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| Le Faré Café |
After a light breakfast, we met up with Tamar and John and had a coffee at the nearby Le Faré Café.
It was also our first experience of a straight croissant for a long time. Anyway, it was very pleasant, with a comfortable temperature, slight breeze, watching the morning activities along the waterfront.
The staff were charming and helpful as we communicated via broken French and broken English.
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| Drinking a Melanesian coffee |
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| Net fishing near the beach |
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| Having a morning cigar |
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| Saveurs Gourmandes |
Before setting out for the day we visited the very idiosyncratic Saveurs Gourmandes.
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| Ahhh... the choices |
This was a nearby store tucked away from the main shops selling all manner of charcutrie (cured meats), cold entrée platters, prepared dishes and traditional cold plates from the Alsace region.
Tamar and Frances had a field day trying to choose something for our picnic lunch, settling on a pigs head pate (more of an aspic style) and poisson rillettes (pickled fish).
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| The Tjibaou Cultural Centre |
The four of us visited the Tjibaou Cultural Centre (www.adck.nc). It is a public State institution, whose main missions is to enhance the Kanak archaeological and linguistic heritage.
It was built within the framework of the Matignon agreements between the partners (ETAT - FLNKS - RPCR) and at the request of Jean-Marie Tjibaou.
Jean-Marie Tjibaou (January 30, 1936 - May 4, 1989) was a leader of the Kanak independence movement and a politician in New Caledonia. The son of a tribal chief, Tjibaou was ordained a Catholic priest but abandoned his religious vocation for a life in political activism. On 4 May 1989, he was assassinated along with Yeiwene Yeiwene in Ouvéa by another Kanak, Djubelly Wéa.
It is a very large and impressive complex of landscaping and buildings designed by Renzo Piano using architectural motifs of traditional Kanak buildings. There was a gallery with some very interesting whale-themed artwork.
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| The Renzo Piano designed motifs |
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| Great House - North style |
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| Carve figures and Great House |
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| Statue of Jean-Marie Tjibaou |
We spent quite a lot of time there, and made use of their facilities to have a very pleasant picnic lunch.
The weather was overcast and it rained on and off, but was only mildly inconvenient.
Frances was beginning to feel a little discriminated against as she's the only one under 65, and has to pay full entrance fees.
She also looked particularly youthful with her cardigan tied around her waist.
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| Whale built with woven plant fibres |
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| The complete whale sculpture |
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| A whale sculpture built with plastic |
I particularly liked the maps of New Caledonia with whale flukes painted over them.
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| Series of painted panels |
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| Whale fluke painted on Noumea map |
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| Modern work with traditional motifs |
I loved the Sculpture in the gardens based on a traditional story,
The Swamphen and the Rat.
Once upon a time there were some animals living on Lifou. One day a great famine came. It didn’t rain for months. Plants were dying because of the drought. Animals that were able to fly went back and forth between Lifou and the lands that the drought had spared.
The rat heard that there was an island full of food. The island was called Tiga. The rat would go there too but couldn’t do it alone. He went down to the beach and gazed into the sea. How sad he was! Night fell and the swamphen appeared. She found him the there, mourning sorrowfully.
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| View over central Noumea |
We then drove back to Tamar and John’s AirB&B that is in the lower level of a house on a hill overlooking central Noumea. Unfortunately there was a major altercation with the host who insisted on a no guest policy. Fortunately she returned a few minutes later with a very nice bottle of red wine, and apologised tearfully for her earlier behaviour. A little shaken, T&J drove us back to our hotel via a scenic route and had a better look over Noumea.
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| Guys practicing Parkour |
Architecturally, the city is pretty uninteresting, with few historic buildings. The majority of the buildings appear to have been designed by draftsmen, engaged by builders with the cost-benefit at the top of their minds, rather than any visual appeal.
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| Playing Pétanque |
Frances and I then had a late afternoon walk along the harbourside: watching young guys practicing Parkour and older people playing Pétanque, a form of boules where the goal is to toss or roll hollow steel balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball called a cochonnet (literally "piglet") or jack, while standing inside a circle with both feet on the ground.
It was interesting, given the tumultuous history of New Caledonia that French and Kanaks were enjoying these activities together.
Again in the evening we played a few pre-dinner games of '500' with some biscuits and cheese. Incidentally, the cheese here is fantastic - flown in daily from France. The selection in Noumea is also better than many places in France as cheeses are available from all French regions. After a while, were on the hunt for an inexpensive but nice restaurant - not easy. We settled on a Vietnamese restaurant as we could order less food and share rather than have large individual plates.
The four of us visited the Tjibaou Cultural Centre (www.adck.nc). It is a public State institution, whose main missions is to enhance the Kanak archaeological and linguistic heritage.
We spent quite a lot of time there, and made use of their facilities to have a very pleasant picnic lunch.
Once upon a time there were some animals living on Lifou. One day a great famine came. It didn’t rain for months. Plants were dying because of the drought. Animals that were able to fly went back and forth between Lifou and the lands that the drought had spared.
