Backpacking Mamasita: New Caledonia Through My Eyes

Christmas Day 2014, I put my novel back into my backpack and made my way to Aircalin aircraft when it was time for boarding to New Caledonia, a country in the South Pacific that sits under French territory. I felt so excited to finally set foot in this new gem!

Noumea

As we were getting ready to take off, I started chatting with a girl who sat next to me. She was a New Caledonian who just finished her apprenticeship in New Zealand. Her family was with her on the plane also as they came to visit her. Three hours later we touched down in the capital, Noumea. They offered to drop me off at my hostel after I asked them where should I go to catch public bus to city centre. Being it was Christmas Day, they reckoned there was none operating that day. On the way to the hostel, they asked if I would be interested to join them and their extended family on Christmas dinner that evening. Without hesitation, I said yes! Such a great experience to see the insight of local people, I thought. Although New Caledonia is predominantly French, there are lots of other culture also, a melting pot of many nationalities that were brought here long time ago by either work or any other reasons and they decided to settle here generations after generations. The family who invited me for example, has an interesting mixture of Japanese, Vietnamese and Tahitian. This was shown also by the exotic feast we had that evening. Thank you for opening your home and introduced me to local hospitality! Merci à tous xo. Other common culture here are Indonesian, Wallisia and Chinese. Like Maori people in New Zealand, they also have indigenous people called Kanak. Despite a lots of language that came from different background, French is the main one and widely spoken, around 98% according to statistic.

Christmas dinner with local hospitality

Sunset view of Noumea from my hostel balcony

I booked myself in two type of accommodations, first at Youth Hostel or Auberge De Jeunesse as what they called it and then I also stayed at Le Parc Hotel. I splurged a bit for couple of nights on an Ocean View room at this hotel. The room was quite spacious and comfortable. I spent time in the balcony eating breakfast and dinner while enjoying the view of Anse Vata Beach and listening to the sound of waves. I felt so relaxed! At Youth Hostel I got to know many travelers from all over the world. This hostel has quite nice vibe with good mix of travelers. I also enjoyed hanging out in the balcony to see beautiful sunset. In terms of facilities like room etc, it may need a bit of work. And I found the location was quite tricky as it was on a steep hill.

Indonesian snacks-Onde onde and Lemper

At the market, I was so happy to find some Indonesian snack like Onde-onde and Lemper. Just like a little girl in a candy shop, I devoured them in no time. One of the quirky things of my travels is that I like eating at local market because that’s where the real food is and I quite liked the atmosphere around me. Food here in general is very good and tasty. To get out and about in Noumea, I took public bus. They have pretty good bus system and run quite frequent. Wherever you go within the city, there was only one fare of $2.70 per ride. Occasionally I brush up my rustic French with locals who happened to sit next to me. It was handy to know bit of French even just for a small talk and can be helpful when asking for direction. I always find commuting by public transport in another country interesting. To see locals interacting with each other and occasionally listening to music from a bus speaker. Sometimes I talked to the bus drivers and found out that some of them were Indonesian. Couple of them can still speak Bahasa, though some can only speak few words.

This kid was so cute and full of character!

There were some options to visit little islands from city wharf as day trips, one of them was Ilot Maitre. A 15 minutes boat trip from Anse Vata wharf near town centre. Beautiful island that has overwater bungalows. You can walk around the island for around 40 minutes. Snorkeling was okay. I was relaxing on the beach, talked to locals and catching up with my reading. I brought my own picnic lunch here as the cafe on the island was quite pricey. Return ferry to the island cost $32 per person. The following day, I went on excursion with Aquanature, half day snorkeling trip to the lagoon. It cost $93 with coffee, tea, cake and biscuit provided on the boat. New Caledonia Barrier Reef is the second-longest double-barrier coral reef in the world. It was great to see some manta rays, colorful fishes, turtles as well as beautiful corals. The boat was anchored nearby from Amédée Island which is famous for its iron lighthouse known as one of the tallest lighthouses in the world. When I wasn't beach bumming, I visited Tjibaou Centre Culturel, I went there with a British girl whom I met at the hostel and was also a solo traveler. This cultural centre is located about 15 minutes by bus from Noumea city centre. Admission fee was $6.5. It has an impressive architecture of the building as well as traditional Tribe houses of indigenous Kanak people which located at the back of the building. The downside, there was not much information in English as they were mostly in French.

