New Caledonia- Like Old Caledonia, But Tropical and Without The Haggis

#10-New Caledonia

Named by the ubiquitous Captain James Cook, New Caledonia is one in the long line of  Pacific Islands named almost randomly after Latin names for familiar lands back home ("New" Hebrides, Guinea, Britain, etc.). Perhaps they can be forgiven after years at sea. After all, these are the same men who mistook manatees for mermaids. Caledonia is the ancient, poetic name for Scotland, and no, it is nothing like the Scotland I remember. It is much more like Tahiti: tropical, beautiful water and coral reefs, and part of France. In fact, the idea to come here was conceived in French Polynesia (see my April 22, 2010 post). I found a cheap fare from New Zealand, and so our stay in New Zealand had visits to two French former colonies as bookends.
There are some significant differences between the two.Firstly, the indigenous culture, called Kanak, is primarily Melanesian, not Polynesian. The people are darker-skinned, closer to Australian aborigines. There are many different dialects on the big central island (Le Grande Terre) and the architecture and social organization is different. The most striking example is in the structure of the hut of the chief, the Grande Case, with the tall conical roof and center carved pole.

Grande Case at the Cultural Center

The geology is different from Polynesia too. The islands are not volcanic or coral-based (although the main island is surrounded by the world's largest lagoon and the second largest coral reef). They were previously part of Zealandia with New Zealand, and are very rich in mineral reserves, especially nickel. It is warm and humid, and Tres  Chere ($$$$). Think of what something should cost, then double it. Your best bet would be to find a friend who lives here and sponge off them. If not, hunt for a good plane fare and hotel deal, and plan to picnic one or two meals a day.

View from Anse Vata

The capital and only major city is Noumea, and we stayed near the beach called Anse Vata.
It is where a major US headquarters was during WWII, and a lot of servicemen from 'the greatest generation" passed through here. They say there is still appreciation here for the US protecting then from Japanese invasion, and there is a US Memorial downtown (across the street from a McDonald's).

Our first tourist stop was the local Aquarium, small but impressive. They have a wonderful display of coral, and were the first aquarium to grow it, and they have the only display of phosphorescent coral found in the ocean depths. They also were the first to display nautiluses, which normally live 300-1,000 feet deep in the sea.

There were lots of other beautiful, strange, and unusual things to see, like the mudskipper, a truly amphibious fish that crawls on land using its fins and breathing through its skin.

Mudskipper

Beautiful sea stuff

Lion Fish

Unicorn Fish

Another worthwhile stop is the Museum of New Caledonia. These carved poles are typical decoration outside the huts.

Below is an example of a "headpiece" of typical Kanak money. It was not used for barter, but more for spiritual and tribal purposes, exchanged at weddings and ceremonies like that. Below the head is something  symbolizing the vertebrae like a string of shells, followed by a tail traditionally made from hair of the flying fox (really a large bat; see below), making the whole item 1-3 feet long, and it is kept in a woven purse.

Head of Kanak "Money"

Funeral masks and costumes are common in the South Pacific and Papua-New Guinea, used in ritual dances. Here is a local example.

Funeral Mask

There was a great example of a Grande Case in the museum also.

The next day, we took a trip to the Kanak Cultural Center, named after Jean-Marie Tjibaou,

Jean-Marie Tjibaou

a leader in the Kanak independence, assassinated in 1989. The building is a dramatic combination of the old and new, very impressive, and a must for any visit to Noumea. You will be greeted by a wooden carving of a mythical chief, whose pursuit of a local maiden led to a deep channel being dug by his appendage, separating the mainland from an island (or so I'm told).

Chief with Appendage

The views are spectacular.

The zoo is also worth a visit to see rare native wildlife, although hard to get to, with no public bus and requiring a hike up a steep, hot hill through a sketchy neighborhood. You can visit national bird, the rare flightless Cagou

and the previously mentioned Flying Fox. (When he stretched his wings, I felt like I was in the presence of the Batman!)

The highlight of the week was a day trip to L'Il- des-Pins (Isle of Pines). It is a 2-3 hour ferry ride south of Noumea, and was home to an infamous prison for political prisoners of the Paris Commune in the 1870's. Now it is known for outrigger (called pirogues here) canoe rides across peaceful bays studded with floating limestone isles, tall pines, coral reefs, great snorkeling, and capped of with a traditional bougna lunch (the Kanak version of a luau).

