13th wedding anniversary - la foa, bourail and plage de poe

Distance: NA  Elevation low/high/total: NA

Difficulty: 1.0/10.  Scenic: 9.5/10

Now this is how you spend a wedding anniversary! - Click pic for album
Geotrack of the places visited linked here

Ildiko and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary on November 7th and so it was time to take our first visit out of town.  We made a reservation at the Banu Hotel in La Foa (interesting .... place), then spent a fantastic beach day at Plage de Poe, maybe me new favorite beach in the world.  Ildiko went snorkeling for really the first time in her life.  We will be back here.

Pont de Japonais - 2nd visit

Distance: 2.7 km.  Elevation low/high/total: 99/133/63 m.
Difficulty: 2.2/10.  Scenic: 6.5/10

Our first return visit, but Ildiko and Iris missed out the first time - click pic to view album
The geotrack for the short hike (and swimming spot) is here

Our intended destination this day was the Parc Provincial de la Riviere Bleu (Blue River Provincial Park) but oddly enough the research I did not prepare us for the mass of people assembled there to be bussed somewhere inside the park.  We decided to seek outdoor activity elsewhere and it occurred to me we were near the Pont de Japonais, a destination missed last time by Iris and Ildiko due to a fall by Iris.  So, post haste, we headed for the parking spot and the day turned into one of our favorites.  We found a river stretch we had all to ourselves and, this time, everybody went into the water!

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.

Pont des Japonais hike

Distance: 2.7 km.  Elevation low/high/total: 99/133/63 m.
Difficulty: 2.2/10.  Scenic: 6/10

Here lie the remains of the "Japanese bridge" - click pic for album
Click here for the geotrack of the hike

Another geocache inspired hike, this is a relatively easy 2 km round trip hike to the remains of a WWII Japanese built railroad bridge.  Along the way you see some remains of the wooden cross beams (the iron tracks are long gone) and occasionally you can find a rusty spike.  At the main river the concrete trestle bases are still there with a bit of wood still inside rotting away.  The hike path along the old track has been almost entirely reclaimed by nature.  Ildiko and Iris didn't make it to the bridge as Iris had a slip on the red earth back where we parked the jeep.  Miss K and I (on my recently surgically repaired knee) made the trek and were rewarded with some gorgeous vistas.  We all return here a couple of months later (november 2nd, to be precise).

Malaoui roi (chapeau du gendarme) hike

Distance: 7.5 km.  Elevation low/high/total: 468/800/500+ m.
Difficulty: 7.8/10.  Scenic: 9.2/10

Malaoui roi peak, the reward for a long hike (click pic to see album)
Click here for the geotrack of the hike

For this outing, two of our new friends here in New Caledonia came along with us: Alex Tidd and his partner Sara Wilson.  Alex started at SPC about three weeks after me so we'd both been less than six months in country.  This turned out to be a challenging hike for this party - round trip was something like 9 km and the elevation gain was around 380 m (1200 feet).  Total hiking time - 3.5 hours plus a fantastic hour at the peak.  The best part was the final 0.5 km which is along the spine of Mount Koghi to the peak.  The parenthetical name "chapeau du gendarme" means "policeman's hat".