Paris of the PACIFIC
SEBASTIAN VAN DER ZWAN SAYS BONJOUR TO LA BELLE NEW CALEDONIA
It’s only a three-hour flight from Auckland, but when I touch down in New Caledonia, it feels like a whole other world.
This is not the kind of Pacific island I’m used to. While it is delightfully warm and there are plenty of palm trees, the locals speak French, they drive on the right-hand side of the road and they play petanque by the beach.
As I’m lying by la piscine at the luxurious Ramada Hotel & Suites Nouméa, munching on a tray of macarons left as a welcome gift, I can’t help but think the Gallic touch makes this tropical getaway just that extra bit exotic.
Even a nearby toddler having a tantrum in French almost seems cute!
After acclimatising to this baguette-shaped Paris of the Pacific, I hop on a ferry from Nouméa to Amédée Island, a tiny coral atoll dominated by an historic lighthouse, and fringed by white sand and crystal-clear water.
It’s an idyllic Garden of Eden, a view enhanced by the exhilarating presence of beautiful but poisonous banded sea snakes, which regularly wind their way up the beach but generally leave visitors alone.
However, the big animal attraction here is the green sea turtles. I spy a couple of them on a glass-bottomed boat ride, swim alongside a few while snorkelling on the reef and even stumble across half a dozen of them paddling about in the water while I’m wading in the shallows. Ooh là là! They may be endangered animals, but they’re not rare here.
Package trips to the island also include a delicious banquet with French and Pacific cuisine, plus all-you-can-drink Bordeaux wine and rum punch, as well as a fun, colourful performance by a native Kanak cultural group. Oh, and entry to the 56m-tall Napoleonic lighthouse – be sure to climb the 247 steps to the top for panoramic views.
It’s not hard to understand why Amédée Island is regularly rated as Nouméa’s numberone attraction.
The next day, back on the mainland, I jump in a four- wheel drive for a tour of
New Caledonia’s Great South with local firm Toutazimut. My guide Wamy is a funny font of knowledge as we bump along tracks rarely seen by visitors and take in what he refers to the island’s “tragic beauty”.
Amid the wind farms and forestry plantations are vast, barren moonscapes of bright red soil, a sad but visually striking legacy of cobalt mining that makes for fantastic photos.
Also a delight for snappers is the former penal colony of Prony, where 1800s-era cells crumble amid the twisted roots of banyan trees.
After a couple of thrilling river crossings, which Wady refers to as “car washes”, we arrive at Chutes de la Madeleine, a très jolie waterfall that proves the perfect place for a picnic of filled croissants and pastries.
That evening, back in the city, I head for cocktails at the cute beachside bar MV Lounge, in the Baie des Citrons, and watch the sun set amid colourful lanterns. It’s a perfect end to what has been a magnifique weekend away.