Sydney Bound - Au Revoir Nouvelle Caledonie

The Pacific experience is coming to an end. We are just about to board our plane at Tontouta airport. It has been a wonderful experience. The high point (according to the students) was the snorkelling, particularly on Amedee Island. We loved the turtles, the fish and the coral.

This turtle was a real highlight.

One memory for me was the kids sitting I the corridor of Le Pacifique Hotel, because the wi-if worked best there.

Lounging at the airport, after getting up at 4 am - it was a miracle we did it and survived to tell the tale. No one lost a passport and we only had to retrieve one mobile  phone from the bus company.

Bon voyage!

More Coral and Fish Photos

Madame Malmoux was a snorkeller and underwater photographer extraordinaire. Below are some more of the things we saw.

This was the resort at Ile des Pins from the lagoon.

Ile des Pins is named for the ......

Our group in the middle of La Piscine Naturelle.

Carrefour shopping, Final CREIPAC French lessons and a trip to Vivre deLeau

Even in French Melanesia you can sample the famous "Golden Arches" and eat a McBaguette! (The oldies in this group wouldn't let the students anywhere near Maccas!)

The sample for lunch at the shopping centre is below. Tres Bon!

It looks like a supermarket but there were many authentic French goods on sale. Cash equal to the capital of a small republic was exchanged during our 90 minute visit. We were glad that a student who lost his receipt and then reentered the store was not detained for long by security!

This is the CREIPAC building which was part of a gaol complex when Nouvelle Caledonie was a convict colony. Some students felt they sympathised, as they struggled with their French. No one was detained!!!!

Here are the graduating SACS cohort minus Bang! Le professeur is on the right.

Bangshuo finally arrived and here is a photo to prove it.

The view south and then north from the top of our Hotel.

We spruced up for a final dinner!

This restaurant we visited is run by an order of Catholic nuns who grow their own food and use the profits to look after the poor. They sang 'Ave Maria' to us as part of the experience.

The end of our Pacific jaunt has come too quickly. We have enjoyed a fabulous time but will be back in Sydney tomorrow.

Trip to Ile Des Pins

Today was a real treat. It was hard to get up at 5.00 am but we dragged ourselves out to the bus with breakfast boxes. We had to go through customs at the Ferry terminal and board the boat for a three and a half hour cruise to this island, Ile des Pins off the coast of New Caledonia.

The sea journey was quite rough and a few of us turned green.

Some of our students discovered what the black bags were for and also how to clean up vomit afterwards. It was not smooth on the open seas. Many of us just sat on the rear deck to handle the heavy swell.

Arrival at the Isle of Pines was brilliant. The lagoon in the background was full or coral and tropical fish. We were so engrossed that we almost missed lunch. Some of us paddle-boarded and canoed as well. After lunch at the resort, we headed off to the other side of the island to another pool that was just as amazing, La Piscine Naturelle.

The second pool was full of tropical fish and coral as well.

The colour of the water was amazing and it was well worth the fifteen minute walk in.

The resort was pretty amazing too. This is the lobby.

After a busy day, we boarded the boat for another three hour cruise back to Noumea.

A local hazard!

Despite the early start, the long cruise and the energy burned in the water, some still found the energy too jump. Some toddlers had fun playing with our students on the rear deck and a couple of members of the public commented and what great kids they were.

At 8pm we arrived back in Noumea, tired but having enjoyed a special day. I will post snorkelling photos and ones that the kids snapped, tomorrow. They are much better than mine.

Tomorrow we do our last day of language school and go to the local version of Aldi or Walmart. The time has flown.

Sunset on the water was pretty spectacular!

Jean-Marie Tjiboau Cultural Centre visit and more French conversationpractice

This morning we took the bus to visit a cultural centre, explaining the Melanesian culture of New Caledonia. It was named after Jean-Marie Tjiboau, a famous New Caledonia independence figure who was martyred for what he had tried to make a peaceful cause. We learned that apart from the main island there are three Loyalty Islands and a few smaller ones, as part of Nouvelle Caledonie. It is one of three French Territories in the Pacific, Tahiti being one of the others. There are 300 000 people on the islands in total, with a mixture being Melanesian, Polynesian, Micronesian, about 30% being of French origin and a few others Indonesian and Vietnamese descendents. Noumea has half the population of New Caledonia.

Our guide Elisabeth talked us through the local creation myth, represented by the water and the huge rock. The locals had very primitive cultural practices mixed with quite advanced ones.

The carvings have special significance. Pity about the extra shapes in the photo below.

The Cultural Centre building was designed by the same architect who designed the Pompidou Centre in Paris. It was amazing. We saw an exhibition on the importance of weaving to the island people and learned about the clash of old and new culture. A family wedding typically has over 500 guests and might last a week. This does not go well with contemporary employers, when kids are expected to cook for a week prior to the ceremony. Local foods are yams, bananas etc

A feature of the visit was to inspect the traditional huts. Below is a chieftain's hut, made entirely of straw and wood, without nails or modern materials. Even more amazingly, it is totally cyclone proof.

Inside one of the huts, all authentic, except the stone wall.

The day finished with another 3 hours of French Conversation practice at CREIPAC. Dinner followed at a restaurant on Baie de Citrons. It was wet and drizzly today. Tonight (in theory) we go to bed early as we rise tomorrow up at 5 am to catch a ferry to Iles de Pins, which will be a highlight of our trip. Bonsoir!

Tchou Tchou Train and Language School

This morning we took a ninety minute tour on the Tchou Tchou train. Our guide Lida shared a lot of history about New Caledonia.  We discovered that it has a similar history to Australia, being a convict colony for a long time, with the main difference being that only 40 convicts stayed after their terms finished. 

The open carriages were a lot of fun.

Keep your arms and legs in the car, Issy!!!

We visited a government sponsored graffiti wall,where people are paid by the government to do graffiti. The designs were done by spray only. Eat your hearts out, SACS stairwell dwellers!!!!

This is the view from a memorial to the American soldiers who lived in New Caledonia in the period around WWII. The anchor to the USS Missouri is just near the harbour of Noumea. We got to see many old colonial houses, though the kids did not get too thrilled about these!!!

Below is the view of our hotel and the beach beyond. Our building is the grey one in the middle of the picture, though our rooms were on the first floor and lookinwards towards the pool rather than to the beach.

After lunch we visited language school (Creipac) and participated in a three hour French language lesson, mainly basd on conversation.

Ivry: Our teacher helped us with confidence in speech, which is the basis for good French. 

Nick: it made it really easy to understand and we processed the language well.

Olivia: it was really inclusive and focused on speaking which was great.

Issy: it was on the spot - you had to answer the teacher quickly without time to think.

Tia: The teachers were very tolerant and didn't get cranky if you were slow to understand. It was very helpful.

The SACS students really enjoyed the experience and are looking forward to two more sessions during the week.

In talking with the students, they commented on their knowledge of grammar (which was good) and how helpful it was to engage in the conversational side of French. 

For dinner we visited La Dolce Vita, about 15 minutes walk from La Pacifique and enjoyed individual pizzas. The kids are proving a great group, though if parents will agree not to believe anything they say about the teachers, I promise not to believe what they tell us about their families. 😄

Below is a picture of a tasty morsel we came across on the way home. Jess' hand gives perspective to the huge size of the grasshopper.