Last Full Day in New Caledonia

In the distance one can see the encircling coral reef. It helps keep the whales and sharks away from the beachs. The diving and snorkeling can be very good out there.




This is rough country, with the mountains running down the spine of the country but the ocean is never far away.





New Caledonia, in the early days, was a Penal Colony. Subsequently, mining was the incipient industry, the Nickel ore is very rich here and Xstrata is in the process of developing a huge nickel deposit with a crew of 4000 workers. Once operations begin, it should whittle down to 1000 on the mine site and hopefully for the indiginous Kanaks, there will be spin off jobs servicing those production employees.

We take a hike up one of the deserted mine roads and get to see the terrain from a good height, maybe 1500 feet. The weather clears and we get to see the ocean and barrier reef in their more resplendent green hues.



We have happily visited with the extended Nakamura clan but tomorrow we drive back to Noumea to catch our flight back to Auckland as part of our main journey back to Canada via Los Angeles. It will be long but these last few days have given us a chance to rest up, and we'll have all these great memories and many many pictures to review when we get back home.