thereby stretching the limits of my creativity). 

Eventually, I applied more sunscreen and went to the Terrace Pool for a water workout. The water was the perfect temperature today, and the pool provided a beautiful view of blue-green water in the Noumea harbor. We cleaned up for dinner before 5pm and went to the Bernini Dining Room feeling considerably more put together than we had last night when I walked in with my hair still wet from a 2-minute shower after our late return from the beach on Maré. 

Dinner was pumpkin soup, a salad and roasted vegetables, but I was still feeling hungry, even after sorbet for dessert. When we adjourned to the Piazza to listen to the Charade Trio, I had a decaf latte with soy milk and a few walnuts from the International Cafe and that finally filled me up. At 7pm, the production show singers and four dancers performed a few-minute medley of Beatles music which was really beautiful with all the Christmas decorations in the Piazza. 

We went directly to the Princess Theater then to get seats for another show by Steve Larkins of Mercury Rising.  We had missed his second show last cruise and didn’t want to do that again. Mercury Rising is like tribute shows Beatlemaniacs and The Blues Brothers...because I love that music, I can see them over and over and enjoy them every time. 

We returned to our cabin and serenaded Karen for her birthday. We are so fortunate to have her for our steward for most of this season. It really makes a difference in how comfortable we feel on the Golden Princess. When Awesome Ambrish was our cabin steward a couple of years ago, and we returned to our cleaned cabin, we would say we had been Ambrished. These days we’re Karenized. 

Life is good. :-)