The Isle of Pines [Île des Pins], New Caledonia (2)

Walk to the Piscine Naturelle from the restaurant.

  

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across the Ouro river (La rivière Ouro)

 

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Keep walking ... then

the Natural pool [Piscine Naturelle]
Piscine Naturelle was in the hidden place.

We could see fish swimming without snorkeling 

as the Natural Pool was very transparent.!

White sand beach & transparent water were splendid ! 

 

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Go back to the restaurant

The traditional meal "Chicken-Coconut".

Local woman prepared the meal by hand.

She steamed these preparations in the soil. 

It was the traditional way of cooking.

 

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We waited for our guide to pick us up.

 

 

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Our guide dropped us...

There were so many powerful low trees around here.
We found kinda wood stage.

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Walk along the bay

Kanumera bay

People were swimming in Kanumera beach.

People were snorkeling in Kanumera bay.

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Keep walking along the bay

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We arrived at the ferry terminal and boarded.

We could see the wonderful sunset on the ferry.

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Go back to Nouméa

←  Read back to the Isle of Pines [Île des Pins], New Caledonia (1)

Episode of the Isle of Pines [Île des Pins]

Tomo&Chouchou quickly put swimming suits near the restaurant, then headed to the Natural pool [Piscine Naturelle]. Piscine Naturelle was in the hidden place.
We need to pass the Ouro river [La rivière Ouro] and walk a lot.
As soon as we arrived at the beach, we were surprised to see such a beautiful beach! We could see fish swimming without snorkeling.
It was the first time for us to see such a beautiful beach with white sand and transparent water! We took advantage of this opportunity and enjoyed this beautiful beach a lot.
After enjoying the beach, we went back to the restaurant to eat traditional meal.
When we arrived at the restaurant, local woman was preparing the meal by hand.
She was preparing something covered with the banana leaves. She covered her preparations with leaves and soils, then she steamed them. It was the traditional way of cooking. It took time to cook. When we were served our dish on the table, we were surprised with the volume of the dish! It was chicken and yam with coconuts. It was good. The taste matches up with the tropical weather and scenery. After eating, we relaxed ourselves a bit. 

Then, we realized that it was almost the meeting time with our guide, so we went to the entrance of this resort and waited for our guide. However our guide didn't come to pick us up on time... :-( We had waited for thirty minutes more but she didn't show up. We couldn't miss our last ferry to go back to Nouméa so we decided to go back to the restaurant to ask if they can contact our tour guide.
Unfortunately people in the restaurant didn't know the contact of our guide.
Then, 30 minutes later, our guide suddenly appeared. Tomo & Chouchou were angry because she didn't come to pick us up at promised time. We showed our anger but she never apologized and she kept ignoring us. We regreted that we couldn't have expressed ourselves well in French...
We were supposed to send off until the ferry terminal but she dropped us on the way to the terminal. We didn't know where we were...But it was nice place. There were so many powerful low trees around. We could feel the power of nature. Then, we walked through the road lined with many trees. Nature calmed down our anger. 

We decided to walk along the bay because we didn't know the way to the ferry terminal. Then, we arrived at the beautiful beach "Kanumera bay" unexpectedly.
People were snorkeling or swimming there. A cute woman were waving a hand toward us. Chouchou thought she was waving to himself so he waved a hand to her. But, actually she was waving a hand to someone else. :-)
Afterward we walked along the sea and we reached the area where there were many coconut trees. It seemed we could ride a boat around there. There were many seagulls too.
Luckily we found a ferry terminal near there. We succeeded to arrive at the ferry terminal within the time, so we didn't need to miss the last ferry.
For the return, we can see the wonderful sunset on the ferry. We could watch all the change of the sun and the color of the sky from the beginning to the end of the sunset.
In the island [île des pin] , we could see the splendid nature that we can never see in the city. It was the power spot to feel the nature!

Tomo&Chouchou's advices for New Caledonia

1) If you go to New Caledonia, we advise you to visit the isles around the main island. The isles have much more beautiful sea and forest !

2) If you are very relaxed person or if you want to forget about the time, New Caledonia is a good place. People are very relaxed and slow. We advise you not to have any plans there.

3) We advice you to find a good local guide from your country or drive by yourself in the island if you can.

Relating article

-> Nouméa

The Isle of Pines [Île des Pins], New Caledonia (1)

The Isle of Pines [French: Île des Pins] is a municipality [commune] of New Caledonia. [French: New Caledonie].

The Isle of Pines [Île des Pins] is called 
"The closest island to Paradise [French: l'île la plus proche du paradis] ".

We could go to the Isle of Pines [Île des Pins] 

by ferry from Nouméa. 

( Nouméa is the biggest city in New Caledonia.)

When the ferry approached the isle of Pines, 

we could find several Melanesian isles.

 

 

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Arrived on the Isle of Pines.

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The guide picked us up.
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Drove to the sightseeing spots.

 

 

"Eglise Notre-Dame de L'Assomption" 

or "église de vao".
We saw it from the car window on the way to the Cave of Queen Hortense.

We passed through the forest to the cave of Queen Hortense.

It was like a jungle.

the Cave of Queen Hortense 

[French: Grotte de la reine Hortense].
It is also called "Oumagne Grotto".

the entrance of the Cave of Queen Hortense

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next place

We could eat Melanesian traditional meal here.

We could also change the clothes to the swimming suits.

We could go to the beach "Piscine naturelle" from here.

