Wikimedia's map under Creative Commons licence
Photo album: "New Caledonia: south"
Fly over a photo with the mouse to enlarge it
Click on a photo to open it in a new window
We
leave Australia to New Caledonia where we disembark in Nouméa airport, around 2
p.m. on Monday March 12th, 1973. An unpleasant surprise is awaiting us: our
suitcases aren't there. Once in Nouméa, at Qantas agency, we are given a sum of
money to allow us to buy a few indispensable items, mainly clothes less warm
than the ones we are bearing when we arrive. We learned later that our luggage was
forgotten aboard the airliner and went to Port Vila (New Hebrides). They promise
we will get it back soon. In the meantime we travel around New Caledonia's
Grande Terre. When we go back to the agency, on March 19th, we are told our
suitcases are now in France but they will come back to Nouméa in time. In the
end, we will
only get them back on March 22nd, when we leave New Caledonia, en route to
Mexico.
We begin our visit with a trip to Yaté, south of Grande Terre.
|
We arrive to Nouméa on March 15th,
1973. On March 14th, we drive to Yaté with a Jaques' colleague who is
working at IPG in Nouméa. On Riday March 16th, we beguin our tour of the
Grande Terre starting from the western coast, from Nouméa to Koné. On
March 17th we drive on to Koumac in the north of New Caledonia, then we
cross the Grande Terre toward the eastern coast and we proceed southwards
along the coast to Hienghène. On Sunday March 18th we drive on southwards
to Houaïlou then we cross back the Grande Terre to reach Bourail on the
west coast and we drive back to Nouméa. On March 20th, around 8 a.m., we
fly to Isle of Pines aboard a Britten Norman of Air Calédonie. On March
21st around 17:30 we fly back to Nouméa aboard an Air Calédonie's
Twin-Otter. On March 22nd around 8 p.m. we leave New Caledonia aboard a
DC8 of the UTA company. Wikimedia's map under Creative Commons licence |
 |
Mountainous landscape between Nouméa and Yaté. |
 |
A river we follow when driving downhill toward the eastern coast. |
 |
The reddish colour of the road is due to the important amount of metallic oxides in the ground. New Caledonia contains a huge quantity of iron and nickel ore. Exploitation of this last metal makes an important resource to this territory. |
 |
The forest submerged under the waters of Yaté's dam. |
 |
The dam feeds the Yaté's hydroelectric power station. |
 |
A beach near Yaté. |
 |
Nearby we meet the head of a village's son. After he welcomes us in his home, he very willingly accepts to have his picture taken with me. |
 |
Back to Nouméa, we have a look at the smoke rising above the nickel extraction factory. |
.
.
.
.
.
.
.