The Loyalty Islands: A Must See

We're back from our 11-day tour of the Loyalty Islands with the best of news. You must absolutely see them. If ever you get the chance to get to New Caledonia, you really must try to see Maré, Lifou and Ouvéa - in addition to Ile des Pins. We spent 3-5 days on each island and I'll spend the next few posts telling you all about our adventures and sharing Laurent's and Sophie's fabulous photos.

As a teaser, Maré is the wildest, most desolate (and thus the most charming) of the three. Ouvéa is truly a paradise (the photo above was taken in Ouvéa). And Lifou is unmatched for its tropical fish and coral. I thought "Grande Terre" (the main island of New Caledonia) was stunning. The Loyalty Islands win, hands down.

Photo by Laurent Guiader, 2006.

Sophie and Pablo Up and Out

Photo by Laurent Guiader, 2006.

We interrupt our tour of the Loyalty Islands with this newsflash on Sophie and Pablo.

I have been amiss on the blog as of late as Sophie has had her exchange partner from New Zealand visiting for the last ten days. Nicky was an absolute delight - it was fun to see how other anglophone (English-speaking/culture) teenagers view and operate in the world. We came away thinking that New Zealanders are wonderfully cool and easy and spontaneous and full of life. She was a true pleasure to be around. To give Nicky a feel for New Caledonia, we took the girls camping in Poé (two and a half hours north), we took a day trip to Phare Amédée (home of the famous sea snake story) and spent an afternoon at Ile aux Canards (great snorkelling). Of course there was shopping and afternoons spent at the Baie des Citrons as well.

Now in a few days, Sophie is off to Europe for four weeks! Ack! We are running around getting everything ready for her trip to Paris and London - and I am missing her already. Her summer break has flown by - what with ten days in Loyalty Islands, ten days of her in New Zealand, ten days of having her exchange partner here and now she is up and out across the world for a month. What a charmed life she leads!

Meanwhile, Pablo is up and walking around the room (holding onto furniture), any room, whenever he can. He has also taken to waking at 5 in the morning and talking (loudly) until nap time between 8.30 and 9.00. He has much to say. He is still not sleeping through the night ("Sacrée Mary", as Laurent says - as our friend Mary predicted that Pablo would not sleep much before he was born) and both Laurent and I wonder where he gets his energy. Pablo is nonetheless one of the world's happiest babies, so no complaining here!

Wages in New Caledonia

Photo by Laurent Guiader, 2006.

With the cost of living being high in New Caledonia, I am often asked if the salaries are commiserate. How are people able to make it here - given that rent, food and clothing are all expensive?

There are several populations on the island. There are the public service employees (the military, the teachers, the administrators, the postal workers, etc.). There are the people who are paid minimum wage (those who work in the food industry, commerce, tourism, etc.). There are the retirees. There are the people who have come from the Loyalty Islands to earn a living to send back to their families.

In general, the public service employees are very well paid in comparison to the average New Caledonian citizen. Those who come for fixed stays often have a very nice salary (higher than they would earn in the "metropole" - mainland France) and some have lodging practically free of charge. They also receive a bonus for being here. The idea is that they should be recompensed for having to living so far away from France. My sense is that the public service employees are among the highest paid. They can easily afford the cost of living here and still have money left over at the end of the month. They generally own cars and boats and their children own scooters and mobile phones.

The minimum monthly wage in New Caledonia is €963.70 (or $1,280.68) . The hourly rate is approximately €6,02 (or $8.00). I know that babysitters are paid approximately €5 an hour, and maids €5,86 an hour. When you look at how much it costs to live in New Caledonia, one wonders how people living on minimum wage make it. Basically, they live frugally. They buy a lot of rice, they shop at the markets, they do not own luxury items, they do not have Internet, they do not go out on outings (many of the locals have never been to the neighbouring islands, much less Australia or New Zealand). They also do not live in big, expensive houses or apartments in town. There are ghettos here, and some build homes out of cardboard boxes or tin siding.

The retirees receive their monthly pensions and then some. They are what we call "indexé". They can receive up to 20-40% more on top of their pensions. Again, this goes back to way back when when it took a week to get here by boat. France esteemed that those willing to travel to, and live in, such a faraway place should be recompensed for such a thing. There is some debate at the moment as to whether or not the indexation should be stopped (it costs France and its taxpayers a pretty penny) - or at least rewarded to those who have worked on the island. For you see, French citizens who come to retire here can receive such an indexation, never having worked here.

