While I rate Maurice Bay as a must visit for its statue of Christ (dedicated to St Maurice) which is surrounded by a most stunning palisade of carved totem poles, the beach here is one of many beautiful beaches on the Ile des Pins and worthy a look in its own right. Continue reading “A Quiet Alternative To Kuto Bay”
Visiting this statue (with its amazing palisade of carved totem poles) was, without doubt, the highlight of my short cruise to New Caledonia. Set against turquoise waters in the bay and a gorgeous sky it is one of the most beautiful sights I have seen anywhere in the world. Continue reading “Christianity Combines With Tribal Traditions”
The Ile des Pins, Nourea, is rightly famous for its spectacular bays, reefs and beaches and to access two of the best of these, Kuto Beach and Kanumera Bay, the visitor arriving by ferry from Noumea or on a cruise ship, as I did, need do no more than walk a few hundred metres either side of where you come ashore. Continue reading “More Than Sand, Sun And Sea”
Stepping ashore, from our cruise ship tender, onto the Ile des Pins everyone was given a lei – a woven flower headdress, in our case, not dissimilar to the green ones worn in some of the attached pictures though interwoven with flowers. The gifting of a lei is an island way of greeting guests – a sign of recognition and friendship. Continue reading “A Warm Island Welcome”
For me, the Ile des Pins was a stop on a short South Pacific cruise. A number of operators offer cruises from Australia which stop at the Ile des Pins and this is the way the majority of international visitors get to and from the island. That said, the island is also a popular weekend retreat for Noumeans, Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia, being a short flight or boat ride from the Ile des Pins. Continue reading “Getting to the Ile des Pins and Getting Around”
Paraphrasing Henry Neville’s 1668 book, ‘The Isle of Pines’, swinging sex, free love and unadulterated naughtiness was rife on an island in the South Pacific around 400 hundred years before the first two of these terms were coined by Californian hippies in the 1960s. And, perhaps even more amazingly, it was the famously inhibited and prudish English that brought these things to the Isle of Pines. I invented the third term. Continue reading “No Hurries, No Worries”
Having secured a job in Port Moresby it was then necessary to get there. Knowing that the last couple of weeks in Belfast were scheduled with “the client from hell” I decided that a few days stopover en-route to PNG were necessary. In any case then, as now, there were no direct flights from Belfast to PNG (I wonder why?) so I had to change planes somewhere! Continue reading “Getting to PNG”
Two friends were visiting me from the UK so I decided to take them to Lake Kutubu, well up into the Highlands of PNG. Our first transit stop was Mt Hagen airport into which we flew on a small MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) single engine plane (picture below). I personally didn’t like flying on single engine planes and would only do it where there was no other options. Continue reading “Making the vote count in Mt Hagen”
Do bear with me for what might appear to be a digression before I tell you about elections in Papua New Guinea. I call it context. Continue reading “Believe the Ambassador”
Goroka is famous for its “Eastern Highlands Cultural Show”, better known as the “Goroka Show”. It is held every year on the weekend closest to Papua New Guinea Independence Day (16th September). Continue reading “Not A Night Out At The Ballet – Goroka Show”
The Rambling Wombat 