31. December 2010 10:43
by Rene Pallesen
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New Caledonia - New Years Eve

31. December 2010 10:43 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

When we arrived to New Caledonia we started to find a good place/party to celebrate New Years eve.

As far as we could tell it sounded like the hotel we were staying at was the place to be, but when we tried to book we were told that it was fully booked and that we were number twenty-six on the waiting list. Fortunately we received confirmation a couple of days later that we now had a confirmed booking at the party.

On new years eve we were greeted by musicians playing local music and girls putting a Lei around our necks. Kim and I was going to bring Aiden along to the party (fortunately there was other kids there as well).

Aiden wasn't sure what to think of the Lei...I think he would prefer not to have one as it tickled.

There was about 3-400 guests at the party and the food was absolutely fantastic. It was a buffet of 25-30 dishes of mainly seafood ranging from fresh oysters (still moving in their shell), lobster salads, sushi to fresh Sashimi cut straight from a massive tuna.

This was followed by entertainment from dancers and musicians.

After the entertainment the dance floor was open and pretty much everyone (including Kim and I) was dancing. Aiden got his first dance with mummy (all the other guest were laughing).

At midnight everyone celebrated the new year with a toast.

After midnight we headed up to our hotel room to see if there was any fireworks (there was a little so Aiden got to experience his first fireworks).

29. December 2010 09:37
by Rene Pallesen
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New Caledonia - The Cultural Centre

29. December 2010 09:37 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

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One day we went to the cultural centre in Noumea. This is a short drive on the outskirts of the city (Noumea the capital isn't much more than a little suburb consisting of only 76,000 people).

I have seen photos of this place and I also vaguely remember seeing it in a movie or two without ever realising where it is. The architecture of the Cultural centre is absolutely stunning. It cost France more that 50 million Euros to build the centre and it has got a unique local style that fits in very well with the surroundings.

The centre is surrounded by some gardens huts, and as you walk around there is various art work and totem poles symbolising various aspects of the Kanak culture.

There is also the story of the creation...amazing how similar it is to Darwinism. Maybe Darwin heard these stories on some of his travels and based his story "Origin of the Species" on some of these.

One thing that is a real pity is the usage of the cultural centre. We happened to walk in through the back entrance and discovered that half the building (which is actually quite large) s totally empty. The other half is displaying modern indigenous art where most of the artwork is from the Torres Strait, Vanuatu or Fiji. There is hardly any display of any local artwork and your certainly don't get an insight into the local Kanak culture as intended. The result is that it is not getting a lot of visitors.

What Kim and I was expecting was a display of what the local life was before the colonisation through to how the colonisation changed the way of living. They could have a display of local clothing, tools and weapons before colonisation and tell show how people lived of the land. They could also have 'actors' telling the local dream stories.

The modern display old be showing how the french settlers and the local Kanks are trying to mend their historical legacy and leave peacefully together.

28. December 2010 08:33
by Rene Pallesen
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New Caledonia - The Aquarium

28. December 2010 08:33 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

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One of the days we walked to the Aquarium in Noumea (just down the street from the hotel). We didn't expect too much, but we were very pleasantly surprised.

Although the aquarium isn't all that big it is extremely well set up with a very interesting display of everything from mangrove plants and fish (including the missing link ones with legs that made Darwin conclude that life must have started in the oceans) to huge displays with corals, sharks and barracudas.

It was Aiden's first time in an aquarium and we could tell that he had a good time (even though it was extelemy hot in there) looking at all those colourful objects (U.F.O's) swimming around.

Here some more photos from the visit...enjoy:

27. December 2010 10:10
by Rene Pallesen
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New Caledonia Beaches and Islands

27. December 2010 10:10 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

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The water was really nice and warm in New Caledonia, my guess is that it would have been close to 30 degrees close to the shore and in protected bays and probably around 27 elsewhere.

Although we were staying at the beach we decided to have a look around the island to see what other beaches were in the area.

In the first day we drove to Kuendu Bay which is about ten minutes from the city centre and is a really nice little protected bay mainly used by locals. The water here was really calm so this was a good opportunity to give Aiden his first swimming lesson.

As you can tell he wasn't completely at ease initially, but after a couple of minutes he started enjoying it.

Aiden also really enjoyed lying on the beach in the shade of a tree and talk to mummy.

On one of the following days we drove up the north coast to a place called Poe Beach and by this time he was a lot more into it (maybe because he was wearing pants this time).

Just after we left this beach we found an ever more beautiful stretch just a couple of minutes away, but less protected by the reef.

This area was absolutely stunning with the pine trees that are so unique to New Caledonia.

On another day we took the boat to one of the islands of the coast (Ilot Maitre) and spend the whole day there.

I wasn't feeling 100% this day. Before we went away the whole of Kims family came down with a 24 hour bug...I think I got the same bug and ended up sleeping most of the afternoon under a tree in the shade (fortunately I was ok again next day).

I also got a chance to take some more beach photos of the family, here one of Aiden and Mummy.

And I spent a couple of minutes taking some sexy model photos of Kim on the beach down from our hotel. I wish we'd had more time to do some more photos, but it was hard to get her to do it in the first place (and once we did it I was hurrying up so much that a lot of them got fumbled up unfortunately).

...and of cause when we didn't go to the beach there was also the massive pool at the hotel.

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