Lastly, there are the islanders (from Lifou, Maré and Ouvéa) who come to Nouméa to make a living. My hunch is that they carve out a life for themselves, but it is no picnic. Some of them live in the ghettos - thereby avoiding paying rent and electricity, so as to send more back home. They work as hard as they can and their kids generally stay back on the islands with the tribes. As there is little or no work on the islands, living and working in Nouméa is one of their only choices.

Methinks there is a fifth population - the Caldoches, the island's white local population. They own businesses and nice homes. They've been here a long time and have worked hard for all that they have. They send their kids to mainland France to get good educations and they invest in New Caledonia to keep it thriving.

Gone Snorkellin'

We're off for a tour of the Loyalty Islands, a group of islands 100 km off the eastern coast of New Caledonia. For ten days, we'll be snorkelling in Maré, Ouvéa and Lifou. We'll also be visiting the islands' many caves and water holes, eating fresh seafood and enjoying the silky flour-like sand on Ouvéa's 25 km stretch of beach. Rumoured to be the "island closest to paradise", we'll take plenty of photos of Ouvéa to share with you upon our return. Happy Christmas to one and all!

Lifou: Picture Paradise

Photo by Julie Harris, 2006.

Close your eyes and picture paradise for a moment. What colour is it? What do you hear? What do you smell? Who is with you?

Our very own version of paradise is right here in New Caledonia. The photo above was taken in Lifou, on Christmas day. Lifou is one of the Loyalty Islands - islands located just off of New Caledonia's mainland (or grande terre). It takes an hour or so to get there by plane (photo left, just over Lifou), about four hours by boat.

On Lifou, you'll find the perfect combination of beauty, things to do and see, not too many people, friendly islanders, good food and a range of places to stay.

Would we say Lifou is our favourite Loyalty Island? Quite possibly. A very close second is Maré ... but then Ouvéa is gorgeous as well. And there is the lovely Ile des Pins ...

Ouvéa: The Most Beautiful Loyalty Island

Photo by Laurent Guiader, 2006.

To return to tales of our tour of the Loyalty Islands over Christmas, we'll turn now to Ouvéa, the most beautiful of the islands. Ouvéa is known as one of the most exquisite coral atolls of the Pacific Ocean. Hard to beat, Ouvéa sports a 25 kilometre-long stretch of unbroken white beach, an enormous aquamarine lagoon and a peacefulness unknown in this world. The island is 35 km long and in some places less than 40 metres wide. A single road runs north to south, most times along the long stretch of beach, through coconut groves - and at other times along the very edge of the deep blue Pacific Ocean.

Ouvéa gets its name from the Wallisian word uvea, meaning "island far away". Historically, it has seen many turbulent times, divided between Melanesian and Polynesian cultures as well as by religion. In the late 1980s, violent political events shook Ouvéa, the tremors of which were felt all over New Caledonia and France.

Lifou: The Largest Loyalty Island

Photo by Laurent Guiader, 2006.

Covering 1196 square kilometres (81 km long and 16-24 km wide), Lifou is the largest - and most culturally diverse - of the Loyalty Islands. Bigger than both Tahiti and Martinique, this raised coral atoll is also geographically diverse, with limestone caves, bleached white sand and rich sea life. It does not have any hills or rivers, however.

Lifou is also the most populated Loyalty Island, with some 10 000 inhabitants. 20% of the population live off the island in Nouméa (New Caledonia's capital), though, for employment or education reasons. Tourism is the major industry on the island, though Lifou also exports copra, rubber, vanilla and sugarcane.

The native language on the island is Drehu. French is also spoken as is a tiny bit of English.

Maré: The Second Largest Loyalty Island

Photo by Laurent Guiader, 2006.

We began our tour of the Loyalty Islands in Maré (pictured above) on 15 December. We stayed three days and nights in a little village called Cengeite (a coastal village in the southwest). The second largest Loyalty Island, Maré is only 42 km (26 miles) long and 16-33 km (10-20 miles) wide.

From the start, we were impressed by Maré's wildness. I love the west of Ireland and Brittany for their unspoiled beauty. And I used to think that Ile des Pins was cut off from the rest of the world. We found Maré to be even more remote.

There are no signs indicating where you are or how to get to various sites. There are few cars, a handful of tiny hole-in-the-wall grocery stores, a few gas stations, a medical centre (but no hospital), a pharmacy, one bank (where the ATM is located inside - and thus only available the few hours the bank is open) and two post offices. There are some 6 900 people of mainly Melanesian heritage (less than 2% of the population is of European ancestry). They make up some 20 tribes who speak one tribal language (Nengone) along with French.

Despite its wildness and its remoteness, we found plenty to do on the island - tales of which are soon to come...