Pirogue

Baie d'Upi

Baie d'Ouamea

Le Roche islet in Baie de Kanumera

Moonrise on the Ferry back to Noumea

We had one day left in N.C., so took a short water taxi ride from Anse Vata beach to the Ile aux Canards (Isle of the Ducks) for more sea, sun, and snorkeling.

 
To summarize, New Caledonia:
1) Worth the trip.
2) Different than Polynesia.
3) Beautiful.
4) Did I mention hot, humid, and expensive?
and
5) Definitely NOT Scotland.
On to Sydney!

Finished and Unfinished Unfinished Business

"What exactly are you guys doing anyway?"-Sofia Wallace

Good question. We have entered the vaguely-structured portion of our sabbatical: we have a few semi-fixed dates (ie: return flight Melbourne to US June 16, 2011), but how we get there is the challenge. My two goals in coming to New Zealand were to see the whole country and to work to make money to pay for it. The first part proved more of a challenge than I anticipated. So, from leaving Timaru Feb 27 until flying off to New Caledonia March 15, the plan was to visit noteworthy parts of the North Island not yet seen.
Because of the earthquake, instead of traveling through Christchurch and bidding adieu to friends, we flew Timaru-Wellington direct, and went a short way north to the Kapiti Coast, noted for scenic beaches, Kiwi retirees, and especially Kapiti Island Nature Preserve five miles off the coast.

Kapiti Island

Lagoon on north end of Kapiti Island

To get to the island, you need a permit from the Department of Conservation, then you book a ride on a boat towed into the Tasman Sea by a tractor-thingee. Very interesting. A lot of time, energy, and money have been spent to make the island predator-free, including cats and dogs, in order to give fragile native species a chance to survive. This has been quite successful (although it is worrisome that two stoats were trapped in the last year). We were able to see kakas

Kakas

and the almost extinct takahes.

Takahe-Adult

Takahe- Chick

We also paused long enough to catch the Oscars on satellite TV (congratulations to Christine Samas on her win of the Perkins Way traditional Arnold trophy).  Then we were off further up the coast towards Mount Taranaki (dubbed Mt. Egmont by Capt. Cook). En route we passed though Wanganui on the river of the same name, were in the 1800's steamship trips were pitched to the Europeans as a cruise up "the Rhine of Maori-land". We skirted around to the west of the mountain along Surf Highway 45 though Opunake, home of Olympic Champion middle-distance runner Peter Snell (and his statue: do something notable here, you get a statue),
 to arrive at New Plymouth, a very agreeable town worthy of a longer stay. But no time now. On to the nearly perfect volcanic cone of Taranaki.

Mt. Taranaki from New Plymouth

It so resembles Mt. Fuji, it stood in for it in "The Last Samurai". We were able to take a nice stroll part-way up, and were blessed with a lovely sunny day.

On the slopes of Taranaki

From there it was eastward along the "Forgotten World Highway" (these Kiwi PR people have intriguing names for everything), through the Republic of Whangamomona, on to Tongariro National Park. Here the main attraction is the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, billed as "the best one-day hike in New Zealand, a 19 km tramp over majestic volcanic mountain passes. I got up very early in the am, and went downstairs to be disappointed to learn that the shuttles to and from the trail-heads were not running for at least the next few days due to heavy rain, high winds, and snow flurries.I have since found out this was not uncommon, and many people are not able to time a visit to allow the trek. Here is an example of what I missed.

On the Tongariro Alpine Crossing trail© Jiri Kulhanek, Dreamstime.

Oh well, next trip. We were able to take a few much shorter walks to see some of the sights, such as these two waterfalls.

Tawhai Falls

Taranaki Falls

We then headed over to the east coast, for Napier and the Hawke's Bay, noted for Art Deco Buildings and wineries. The Art Deco was the result of a devastating 1931 earthquake that destroyed most of the downtown, which was rebuilt in the style of the times. Until last month, it was considered the most destructive quake in NZ history. Napier milks the Art Deco thing for all its worth. In fact, many buildings throughout the country are of that vintage, and I think the hype is overdone. Pleasant seaside town, though, home to the small National aquarium.

Typical Taupo Trout

Back inland, to Lake Taupo, "the largest lake in Australasia", formed after a massive volcanic eruption in 180 AD, noted by Roman and Chinese historians.It is now home to gigantic trout, brought in from elsewhere, and is considered one of the prime trout fishing areas in the world. We didn't fish, but did take a cruise out onto the lake.

