Revisiting Noumea

It was only last year that we last visited Noumea, also via a cruise ship and also on a Sunday.
So what can you do in Noumea on a Sunday? Go for a swim or stay on the ship and swim! We soon went ashore ready to swim. First we visited Coconut Square..there were about 2 other people! Then we walked up to the Cathedral and found two more people..they were posing for wedding photos and finally on to the beach.

                                                  Gail at the busy Coconut Square

                                        We made it to the Cathedral before the midday rush.

There were lots of people around at Lemon Bay and Anse Vata Bay. We took a local bus around to Lemon Bay but didn't make it into the water! Last year we did and were chased out but this time it was not warm enough. The kids seemed to be enjoying the water and lots were sunning themselves on the beach but we were not tempted.

                                                           The Baie Des Citrons

                                      Walking around to Anse Vata Bay in the wind.

The kite surfers and kite board riders had a great time. We finally took a bus back to Centre Ville and the shuttle back to the ship.

We are at Ile de Pins tomorrow so plan to swim and snorkel. Don't expect wifi so our next port will be Sydney.

                                                   Walking around to Anse Vata Bay 

Honiara, Guadacanal

Our second port of call in the Solomons was Honiara on the Island of Guadalcanal. This was the site of one of the bloodiest battles of WWII. Again little remains although the airfield that was the reason for the battle is now the gateway into the Solomons.

We enjoyed a day looking at cultural sites and checking out the locals. We visited the museum and the art gallery along with other local sites.

                                           We were at the museum when it opened.

                               The outdoor statues and totems were huge with some in poor condition.

                                              Rob also straightened the tower in Pisa.

                 There is little tourist infrastructure but this hotel had a good location...but poor wifi!

Honiara was not established until after WWII but is now the largest city and the capital. The parliament building sits on a hill high above the city.

The central markets in Honiara. We did most of our shopping on Ghizo where they make interesting woodwork but did duck out to the markets on the pier to spend our last Solomon dollars.

The Solomon Islands Ghizo Island

We had a few days sailing in the Solomon Islands with visits to Ghizo Island and Honiara on Guadalcanel. The war buffs, and there are lots on the cruise headed out to check the famous war sites but in fact little remains. We spent each day checking out the local towns and villages.
Very few cruises make it to Ghizo Island so the locals also came out to check us out! It is very quiet and we enjoyed real interaction with local people.

    

 It was very hot so the singers and musicians welcomed us from the shade of the welcome sign.

The older generation keep the traditional culture alive! The red teeth are from betel nut.

Gail in the local market.

The seaweed stall. Looks like lettuce!

Poor little fish!

Gail and her hammock. Just the place to watch the ship just off the reef.

Rob shares his beer. Sol beer!

Sailing into the volcano

As we sailed toward Rabaul, the ship visited the island of Garove, sailing into its huge caldera.  We were in deep water and the cliffs of the caldera towered hundreds of metres above us.  When the captain sounded the horn, it reverberated around and around the large caldera.

                                                              Sailing into the caldera.

                                               Some of the local people came out to look.

Arriving in Rabaul, we were indeed sailing into another caldera.  The old city was decimated by volcanic eruptions in 1994 but has been rebuilt further from the volcano.  The blast that created the enormous caldera where the port is located occurred about 1,500 years ago.

We had arrived on Independence Day and were greeted by a local choir rather than the nubile dancers from our last two stops.

                                                     The choir greeted us with hymns.

We were soon ashore and found a local tour to take us sightseeing.  Our first stop was the Japanese submarine base out along a dusty, rutted road.  We clambered around the rocks to see the supply tunnels.  The water drops down immediately to a depth of 300 metres where the submarines hid.

                                                     At the Japanese submarine base.

We drove to a viewpoint where we could see out over the caldera with our ship dominating the port.  Close by is the seismic monitoring station where we talked to the vulcanologist and examined the monitoring equipment..

                                                             The Rabaul caldera.

Our next stop was Admiral Yamamoto’s bunker where we climbed through the tunnels until we could not see anything in front of us.  We toured the nearby museum housed in the New Guinea Club with its collection of war memorabilia.

                                                 The market amongst the war machines!

We drove through the ruined old town of Rabaul out to the former airport.  There is no sign left of any infrastructure at the airport and the whole of Chinatown has disappeared under the ash.  Some derelict buildings remain in the town, many just a shell.  Hard to believe that only 5 people died!

                                    We were close to the volcano that rises above the old town.

At the nearby hot springs in water temperature of 96 degrees Celsius, it was too hot for a dip but they were cooking eggs!  The Japanese had built bathhouses in this area during their occupation.

                                                        Gail at the hot springs.

We sailed out of the caldera past the two active volcanoes and the ship turned 360 degrees to give everyone a view.  By the time we turned to head for the Solomon Islands, the sun was setting over the caldera.

                                                    The two volcanoes of Rabaul.

                                                        Sunset over the caldera.

Dancing in Madang

We arrived at Madang to the wonderful welcome of local dancers who had come into town to celebrate  Independence Day in New Guinea.

The large troupe of dancers was really excellent and provided a stunning visual impact.

We watched them from our balcony before going down onto the dock to watch the performance up close.  The sort of event that in the “old days” you would have run out of film.

  As we entered the port, we passed the coastwatchers’ memorial.  This lighthouse commemorates the work of coastwatchers reporting on Japanese movements in WW2.

                                              The warriors in their elaborate costumes.

                                                    The ladies in their spectacular outfits.

                           

                                        Both the men and women wore elaborate headdresses.

                                             Rob with a young dancer and her mother.

We walked around to the Women’s Market where there was an array of wood carvings, basketwork and much more.  We made our purchases from a stall supporting a preschool.

  Gail with some of the stallholders. After we took their photo, they whipped out their mobile phones and took our photos!

                                              There were more dancers performing here as well.

                Masks and carvings.  Australian Customs would not have allowed us to bring back the                                                painting of Jesus on the turtle shell.

We walked around to the resort hotel where there was a special dance festival.  We also spent time here struggling with the vagaries of 3^rd world internet.

                                  Some of the male dancers at the festival.

                                     A cassowary chick that was wandering through the resort.

We were surprised how small the city of Madang is and how cut off it remains.  We were the first cruise ship to visit this year and we were surprised that just as many people came to take photos of us as we did of them.

Wewak

Our first port in New Guinea was the small town of Wewak where we went ashore by tender. There is not a lot to see but we had a great welcome. Drummers were pier side and there were dancers in the nearby street. It was a loud and colourful welcome to this town that still has a frontier feel to it.

                                                       The welcome drummers

                         
                                            Colourful dancers in traditional clothing.

                                                Some of the wonderful costumes

                                                   Warriors looking ready for battle

                                                    Women in traditional attire



We walked down to the markets but at this stage had been unable to change our money into New Guinea kina so we retraced our steps through a throng of people.  This is the beginning of Independence Day celebrations with dancers and drummers in town and a holiday from school. Eventually we changed our money at the bank after a long wait.

Before returning to the market, we took the opportunity to catch the free shuttle to the main hotel on the headland.  We admired the spectacular views and to tried some of the local beer.

                        Rob with his drinking mates. One was a lecturer in theology.

                                                                    The view from the hotel.



Back in town, we returned to the market to do some shopping and to watch more of the elaborately attired dancers.

                                                               Water transport.

                                                                 The markets.

                                                    Tobacco on sale in the market.

                                                           Rob and the dancers.

                                                                        More dancers.

                                                               Duelling drummers.