To be continued... The Isle of Pines [Île des Pins] (2)

Episode of the Isle of Pines [Île des Pins] 

Tomo&Chouchou went to the Isle of Pines [Île des Pins] by ferry from Nouméa in New Caledonia. The ferry sometimes rolled. But we didn't feel seasick while we were on the deck. Thanks to the nice wind and the view, we could forget about the shake of the ferry. 

While approaching the island by ferry boat, we could see several islands with many trees which look like thorns. It was very tropical scenery.

When we arrived at the port, there were many people with cars or trucks. They came to the port to pick up somebody, or to take foods and things that they bought or received from Noumea. It was busy for a while.
We requested to have a local guide to the travel agency from Japan, so we looked for our guide. Then a woman with her child came to pick us up. She said, "Your guide cannot come so I came instead of him.". She couldn't speak English. She spoke French a little bit. That made us feel anxious. Anyway, she drove us to the first sightseeing place "the Cave of Queen Hortense [Grotte de la reine Hortense]". The woman said "See you one hour later at the entrance.", then she quickly left the cave by car. So we had to visit the cave by ourselves.

When we entered, we could see a forest which is like a jungle. We had to walk through the jungle to reach the cave. We succedded to find the cave. It was dark in the cave. It was the mood which bats lived there. The rocks like icicles were hanging. We finished visiting the Cave of Queen Hortense, so we waited for our guide to pick us up. But she didn't show up at the meeting time. We waited 30 minutes more. Even though, she didn't come.... We started to feel worried...
We didn't know the contact of our replaced guide. We also couldn't use the cellphone abroad at that time. So we couldn't contact our replaced guide.
We didn't know where we were really located in the Isle of Pines. We were wondering what to do.... then a family who came to visit the cave asked us, "What happened?". So we explained that our guide didn't come to pick us up. Then they nicely called our travel agency for us. After waiting for thirty minutes or one hour more, the replaced tour guide finally came back by car. She was so late to pick us up but she didn't aplogize at all. We felt bad about her attitude.
Anyway, she brought us to the next place where we could eat Melanesian traditional meal and where we can enjoy Natural pool [Piscine naturelle].
Our tour guide said again that she would leave us here and she would come back to pick us up. We strongly asked her to pick us up on time next time. We were anxious if she would come on time... but anyway, we decided to enjoy until meeting time.
When we arrived there, Polynesian woman was preparing to cook traditional meals.
We decided to enjoy Natural pool [piscine naturelle] first until the meals would be ready. We hurried to wear swimming suits in the main place of the resort and we left for Natural pool [Piscine naturelle]. To be continuted...

Tomo Chouchou's advices for the Ile des Pins

1) We were supposed to have a French guide who speak English. But he didn't come. Instead of him, someone who couldn't speak English came. You had better find a trustful guide from your country. 

2) Local people live in their time. It means Island Time. For them, time goes very slowly and they don't care the time. You need to watch the time by yourself in case you catch a ferry to return. In our case, we walked by ourselves to catch a ferry. We could walk somehow. You just need to walk along the beach.

Relating article

- Nouméa

Nouméa in New Caledonia

Nouméa is the biggest city in New Caledonia [French: Nouvelle-Calédonie].
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France, so people speak French.

Sightseeing: Downtown in Nouméa

La place des Cocotiers is very large park 

located in the center of Nouméa.
 There were a fountain and lots of coconut trees in the park.

the view from FOL hill
We could see the downtown of Nouméa, Baie de la Moselle,

 and lots of yachts from the top of the hill.

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We hurried to the Marché.

Juice bar in the Marché.

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We found the Nouméa Cathedral.
while walking in Nouméa.

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Climb up the Hill Ouen Toro

There was a cannon on the top of the Hill Ouen Toro.

This cannon was placed during the world war Ⅱ.

Sunset from the top of the hill Ouen Toro. 

 

 

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Dinner at the hotel

Polynesian dance show at the restaurant

Episode of Nouméa

Nouméa is not so big city even though it is said that it is the biggest city in the main island of New Caledonia. But it's a bit tough to walk in Nouméa because it's very hilly. So people often ride a bus instead of walking. But the buses don't arrive on time. So you need to be so slow and relaxed as local people.
Firstly, we went to 'La place des Cocotiers' located in the center of Nouméa.
It was very large park and it had very tropical atomosphere.
There were a fountain and lots of coconut trees in the park.
It was very tropical mood. In Place des Cocotier, local people sit on the bench and do nothing or eat lunch.
Next, we went up to the FOL hill. It was tough to climb up the hill and we sweated a lot. We could see the downtown of Nouméa and Baie de la Moselle bay from the top of the hill. It was a beautiful view with lots of yachts and blue ocean.
Then, we hurried to the Marché because the market was open only in the morning. There were many tropical fruits and vegetables in the Marché. We also found some shops which sell jewelries and accessories.
Tomo & Chouchou wanted to see the sunset from the top of the hill, so we climbed up the Hill Ouen Toro. It was the steep slope. Anyway we met several people going up the Hill Ouen Toro for the sunset like us. It was beautiful sunset from the hill. We took the sunset photos then we went down.
We booked a restaurant in the hotel which serve the foods while watching Polynesian dance show. There was the sea beside so we could eat seafoods such as a big lobster and shrimps. Tomo was proposed to dance together by a little boy who performed Polinesian dance during the show. This little dancer pulled Tomo to the stage and they danced together. After dancing, he gave a necklace made in seashells as a gift to Tomo. He gave a good memory!

Relating article

-> The Isle of Pines[Île des Pins], New Caledonia(1)