No more Noumea

My simple request for a coffee and a coke resulted in a scowl as though I had just asked the waitress for her keys to the car in order to take her teenage daughter on a filthy weekend to Mexico. To make double sure I got the message and did not return she charged me $6 for a can coke. 

Welcome to Noumea! Forget quaint cafe's filled with gruff but pleasant chain-smoking Frenchmen and instead you find a city where prices are so eye-wateringly high that one is afraid to leave the boat in case the monthly budget is blown on daily dock fees for the dinghy. The one redeeming feature is the baguette selection in the supermarket but they charge over twice the amount we paid in Papeete.

Venture ashore we did! The people in Noumea must have very good jobs or very good dole as not many places in the world would one find groups of the local rhasta tramps sitting around at 9:30am in an expensive Brasserie drinking $8 beers. Maybe they were famous musicians who prioritised the consumption of food and beverages over clothing…and personal hygiene…and manners. 

Needless to say Noumea was my low light of the South Pacific. Maybe amplified due to the fact that it is our last island before we cross to our first continent in over 13000 miles so we were expecting more. 

I don't think I shall be returning to New Caledonia and if I were to do this again, I would rather jump off from Vanuatu and stop at Chesterfield reef en route. Saying that, it could be that I was just grumpy as I had contracted a mild version of bronchitis (maybe from the local nickel factory polluting the surroundings) and was boat ridden for a week. Friends that sailed to the surrounding islands said that it was beautiful with some great snorkelling. If you are to venture to New Caledonia, explore the outer islands and spend as little time as possible in the sewage drenched city of Noumea.