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. :-)