NOUMEA, NEW CALENDONIA
The journey from Tanna to Noumea took 3 days with an overnight stop in Lifou (Loyality islands). There was little wind so lots of motoring.
New Caledonia is probably one of the most advanced economies of the South Pacific – offering an expensive array of French fashion and food and all the trappings of the western world – traffic jams, homeless people etc etc !!!
It’s been hard getting enthusiastic about New Caledonia when we know that we are only 800 miles away from Australia. It is really just a stepping stone and we are biding our time waiting for a weather window so we can hot foot it to Brisbane. We will be about five days at sea and it is well known to be a nasty piece of water if you don’t hit it right.
Unfortunately Australia is one of the most expensive countries in the world for checking in. The fee is over $300 and if you arrive on the weekend its double that, so we are trying to judge our run to arrive on a Monday.
However, the criteria is the weather so we may have to wear it.
