While most other participating boats from the Down Under Go East Rally are already enjoying Vanuatu, Easy Tiger is still in New Caledonian waters, experiencing the beautiful Ouvea.
Ouvea, in the northern Loyalties, is actually not correctly an island, it's an atoll. I think that means it is mostly sand and some limestone. The result is a spectacular beach that stretches for miles.
The sand is bleached white, the ocean is a vivid turquoise blue and we are inside a large bay where the water is lazily calm.
Yesterday, we booked a driver an the ten of us set off to discover the inland highlights and sites of this paradise.
I am not sure what we expected, but what we found were more questions than answers. My questions were how do the 4000 or so inhabitants of Ouvea actually survive here?
Our tour was to start at ten. At 10.40 a minibus arrived. Unfortunately it was an 8 seat minibus and there were ten of us. The lady from the tour desk we had booked through did her best to explain that there was another vehicle coming, so 2 could go in that vehicle. We all looked at each other. I put it forward that I was happy to stay on the boat. I was already dreading being stacked in a minibus like ten size nine toes into a size six boot.We all sighed a huge sigh of relief when Toni from Cruising Kitty very graciously said that they would go as the 2 in the other vehicle.
My French has even improved quite a bit since being in New Caledonia. This helped me to communicate with our driver for the day. First step was to find out his name was Marco. 2nd Step was to find out that he knew virtually no English other than hello, Go, Stop and 5 to ten minutes.
For the next five hours we rode the bus with the non speaking tour guide. First stop was the southern end of the island (atoll) where we saw some plain reefs and the channel markers we had used to navigate through the channel to arrive at Ouvea.
2nd stop was the bridge. Yep, it's a bridge. The highlight here was the few local guys repairing potholes in the road with a cement mixer. The had used 3 coconuts as traffic cones to divert traffic around their site. Not sure our that would meet our work sight safety laws. The coconuts were not flouro!!!!! On the other side of their site they must have run out of coconuts as they were using a bundle of twigs.
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| 2nd Stop was the bridge. (where coconuts were used as traffic cones.) |
3rd stop was an unscheduled stop. Then speaking driver pulled up at a small shed. The walls of the shed were brightly coloured material. The non speaking driver indicated that he was going to get something to eat at the marchet. Well my ears pricked up because marchet is in my ten word French vocabulary. I turned to those in the back who were wondering what we were supposed to be looking at here and said the magic word. Shop. The four ladies on board could not get out of the van quick enough. There was a colourful flash before our eyes as they were out of the van and into the shop in the blink of an eye.
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| We found the bread market, but Toni won the biggest Baguette competition. |
As we fellas caught up to them we heard their shrieks of delight, which I soon realised were laughter. Rounding the corner of the "shop" inside I saw a small transistor radio playing music. Then there was a large open trestle table. On it were half a dozen home made half loaves of bread. That was it. Did that mean our girls returned to the bus disappointed? No. It meant they returned to the bus with a half loaf off bread each. Well...you wouldn't want to go into a shop without buying would you!
Next stop after a five minute drive along the main road of Ouvea was a soap factory. Arriving just in time to see most of the staff leaving. Everything here stops for a couple of hours and has an extended lunch break. At the soap factory our non speaking guide indicated that we should go to the shed and have a look around. We did that. We walked around the shed watching a few very disinterested locals cutting big blocks of opaque coloured soap into small socks of soap, then hand them on to the next two folk who wrapped them in plastic. At least thats what I saw them doing, as none of them spoke or even looked at us it was pretty much a self guided tour.
From there we drove through an abandoned construction site, that looked like they were building a parking lot and new building at their main wharf. We all debated whether this may be a new cruise ship terminal or possibly for the ferry that comes this way from Noumea. Sadly as our non speaking tour guide was non speaking, we will never know.
On the way to the next place of interest, we were about to pass a small roadside shop that advertised snacks. We implored the non speaking driver to stop so that we could grab something to eat. Basically using hand signals and three of my ten word French vocabulary he got the message and pulled over. (I had my eye on the handbrake lever in case our communication was relayed effectively).
We piled in to the roadside snackbar which was basically eight posts and a roof. It was spectacularly located on the edge of the road and on the edge of the beach, looking out over the cian coloured water.
The menu was the challenge for the day as the only recognisable words on it were Sandwich and American. None of the staff appeared to speak English, so it was a bit of a challenge until a young European girl appeared. She spoke some English and was able to explain some items of the menu. When it came to the question what was an American, she said it was a sandwich with chips. Well that was all she had to say because in an instant she orders for eight Americans. We probably should have asked for more detail. What we were presented was a long baguette sandwich with chicken and mayonnaise inside. We were all just about to ask where the chips were when we realised that they were in the sandwich with the chicken and mayonnaise. Different but very fresh and filling.
From there we drove up a couple of bush tracks, even though the maps show them as roads. We came to our next stop which was called the turtle holes according to non speaking tour guide's list of places to stop that Leanne found in the van.
The turtle hole was basically an almost perfectly round hole in the limestone. from where we stood on the edge it was about five metres down to mirky blue green water that appeared to be very deep. The water had a variety of rubbish floating on top. Leanne spotted a turtle on the opposite side of where we stood. That was about it. Back in the van three minutes later, headed for the next stop.
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| The turtle hole. This picture will also double for the Blue Hole. |
The next stop where we indicated to Non Speaking tour guide that we didn't really need to stop was the St Joseph church. Churches on Ouvea are bar far the most impressive buildings. There are many and they are all huge structures with steeples and huge wooden doors at the entry. Everyone that I saw gave e the impression that while they were the biggest best buildings here, they were disused, abandoned and forlorn sites.
The blue holes sounded like it might be a highlight of our tour, as we read it on the list. A short walk from the van proved us a little wrong though. It was basically a repeat of the turtle hole experience, except for non speaking tour guide throwing some bread in and a couple of small fish pecking at it.
The next stop was actually one that moved me. It was a memorial for twenty Ouvean men that decided to resist the French rule in the loyalty islands. That staged a revolt, captured the local Gendarme and tried to get their traditions and tribal customs reinstated, only to be killed by French forces. There is a picture of each of these fellas and traditional decorations at the site commemorating there plight that took place on the 5/51988. Not that long ago.
From there on the return trip to the resort where our boats are anchored, we came to final stop for the day, some magnificent limestone cliffs with a spectacular lagoon at the foot.
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| Intersting cliffs with stallegtites. |
Back at the resort, we discovered that Non Speaking tour guide actually did know several words of English. While I was thanking him for the driving us in my best French, he was saying in his best English, "you pay me now".
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| The shell covered white beach of Ouvea is truly beautiful |
No our self drive tour took us down every back track, every circular route, gravel road, one way paved track and walkway that Ouvea has. We did find the snack bar again and tried their lovely plate meals this time instead of the Americans. We did magi to roll past St Josephs and the many other churches (each four times!). We noted that most of the houses (and we saw most of them) have one or more cars out the front up on blocks.
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| Several Chiefs compounds are easy to find. They have the best fencing. |
It seems Ouvea is impoverished to say the least. How it could turn the fortunes around is the great unanswered question as it is an island, well not even an island, it's an atoll in the middle of nowhere really. It's saving grace for us, a beautiful shell covered beach and the Hotel Paradiso where you can get a cold bear and a fair meal.
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