Oh la la!

Bon Jour from New Caledonia!
We arrived in Noumea after a 2 day 6 hour passage. It started off a little lumpy as the wind was coming from the south. I found out “Sturgeron” sea sickness tablets aren’t as good for me as “Sea Legs” but late in day two I recovered. Everyone else was fine. No fish this time as we thought the trip too short to bother.
Noumea is different from Vanuatu because it is further south. The weather is refreshingly cool – a bit like a New Zealand summer. The trees are a mix of tropical and pine trees. An unusual place with rusty red earth because of nickel and other mineral deposits.

Hamish took this as we came into Noumea.

I noticed that the buildings were fairly new and when we went out to a friend’s place for diner he said his house was in the old part of town. Their house was built in the 1960’s. It is a mini France here, every thing is in French but most people can speak some English and with my limited French we manage ok. I REALLY wish I had taken my 3rd an 4th form French further!

It is true that it is the people that make a place and we have been very fortunate to have met some neat people here. Last Saturday we visited the Aquarium. Someone said you could walk there from the marina others said it was a bit of a hike about 20 minutes, anyway we set off as it was a beach front walk and it turned out to be a huge walk. After 20 minutes we stopped a young couple who out with their toddler. They did not speak English very well but said it was about another 20-30 minutes away! We opted for the bus and just missed one when there was a toot. It was the man who we had just spoken to. He had gone and got his ute and come back to pick us up. He took us to the Aquarium – what a nice person!!! It was a 5 minute car trip but saved us slogging in the heat. We got a taxi back.

The Aquarium is outstanding we went round it twice. There were so many amazingly different fish. The best was a Napolean fish. It had such an expressive face. The colours of the coral were incredible. We are itching to get out and explore for ourselves.

We are currently in port getting some work done on the boat. The battery charger is on the blink and Lindsay has other jobs to do to get sorted before we head to Australia. We have been very lucky to meet up with some friends who live here and have given us the benefit of their local knowledge for getting things done.

Dad paints the hull while Hamish and Kate paint the oars (and did a fine job!).

Port Vila

A Fijian Igauna at the Secret Gardens.

A Pacific Boa - Hamish was the only one brave enough to have a hold of it.

Throughout the gardens there were lots of these posters telling stories and legends from all over Vanuatu. This one I thought was a good warning to Lindsay!

The famous Seafood Chowder in an Edible Bowl. The reason we came to Vanuatu! (Also the place where I caught my tummy bug.)

Moored along the small sea wall while sorting out the generator. It was scary climbing the plank to get on and off.

A venemous Lion fish (we think) that wondered by the sea wall right by Blue Heron.

Kiwi friends Thomas and Olivia. On the odd occasion that they were not all swimming or zipping round in dinghies.

We had thought to be in Noumea about now. Sadly I was struck down with a violent tummy bug on Saturday, the day that we were supposed to depart (we had cleared customs as well). The lesson learned here was that it is not a good idea to go out for dinner 2 days before an ocean passage, especially in a hot, humid country like Vanuatu.

The next day I was able to keep water inside me but couldn’t eat. I still had a killer headache and was pretty washed out. The weather was indicating a lot of wind and rough seas for the first third of the trip and then no wind and likely still rough seas – not good with an upset tum. We had been ok abut the trip as the boat is comfortable and goes well to windward.

It all became academic anyway as on the Sunday Lindsay had trouble starting the generator after about 1 and a half hours swearing and tinkering he got it started but after about half an hour it suddenly stopped pumping water through it. It is salt water cooled. Turned off and checked the sea strainer and sure enough a large guey leaf had been sucked up. Problem fixed and it started first crank!

He was monitoring it as he packed some things away in preparation for the passage to Noumea. Five minutes after checking it the silly thing again stopped pumping water and suddenly our cabin smelt of burning rubber. Yet again he stopped the engine. This time the sea strainer was clear and possibly a blockage further along the system. He worked in the 30+ degree heat to fix it but it now appears to have died. Part of us was devastated as we have no alternative charging for the boat other than a small solar panel. The other part is glad as it has been nothing but a pain since we bought the boat. We have had it overhauled twice and the last time we were told it had over 2000 hours and we have done about 200 of that. It was leaking oil badly and has always been noisy.

So we have come back to the wall in port and plugged into shore power. We have bought a small petrol generator which is sited outside and also got another larger solar panel. We were always intending to put solar panels on but were planning on doing that in Australia.

Somethings are meant to be as we have met some nice people while on the wall including some seasoned yachties who have given us heaps of good advice about New Caledonia and Australia. Kate and Hamish have met new friends and are enjoying the extra time here. We have been given a Bill Bryson book on Australia which is very funny and informative.

In addition the weather is looking better for the trip tomorrow. I am feeling about 100% fit again and looking forward to New Calendonia.

We nearly went to Sea! (Appologies to A Ransome)

This is the day that Hamish, Kate and their friends Nancy and Molly nearly ended up on their way out to sea. Hamish had made friends with a very nice guy who worked at the nearby resort. He generously invited Hamish and co. to go out for a ride on the resort jetski and their rubber donut. They took off at about two pm. I took some of these photos as they left. I was waiting for them back at the resort and started to get a bit worried when they didn't come back by three. I was watching to see if Lindsay had come back from town as he had the dingy with the 8 horse outboard and I could get him to go and look for them. At four o'clock a women came out and told me that they had broken down and that they were sending out a rescue boat. About half a hour later they arrived back seemingly none the worse for their "adventure". It did turn out that they had started to drift down past Port Vila and that the youngest had got frightened as they floated past the chanel markers and were heading towards the harbour entrance markers. Hamish had suggested to lie flat to stop the wind catching them and they had tried kicking to stop the drift. It all sounded like a modern day version of the Arthur Ransome story "We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea."

Still trying to load photos

These photos are small as it seems to be the only way to publish them here.This is when we visited the Mele Cascade Gardens in Vila. It was a lovely day. We all swam at a beautiful, refreshing, limestone (I think)waterfall.

More photos - Village Visit

This is the day we visited a village on the lagoon side of Port Villa. These people lived right beside some very nice modern Villas. They were very friendly and let Hamish join in a game of soccer and Kate and friends got to see their 4 new puppies. Hopefully I can add some more pictures soon.

Photos at last

Hamish looking for the green flash at sunset. He missed it because the Island of Efate was in the way.

Sitting at Nambawan Cafe trying to update the blog! See Blue Heron in the background. The cafe is named after the section of the port that it is located. When the Americans were here during the second world war, the port was divided up into areas one, two etc. When they left the name stayed. Cool, eh?