Lake Taupo with Mt. Tongoriro

Up the shoreline a bit, you can see some modern Maori rock carvings of ancient gods,lizards, and other figures.

Nothing builds an appetite like a boat trip, so next stop was at the aquaculture wonderland known as Huka Prawn Park. We eschewed the opportunity to catch our own crustaceans, and opted to have the professionals fill our plate

It is actually a cool concept, as they use geothermal warm waste water to raise the Malaysian river prawns, and made a nifty roadside attraction to boot.
After eating, it was off for more geothermal high jinks, being constantly aware of danger

"Danger" not her middle name

lurking in the steaming ooze at Orakei Karako, the largest geyser field in New Zealand.

Certain colorful hot water algae paint the silica terraces bright colors. Taupo is also the source of the mighty Waikato River, New Zealand's longest, and just a few kms north of town, the river jets through a tight gap in the rocks at Huka Falls.
 

 Going north towards Rotorua, we visited a fascinating place in new Zealand history, Lake Rotomahana, the site of the "Eighth Wonders of the World", the White and Pink terraces.

White Terraces

Pink Terraces

(once again, tremendous PR job). I can't relate the whole story, but there was a very brisk tourist trade bringing Pakeha (Europeans) across land and lakes to these stunning natural marvels, with their gradations of natural sinter hot pools, which ended abruptly around 3 am on June 10, 1886 with the brief but violent eruption of Mt. Tarawera, thought to have exploded the terraces, and submerging the site as the mud and ash formed a dam, raising the lake level 200 feet. The exciting news is that this year, a robot sub has found what they think are parts of the Pink Terraces.

Mt. Tarawera across Lake Rotomahana

Outside of Rotorua is one of the premier "agrotainment" complexes in the known world: The Agrodome. Why my desire to visit? Two things.

1) The awesome pyramid of sheep, displaying the 17 breeds of sheep bred in NZ, the Merino towering above all else: and,

The Author with some local talent

2) Sheep shearing (which is a big money competitive sport/occupation here, and I couldn't quite manage to see a real-life example on a working South Canterbury farm). I was not disappointed.

We were headed to Auckland, but en route detoured through Hobbiton, also known as Matamata. They locals have managed to be a mecca for Lord of the Ring devotees for years because the set for the shire was here in a sheep pasture. It is now being resurrected as filming of the Hobbit is set to start. We did not take the tour.
In general, I have had good luck booking through the Internet, but not so much this time. The "Cheap and Cheerful" rate at the  "4-star Conference Center" was not nearly cheap nor cheerful enough, reminding me of the classic New Yorker cartoon captioned "On the Internet, no one knows you're a dog." Someone or something must be looking after us though, because after bailing out on that place (and getting a full refund), I drove downtown, got lost, and ended up pulling into a very nice studio apartment hotel in Newmarket, a very lively and attractive neighborhood full of nice restaurants and interesting shops. I had a little business to conduct in town, and we ended up spending our last six days in Auckland. The weather was "mostly fine" (a common forecast here. There was a lot going on simultaneously, such as the Pasifika Festival,

Pasifika Festival 2011

billed as the largest gathering of its kind for Pacific Island nations. Also happening were the Auckland Arts Festival (featuring performances by Vietnamese water puppeteers and musicians), and the Fringe Festival. (We didn't quite make that.) It also was good to havehave time to revisit some of my favorite places from our very first time here in April, 2010, like the top of Mt. Eden, looking back across the city. On Saturday, we went to the weekly Asian/Polynesian Otara Market in the south of town, and I considered it a tremendously good omen when I ran into Kimmi, one of our great guides from the Milford Track adventure in November.

Kimmi and Me, Otara Market

 The day before was the horrible Japanese earthquake. At Port Waikato, where the great river empties into the Tasman Sea, notice how concerned the beach-goers seem to be about the tsunami warning. Fortunately, there was only minimal minor damage in NZ, but once again, everyone's thoughts and prayers go to those not so fortunate (all too frequently lately).
I had time for one final adventure, a ferry to Rangitoto Scenic Reserve, a volcanic Island Park in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf, for a hike up to the summit for great view back across to City Center.

Rangitoto Island

Now it is time to pack everything up again and head off to the West, leaving a country (at least for now) which has been very good to me for the last year. As far as my goal to see the whole of New Zealand, there are a few places still left for me to see, and most every place I have been I would like to go back and spend more time.

View of CBD, with Sky Tower in the distance