Nouvelle Calédonie

We’ve been enjoying the highlights of Noumea today. We spent an all too brief stop in the capital of New Caledonia visiting three of its most popular sights on a whirlwind 2.5 hour bus tour. Our boat docked at 7:30am before sailing again shortly after 3:30pm.

Garry and I disembarked early to spend an hour wandering through the centre of town before joining the bus tour. Our walk took us past Place des Cocotiers (which translates as Coconut Tree Square), past the rather forlorn City Market and Fish Market before making our way back along the waterfront.

Place des Cocotiers features several landmarks including a white marble fountain adored with a classic white marble goddess. However, it’s newest addition, unveiled in June 2022, is a statue depicting a famous handshake between Karnak separatist leader Jean-Marie Tjibaou and loyalist Caldoche leader Jacques Lafleur that sealed the French-brokered Matignon Accords. This agreement brought to a close decades of often violent conflict between the territory’s indigenous and settler communities.

The first stop on our bus tour was the quaint cream and yellow trimmed Eglise Norte-Dame de L’Immaculee Conception. This beautiful little church is starting point of Christianity in New Caledonia. Its exterior includes an impressive statue of the Madonna on the top of its bell tower.

We then drove to the world renowned Tjibaou Cultural Center. This distinctive building was designed by Italian architect, Renzo Piano. It sits on a narrow peninsula and features a series of pavilions shrouded in spiny towers patterned after traditional Karnak grand huts. The tallest of these ten iconic structures is an impressive 28 metres high. 

Our tour spent 45 minutes at the centre visiting both the award-winning building and an actual Karnak grand hut relocated and reassembled nearby within the grounds. This towering conical structure was once home to a local Karnak chief. It’s thatched, timber construction is genuinely impressive both inside and out. Sadly our tour didn’t stop long enough to visit any of the centre’s cultural exhibits other than a brief wander through its hall of totems.

The totem hall houses six impressive totem poles collected from across the Pacific region. I was captivated by the colourful Nambal totem. It’s capped by a soaring bird with its wings spread wide. This particular totem comes from Vao Island located in northern Vanuatu. Although, others in our group were drawn to the equally towering reef sculpture outside. This graphic artwork depicts a rather erotic legend that tells the story of the Olal Reef’s creation. I’ll let the photo above speak for itself!

The last stop on our tour was the Quen Toto Hill lookout. The crest of this hill is adorned with a heavy artillery gun from the Second World War. Out guide explained that Noumea was a major front base for the American during the war. In the centre of town you can still see remnants of a large military hospital that nursed casualties from the infamous battle for Guadalcanal.

The lookout also offered an expansive view of the lagoon and many inlets that shape the southern coast of New Caledonia. We also caught a brief glimpse of our boat anchored in the heart of town.

I’ll leave you with a final fun fact. New Caledonia contains about 7.1 million tonnes of nickel reserves, about 10% of the world's total. As a result, nickel production accounts for 6% of the island's GPD, 24% of private employment and almost 90% of exports by value. 

Noumea Harbour’s northern shore is dominated by a massive smelting plant that includes a lengthy, slightly iridescent, green slag hill. We noticed green glass granules in the concrete paving around town. Apparently the local authorities are seeking creative ways to make productive use of this ever-growing pile of industrial waste. 

Follow this link as we explore our final port of call in New Caledonia, the island of Lifou.

UPDATE

We subsequently made an unscheduled return sailing to Noumea two days later.  Follow this link to learn more.