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On 21st September our group of thirteen left Brisbane Airport for New Caledonia. We arrived at 10.30 pm and went straight to our Hotel, Hotel Le Paris is the centre of Nouméa. Left to Right: Chris, Alex, Tom, Matt, Raph, Mrs. Barry, Mr. Barry, Sam, Nick, Mr. Marden, Max and Scott. Madame Buckley was already in New Caledonia. |
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Madame Blomaert and
her class of 3e students from the Collège de Kameré
invited us to visit on Friday. We left early, so as to arrive in
time for the 9 am. lesson. (School starts at 6.45 am.)
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The Collège was built only four years ago, so its buildings and facilities are very modern. It has about 650 students. The buildings are designed for the warm climate, with verandahs and shady spaces. |
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| The students were able to sit in on classes of French, Spanish, History, Geography and Biology. By 12.15 they had worked up a healthy appetite. Madame Rames, the Prinicipal, had kindly invited us to eat a three course lunch in the canteen. Everyone enjoyed the ham and salad, followed by chicken and rice and a dessert. |  |
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In the afternoon, the class took our students to a sports complex where we played table tennis for a couple of hours. This enabled everyone to get to know each other a little better. |
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| "Drop us off at Anse Vata Beach," said Madame Buckley, "It's only a short walk back from there to the Hotel." The Phys Ed teacher also agreed, and said it would take us about 30 minutes. Here we are at the start of our walk. Two hours and several ice creams and drinks later, we arrived back at our hotel. We think there had to be a shorter route as we walked about 8 km around all the lovely beaches and the port. |  |
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It was Raph's birthday,
so we celebrated at the Restaurant in the evening. Matt looks a
little concerned that he may miss out on the patissseries.
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| We left at 7.30 am for the bush camp with Madame Blomaert's class. We travelled about 90km into the mountains, to the National Park. Here we pitched our tents, with the girls and the teachers on the upper level, and the boys on the lower level by the creek. The teachers had provided tents and sleeping bags for us. Below, the boys' camp in the tropical forest. |  |
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Above, a general view of the camp site. Some parents from the Collège had also come up to the camp, and were preparing a typical meal of bouniah for us (the camp fire). This comprised yam, manioc, chicken and coconut milk. During the day, people relaxed in the shade, played handballand volleyball, expored the area, challenged each other to games of petanque, played cards and "jeux de société". |
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The more intrepid among the group explored a dry creek bed which led up the side of the mountain through the rainforest. Normally, this is a fast flowing stream, but since it was the dry season, it had virtually dried up altogether. Some of the creeks flow underground, and Do-do (one of the teachers) showed us the dry bed, and the subterranean tunnel for the water in the wet season. |
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The weather was hot and pleasant. The creek wound around three sides of the camp site, and provided fun for water fights and finding shrimps and other little water creatures. It was the dry season, so the water level was low. The path to the creek is shown below.
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When darkness fell, we played cards and games before dinner. Our hosts offered us a delicious meal which included the typical Melanesian dish of Bouniah. After, the parents gave us a traditional Melanesian formal welcome into their society. This involved handing over the gift of money to show that we were now part of their community. The students had prepared traditional dances for us. Among the group were Melanesians, Polynesians and Tahitians who each have their own traditional welcome dances. |
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The dancers were Alexis and Clarice, who performed tradtional welcome dances, wearing intricate shell head dresses and necklaces which Alexis' mother had made. People in the audience were invited to dance and were presented with the jewellery. |
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Raph and Madame Buckley help Alexis and Clarice to perform a traditional dance. Raph was presented with the shell head dress which Alexis had worn. Following the traditional dances, everyone joined in. Madame Blommaert's class had brought a very good selection of CD's with them. |
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Mesdames Blommaert and Buckley join in the dancing. French Rap proved to be a hit with the Terrace boys. Sam and the others taught the New Caledonian class how to dance the Nutbush. This was unknown to them and immediately became popular. Madame Blommaert's class also taught us how to dance "slows". |
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Here we are, getting into the spirit of the evening. We danced the night away until about 11.30pm, when it was time to take our torches and "hit the sack". The following day (Sunday) we left the camp site at about 3pm., arriving back at about 5pm. We all felt very tired, but agreed that we had really enjoyed our week end away with the class. |
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We felt that it had given us a real opportunity to meet and mix with the people of New Caledonia. Conversation was interesting, and proved to be a mixture of French and English (Franglais), since both groups were keen to try out their second language, but had to resort to their own when the going got tough. Raph's dictionary was in great demand! |
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On Monday, we went shopping and visited the Collège de Rivière Salée for an English lesson. We were all feeling very tired. It was Sam's seventeenth birthday, so the Restaurant gave him a special dessert. On Tuesday, we had booked a trip to the lighthouse on the coral atoll of Amadée. This is about an hour by boat from Nouméa, which meant an early start. It was cool and overcast, and trying hard to rain. |
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However, as the photos show, the weather at the island was magnificent. We spent the day swimming, snorkelling, reef visiting and relaxing. |
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Our boat, the Mary D (built in Queensland), moored at the jetty. The group can be seen enjoying the warm waters in the lagoon. There were many beautiful fish to see here, the shallow waters across the sea grasses dropped slightly to coral bommies. A great variety of tropical, brightly coloured fish could be seen when snorkelling. |
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| Cocktails (non-alcoholic) were served before the tropical lunch smorgasboard. There was plenty for everyone, with a wide choice of salads, seafood, meat, fruit, etc. Following lunch, there were traditional dances. The Terrace boys were expert at these by now, and were eager for a chance to show off their skills. | |
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The banded sea snakes are common, and live both on land and in the sea. Luckily, they have a small mouth, but can still give a nasty nip. It's a good idea to wear shoes just in case! This one here was on the rocks near the sea. He was about a metre and a half in length. On the Wednesday, the boys went into Collège de Kameré once again, to spend the morning in class with Madame Blommaert's 3e, learning French and Spanish. Wednesday is a half day for school, so the class entertained our boys in the afternoon, showing them around the museum, the town and the shops. Some students took the boys home to meet their parents. |
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Back at the hotel, the class arrived to farewell the Terrace boys and teachers with gifts of necklaces and a "casse-tête". We appreciated these typical gifts. Thursday morning gave us just enough time for last minute shopping before heading for Tontouta Airport and home to Brisbane. Au revoir la belle Nouvelle Calédonie! We hope to be back again next year. |
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