Ororé lu ("See you tomorrow" in Nengone).

Tsunami Alert in the South Pacific: No Danger to New Caledonia

The tsunami that devastated the Solomon Islands today brought no damage to New Caledonia. On alert for two hours this morning, the tsunami crashed down on the Loyalty Islands - at 15 cm high, a "vaguelette" or "baby wave".

The public was fully alerted however and inhabitants made for higher ground. By 10:38 everyone was out of harm's way and by 11:15 the alert was over. Everyone could go home.

Maré: A Tour of the Island Begins

Photo by Laurent Guiader, 2006.

To continue our story of our tour of the Loyalty Islands, we spent the second day (16 December) in Maré touring the island with a local guide. We started here, at a picturesque (and often photographed) corner of Maré, not too far from our hotel (Nengone Village). A stone's throw away, you can get down into the cove where you have one of the nicest beaches (la plage de pede) and snorkelling locations in Maré.

We then drove to the natural aquarium (pictured below), which is an outdoor inlet fed by the sea flowing under the coral formations. It provides a wonderful refuge for fish and turtles and it is forbidden to swim or fish there. We were thoroughly impressed with the number of fish you could see and the water's transparency.

Photo by Laurent Guiader, 2006.

Stay tuned for the rest of the tour ...

New Caledonia on High Alert: Cyclone Becky on the Way

At 19:00 today New Caledonia was put on Cyclone Alert 1 (there are three levels of alert: pre-alert, 1 and 2). Apparently tropical cyclone Becky was 250 km north-northwest of Lifou at that time and travelling at 25 km per hour. It is predicted that she will hit the Loyalty Islands tonight or tomorrow morning.

All schools will be closed tomorrow and we are being encouraged to stay home with our extra bottles of water, candles and basic provisions.

More news will normally be available at 5:00 local time at Meteo France's Alerte cyclonique page.

Maré: Warrior's Leap

To continue our tour of the Loyalty Islands, which we undertook over Christmas 2006 ...

Legend has it that a warrior, harassed by his enemies, leaped across this gaping 5-meter wide crevice in the cliff that dominates Allier Bay in Maré. All of his enemies fell to their deaths as they attempted the same feat.

A terrible fear of heights kept both Sophie and I from trying our luck, though Laurent most likely would have tried in his younger days.

Photo by Laurent Guiader, 2006.

Maré: Its People

Photo by Laurent Guiader, 2006.

We were lucky enough to meet and talk with some of the locals in Maré (Maréans) - not so in Ouvéa (which was where we went next). We found them to be very warm and welcoming - but not warm and welcoming in the touristy kind of way. They were genuinely open and willing to share their culture, not for money but out of pride for their island and their way of life. Unlike on the main island (Grande terre) of New Caledonia, the Maréans (largely Melanesian) control how things are run on the island (which is also true on the other Loyalty Islands and Ile des Pins). Only about 2% of the population on this island are French - so you really feel as if you are in direct contact with the locals, the minute you arrive.

On our tour day of the island, we spent a morning with our Kanak guide above (click on the photo for a larger image). Not only did he take us all over the island, but he talked about what his life was like. As it was the holiday season, and Santa Claus had arrived by boat the night before, and there had been fireworks and parties into the night and early morning, he was a little worse for the wear. (Kanaks like to party in a big way - we saw a number of them flat out from all the partying during our tour and our guide explained that all the shops were closed, because after they had been drinking, they could get aggressive and either walk out with the shops' merchandise or get into nasty fights ...)

In the photo above, our guide had just taken us down into an enormous cavity that led to an underground water hole. He explained that the names we saw on the cave walls were the result of competitions - the men like to climb the walls (as high as they can go) and then carve their names in the walls. Mind you, our guide was about 35 years old. When I asked if women and children came down into the water hole, he said that they all do. They all love to swim there - and that the more women there are, the higher the men climb.

Throughout our tour, we saw children playing in the dirt roads. We are accustomed to seeing them bare foot (you often see them running and playing soccer bare foot in Nouméa), but due to the heat, they were also entirely naked. Smiling, laughing, they would continue their games in the street despite the approach of a dusty Peugot 206 and look after us with a vague (and passing) curiosity. They made me hanker after their total simplicity and unshakable "joie de vivre".

Ouvéa: The 1988 Massacre

Photo by Laurent Guiader, 2006.