Tjibaou Culturel Centre

Art of Kanak, indigenous people in New Caledonia

From the capital, I flew to Isle of Pines(Ile des Pins) about 30 minutes flight from Magenta Domestic Airport. Alternatively, there is also high speed ferry that runs regularly and it takes around 2.5 hours. For 4 days in this island, I stayed at Atchu Camping, located tucked away in the end of Kanumera bay. A simple Chalet with only mattress on the floor and a switch on/off battery powered lamp costed me around $39/night. There was also option of camping which was much cheaper. I loved the simplicity of this place and the rustic feeling about it. Sometimes it was too simple, like to get hot water for your coffee, you need to first boil water using open fire. There was no electric kettle. Just a black and well-used pot. Atchu Camping has its own turquoise colored beach. However, most of the time the water can be quite choppy because of its location, so not very ideal for snorkeling. The guest here usually hopped on a kayak and paddled to an islet or they walked next door to the 4 star hotel and enjoyed much calmer water there. I met many travelers around dinner time, from local tourist to French and Australian travelers. Every night we sat together and dined at communal tables. I couldn’t get enough of the meals there, it was tasty! From local fish with rice to snail cooked with parsley, garlic and butter. Yum! On New Year’s Eve, we had all you can eat buffet of lobster, oyster, chicken, snails, prawn, crab au gratin and suckling pig. There was also traditional Kanak dish called Bougna. This local delicacy often contains taro, yam, sweet potato, banana and pieces of either chicken or seafood. The contents are wrapped in banana leaves and then buried to cook in a ground oven, which uses red-hot rocks heated by fire. After about two hours of cooking, the banana leaves are unearthed and unwrapped, and the contents are then eaten. We washed them down with pretty potent alcoholic punch. Closer to midnight, we all went to the beach to watch fireworks. Then the night and music went on until early hours of morning.

Flying over reef on the way to Isle of Pines

Bougna, traditional dish

New Year's Eve feast at Atchu Camping

Since there was no bus in this island, me and 2 other friends from camping ground did some hitchhiking to go around. Apparently it's quite common here for tourist to hitchhike with locals. We visited an old convent, old prison and cemetery of the prisoners. On the way back, we walked towards the beach to cool off. The next day, we did a day trip to La Piscine Naturelle or Natural Swimming Pool. First, we took a van arranged by camping ground up to Upi Bay, then from here we were transferred to an outrigger canoe and we were slowly crusing the breathtaking lagoon. It was a mint day to do this, we were all marvelling the rock formation that we passed by as well as turtles and small reef sharks we spotted along the way!

La Piscine Naturelle

Kanumera Bay

Once we reached our stop, we got off and start trekking for about an hour until we saw a signage for 'La Piscine Naturelle'. We then followed the direction along the shallow river until we reached this gem. The name of this lagoon was self-explanatory. Oh this place was indeed paradise in the tropic! With unique mix of Pine trees and Coconut trees scattered around the whole area combined with striking turquoise color of the water. I snorkelled and snorkelled for God knows how long, with so many playful fishes around me, it was my ultimate playground. They came from all different directions when I tried to feed them with bread squeezed from a plastic bottle. With such clarity, great visibility and calm water, easy to summarize how superb that snorkelling session was. Paradise was indeed an understatement. This place was definitely the highlight of my visit in New Caledonia. I guess my sunburn said a lot about this!

Outrigger Canoe in Upi Bay

Back in the capital, I had one more day to relax before flying back to Auckland. I spent this day by going for a walk around the city centre. 11 days in New Caledonia was a pure bliss. I didn’t find any difficulty to go around despite my limited French. And although this country known as an expensive destination, it was possible to do it on a shoestring budget. Last but not least, having to know basic French would help especially if you also travel to other islands. However, don’t worry too much about getting lost in translation. “There is no such thing as language barrier when there is kindness and laughter.” - Satori

There are so many beautiful places in the world I want to see but there are also some special places that I wish to go back to one day. And it's not hard to put New Caledonia on this list :)

Bisous x