Between Two Beaches

Distance: NA  Elevation low/high/total: NA

Difficulty: 1.0/10.  Scenic: 8.5/10

Our outing in celebration of Ildiko's birthday - click pic for album
No geotrack, but we placed a geocache here

Ildiko's choice for an outing and so we went in search of a good beach.  We never did find a good swimming beach but we did find two nice places to hang out.  One was the boat launch area at Ouano - great warm white sand to walk on at low tide - the other was the view point up on a hill in between the beaches of Ouano and Pique-Nique.

The Boat on the Beach

Distance: 2.0 km.  Elevation low/high/total: 0/0/0 m.

Difficulty: 1.2/10.  Scenic: 6.5/10

An old shipwreck at Gadji Bay - click for album
Here is the geotrack for the day

A short drive north of Noumea is Gadji Bay where there sits a quite old ship wreck.  Originally know as the Mary Judith, then Cleneg, and finally Melanesia, the vessel was grounded here in 1988 by Hurricane Anne.  A fuller history (albeit in French) can be here here.   We also drove to a couple of viewpoints overlooking where the richer French residents barricade themselves in marinas behind locked gates.

Cap N'Dua and Prony

Distance: NA  Elevation low/high/total: NA
Difficulty: 1.0/10.  Scenic: 8/10

The view from Cap N'Dua, southern end of the New Caledonia mainland (click pic for album)
Didn't record a geotrack, but click here to see the location

For this outing we wanted to go as far south as the road would take us, and that meant a visit to Cap N'Dua, through the red earth countryside and past the vast mining complex at Goro.  Driving through the switchbacks and across the red earth was kinda surreal.  We visited a lighthouse and picnicked in a hilltop gondola (out of the vicious wind). The view from the gondola was spectacular - whales are often seen here but we saw none.  On the way back home we swung by Prony, not really knowing what was there.  Wow.  An abandoned convict logging town - where prisoner torture (for escape attempts) was routinely practiced.  It's also where the famed GR1 (Grand Randonee 1) starts - a 7-day/100+ km hiking trail that Miss K and I plan to conquer stage by stage in the future.