Noumea. Never on a Sunday.

Saturday 26^th January 2013. Australia Day in Noumea.

‘Pacific Jewels’ ties up at the dock here, so it’s come and go as you please. In an attempt to find some shirt fabric we head up the road towards Coconut Place, and find a shop that sells ready made clothes and fabrics. Problem is, the clothes are made from fabrics I like, but the fabrics for sale are very tropical and not what I’m after. Abandon that thought. Jenny and Steve and Co are in /coconut Place so we get a quick recap of last night’s trivia, we are defeated by one point! So close!! We get some XPF (Central Pacific Francs) from an ATM and head to the supermarket across the road from the dock. I have a bit of a thing for trolling the aisles of foreign supermarkets. We buy a few things to take home and return to the ship to drop off before heading out for some sightseeing. I have heard that the aquarium has been rebuilt since we were here in 1998 with the boys, so we’ll head over there, doesn’t seem like it’ll be too hard to get to. 

It’s a toss up whether we should get the local bus or buy a ticket on the Noumea Explorer. We go for the Explorer City Tour (1hr for $15AU pp which also gives us the hop-on hop-off bus for free instead of $10). We do this because the City tour will take us up to the lookout where we’ve never been and give us a quick orientation as well. 

view from Ouen Toro

We teach our orange- dyed hair driver  what a ‘ranga’ is and he is very amused, always interested in learning more Aussie slang. 

We grab a bite to eat at a restaurant on the foreshore of Baie des Citrons, a bbq chicken pizza that’s pretty good. The aquarium is well worth a visit, it’s much improved on the old one. We easily spend an hour there, goodness knows how many photos we’ve taken! It’s time to head back so we drag ourselves away and find the bus stop we need for our bus. It’s so hot! It’ll be beer o’clock when we get back. 

We thought trivia was 5.30 but a quick check on the Pacific Daily shows us it’s on at 4.30 so there’s only time for a quick freshen up. Again we’re beaten by one point. Bugger!

Captain Ravera gave his usual departure address this afternoon but then he changed over to the system that broadcasts into the passenger cabins, so we knew he had something really important to say. Apparently there is a low pressure system moving south along the NSW coast dishing up some stormy weather and high swells. He will be steering a more westerly course tonight instead of southerly in the hope of avoiding the system, more towards Brisbane at the moment, rather than Sydney. Time will tell if we are delayed returning to Sydney. At this rate we won’t be – he’s giving the engines what for, we’re doing about 19 knots! Dinner tonight is booked for 6pm at one of Cecilia’s tables. We are escorted in by the lovely Cecilia herself – the full star treatment! I felt a bit like the lovely, older vision impaired lady we met earlier. Every meal she is escorted in on the arm of one of the young, good looking waiters. I tell her I think it’s a con and she laughs. Having not been given any recommendations for meals so far, we agree to Cecilia’s recommendations for the main and are not disappointed. Having eaten so much earlier than usual, and I guess being Australia Day as well, there’s still lots happening up on deck. There are some crazy crew running about in grass skirts and coconut bras posing for photos, there’s a band playing and the big $1500 Bingo has just been played. 3 players all called Bingo on the same number so the prize will be shared 3 ways. A fella got up on stage and proposed to his partner tonight, very romantic, even though he dropped the F-bomb when saying how much he loved her! Trevor has gone to the buffet for 2^nd dinner, there are prawns! We didn’t get to the morning market in time to get any in town today. 

As we seem to be heading for some big swells, it might be a good idea to pop a seasick pill before bed.