Impressions of New Caledonia and preparations for leaving

Well, we have been here now for over 3 months and have formed some impressions over that time. We have not only been in Noumea but also circumnavigated the island over a period of 5 weeks or so, as well as driving inland up and down both coasts.
It is difficult to know where to start so we will look at broad headlines.
Politics - There are referenda being conducted in 2014, 2016 and 2018 on the subject of independence. A Frenchman who was on the boat the other day was very scathing of this process and predicted political chaos, particularly as the various tribes (tribu) have never agreed on anything and are likely to self destruct in the independence process. The immediate outcome is probably going to be fairly messy. The nickel is now largely owned by foreign companies (Canadian) so the French have less and less interest in the place. The discovery of this fact has surprised us but has been corroborated by several knowledgeable locals during our travels.
People - the people by and large have been very friendly and we are now feeling almost like locals here in Noumea! They recognise us in the market and when we have a morning coffee there we don't even have to order it; they just give us the usual - "deux cafes noirs et un croissant"! From the French family Bresil at Baie de Chasseloup to the people who run the marina at Koumac and all those who stopped and gave us lifts into town, the hospitality at the Gite Poingam, the Kanak family who lived on a beautiful beach just north of Poum, the young lady schoolteacher who steered us in the right direction at Puebo and the gendarmes at Yate - they were all great and made the visits for us. Against that we didn't like the feeling we sensed from some of the Kanaks, particularly at Poum and Kouaoua on the east coast.
There was a continuing sense of disappointment with the almost complete lack of facilities on much of the east coast, particularly as these had existed in the past. Shops, hotels, restaurants which had been there either weren't or were much reduced. Hienghene was a case in point - a beautiful scenic setting with great rock ramparts stretching across the entrance to the bay and a pretty village up the river but the local shop was on the point of closing because of "les aggressions" where armed holdups had occurred and someone had been shot we believe. Certainly there is a very big problem with unemployment (youth unemployment in particular) and excessive drinking and marijuana smoking. Sounds like NZ!!! Many of the European gendarmes are here on secondment from France and only for 3 months so they have no real connection with the place. And therefore no interest in long term prosecution of crime. The few Kanak gendarmes would have their hands full just keeping the peace and hopefully a reasonably even keel.
Le Nickel - some mining and loading facilities are rundown or even disused but other modern ports are being constructed along with further processing facilities - rather than just shipping out the raw ore which has a pure nickel content of something like 2-3%. That is high by mining standards. There are also still areas where the ore carriers anchor out in the lagoon and the ore is barged out to them. This seemed a very inefficient and time consuming practice to us.
Then there are the environmental effects which are obvious from just off the coast; great red scars with the tops of not inconsiderable peaks just carved out of existence. The land is fairly unstable anyway and erosion is huge and everywhere. We didn't see it but at times of heavy rain the lagoons run red with many tons of runoff. Certainly in many places our anchor and chain came up crusted in red mud and that's when the anchor wash pump came into its own.
In summary we enjoyed our circumnavigation although the southern part of the east coast was very difficult as the SE wind was relentless and we were continually bashing our way into it. Noumea has a charm and the best part is the fresh food market but it is somewhat dirty and down at heel with graffiti everywhere. This graffiti was also evident all over the island. Prices are by and large about one third more than NZ and are driven by high import duties, high costs such as rent, and the crazy French practice of imposing a payroll tax so that for every person employed 100% of their salary is paid to the Government. This partly explains the sometimes ridiculous opening hours and can only exacerbate unemployment.
From a scenery point of view the island is most certainly NOT like the stereotypical image of the South Seas. Much of it is arid and the vegetation stunted. There are coconut palms in places however. The beaches are pretty from a distance but usually have a coral shelf enclosing them which can make access difficult and swimming unattractive because one doesn't want coral scratches as they can turn very sceptic very quickly.
The lagoon itself rivals that of Australia's Barrier Reef in size and is a designated World Heritage area. In places over 200' deep. But we didn't catch any fish, partly because we were concerned about Ciguetera poisoning which one can get from reef fish in tropical areas and which in some rare cases can even be fatal. The locals seem to know which fish to eat and the Spanish Mackerel, which Mary and David gave us much of, is not supposed to be affected at all. A rule of thumb is not to eat any fish which are large examples of a species, but to our untrained eyes where should we draw that distinction?
We are now getting the boat ready for departure to Bundaberg and will have many nostalgic feelings about leaving. But in this cruising life one does need to keep moving on. We should have another diaphragm for the galley pump today and we successfully changed the salt water cooling pump the other day with much cursing and damaged knuckles!! We intend to clear Customs tomorrow and then leave the marina on Sunday before departure proper on Monday morning. That's certainly one good thing about this place; Customs give you 3 days after officially clearing to leave - not like NZ where if you even drop anchor for the night you must advise them and probably even go back to clear again!! We are watching the weather but weather windows to Bundaberg are much easier to obtain than around the NZ coast! Hopefully we'll have SE winds all the way across. Hopefully about 7 days.
We'll be confirming our actual departure.
Lotsaluv from us
www.tiaretaporo3.blogspot.com

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