Noumea was pretty much like any modern city and our tour, “Noumea and Its Countryside”, was just a drive around the city, no country about it! We stopped at Conception Church, café for coffee and cake, and lookout point on hill overlooking the city and bay. Will try to post those pictures tomorrow. I added the pictures from Vanuatu this morning. We missed our second tour, “Glass Bottomed Boat at Duck Island” as first tour got us back too late for it. New Caledonia is a French governed island and has large deposits of nickel, copper, chrome, cobalt, and manganese which are mined here. Most of their tourists come from Australia as it is only a 3 hour flight from here. The French also vacation here. The largest coral lagoon in the world is here. During WWII the US built the airport and added a lot of infrastructure. I will be adding pictures of costal guns that protected the harbor during the war. So, last night we dined in Prime 7. Only one little problem, I had oysters Rockefeller for appetizer and they had sand in them. Took a full glass of water to finally wash all the sand out of my mouth. Rebecca’s filet and my NY strip steak were perfect as usual. We arrived at the show late but did not stay long anyway as it was some magician doing card tricks. Was totally unimpressed with that so left. Not sure why all the cruise lines insist on having magicians. Tonight’s show is the violinist and cellist again. Another show that we were not impressed with for their first show a few days ago. We were thinking about dining in our suite tonight but sun is shining on our balcony and it is hot there. Ship is not sailing until 7:30 tonight. May still decide to do it. You can order from room service a selection of the same food that is being served down in Compass Rose, the main restaurant. So if you are too lazy to go out, you can dine in! Next two days will be at sea heading down to Sydney where we will arrive on Saturday morning, the 6th. This is the end of the first segment of the world cruise so probably half of the passengers will be leaving the ship and new ones will board. As I said earlier, there are only just over 300 full world cruise passengers. We will be in Sydney for two days. We are hoping for smooth seas!
Charlie & Joan
Jamie & Rebecca