To return to our tales of Ouvéa and the Loyalty Islands, I thought we should begin with the story of the 1988 massacre in Ouvéa. My thanks for the story go to the Lonely Planet's 4th edition of "New Caledonia", by Leanne Logan and Geert Cole:

"On 22 April 1988, just days before the French presidential election, a group of Kanaks captured the gendarmerie at Fayaoué, Ouvéa's capital, and killed four gendarmes. They took 27 hostages, 11 of whom were released, while the others were transported to a cave near Goosana, in the far north.

Ouvéa was declared a military zone and all communication and transport was cut. More than 300 soldiers were flown to the island and Captain Philippe Legorjus, head of France's elite antiterrorist squad, began negotiations with the hostage takers. During attempts to secure the hostages' release, Legorjus was captured but was freed after coming to an agreement with the group's young leader, Alphonse Dianou, on a date of release for the hostages. It was set for after the presidential election.

On 4 May, three days before the election, Captain Legorjus had two guns and a set of handcuff keys smuggled into the cave. In what was code-named Opération Victor, the military then stormed the cave and reported 'at least 16' people dead, all of them Kanaks. The following day, the figure was revised to 21, including two gendarmes. Later, allegations were made that four of the Kanaks, including the leader, Dianou, and Waine Amossa, a 19-year-old who had been sent into the cave to deliver food, were killed after they had surrendered. It was also claimed that the military tortured and beat civilians from Goosana during the operation. The human rights group Amnesty International took up the case, and France's Minister for Defence later announced that 'acts contrary to military duty have unfortunately been committed'. One gendarme was suspended but no judicial action was taken.

After the cave assault, 32 Ouvéan prisoners, including Djubelly Wea, a local independence movement leader and FULK (Front Uni de Libération Kanak) supporter, were flown to France to face trial. This was despite a previous assurance from the French High Commissioner in New Caledonia that trials would be held in Noumea. Wea was eventually released and the others were given amnesty as part of the Accords de Matignon. Wea returned home to find that his elderly father had died shortly after the hostage crisis. His father had apparently been beater and left tied up in the sun by the military, and was soon regarded as the '20th victim' of the Ouvéa massacre."

New Caledonia: Seven Things We Will Miss

Photo by Laurent Guiader, 2007.

Officially one month left in New Caledonia, time is slipping through our fingers. Two years have flown - where have they gone? New Caledonia is a part of us now and as some readers know, will always be a part of Pablo (who was born here). I think it will always be a part of all of us (and perhaps a small part of all of you).

So what will we miss, you ask?

1. The sun, the light, the warm weather.
2. The coral, the shells, the white sands.
3. The trees, the flowers, the fish and the birds.
4. The ease of life, the ease of living.
5. The silence and the wind.
6. The smiling people, the women who take your baby in the post office when he gets bored, the people who help you in grocery stores.
7. The blue, blue, blue of sea and sky, the transparent waters of the Loyalty Islands, and the visions of sailboats on Wednesdays at 5:15 pm.
   

What We Loved About Lifou

Photo by Laurent Guiader, 2007.

Some of you may remember that we visited the Loyalty Islands over Christmas and that I have written a little bit about our adventures on Maré and Ouvéa. The last island we visited was Lifou, the largest of the three.

Lifou is the size of Martinique and it is resplendent with things to do and see. Here are a few of the things we loved most about Lifou:

• Visiting a vanilla plantation and bringing back some vanilla to make vanilla coffee.
• Snorkeling in the north of the island on Christmas day. We snorkeled for well over an hour in deliciously warm water, surrounded by the greatest variety of tropical fish that we have seen in New Caledonia (we've snorkeled on the mainland, at the Ile des Pins and in Maré).
• Chatting with the very friendly locals (some of whom invited us to their big Christmas festivities).
• Picnicking on the beautiful white, sandy beaches and the turquoise sea.

Travel is Good for Everyone

Photo by Laurent Guiader, 2006.

We recently spent a week in Australia and I have to say, it was a boon! Five-month-old Pablo took his first aeroplane ride and two and a half hours later he was in a whole new country. He loved it! We totally broke with his usual schedule of playtime, nap, walk along the sea, lunch, nap, playtime, massage, walk, bath, bedtime. He found himself up and out in a major city (Sydney and then Melbourne and then Sydney again) visiting sharks and seals in the Sydney Aquarium, shopping with Big Sister Sophie, off to see Little Penguins (in the wild) in Phillip Island, visiting with koalas and wallabies at the Taronga Zoo and listening to the story of the 14-year trek towards the completion of the Sydney Opera House. The proud owner of half a dozen new baby books in English, a passport with Australian stamps and baby clothes for six months from now, Pablo is totally outfitted for his next big trip ... to the Loyalty Islands in December.