Whats so good about the South Pacific?? Everything but its all so far away from here!!!

During my years down under in New Zealand I used my time to get out to the South Pacific, namely Tahiti and New Caledonia because I absolutely love French language and food.

Ile des Pin – Isle of Pines, New Caledonia

These sort of places are a once in a life time trip from this part of world but there is no reason not to do more than one at a time so its a great way to do it on a cruise as you tend to knock off a few islands and countries at once.

All the islands tend to have their own indigenous culture, New Caledonia is Melanesian and Tahiti is Polynesian as well as being very french influenced for example.

Bay aux citrones, Noumea

The former British colonies like Fiji, Cook islands and Samoa, Tonga are also Polynesian but Fiji for example has a lot of Indian influence as well as British, as a lot of workers moved here to live from the commonwealth.  So the main cities like Noumea, Papeete, Nadi/Suva and so on are no different to London really multi cultural and not really that representative of the country as a whole. Id tend to get out to the Mamanuca islands (Fiji) the lovely Moorea which is a ferry ride away from Papeete or the expensive Bora Bora which is more of a flight away or just generally away from the main island or airport town. Luckily cruises do a lot of these things as standard and you would get around the smaller far flung islands so its an ideal way to get around in this part of the world.

I’ve been to two places out there when I lived in New Zealand, which is relatively close and I have to say the experience was wonderful and unlike anywhere I’ve been for relaxation and culture combined. I’ve been to south east Asia beaches for example and they are just not quite as good or relaxing somehow!

In New Caledonia we got to the main island of Grand Terre and Noumea but also over to Isle of Pines where we stayed at a swanky Le Meridien.

On the way to “la piscine naturelle”

Noumea in the centre was a bit rough and ready I thought and the beach area at Anse-        Vata about 4 miles away was much more picturesque and tourist friendly.

The Isle of Pines was a wonderful island surrounded by beautiful beaches and had the “piscine naturelle” feature. This is an inland lagoon natural pool surrounded by pines trees and with amazing underwater cliffs that fish live in and around and it has to be seen to be believed, best underwater. This was a highlight of my trip to New Cal as I love snorkeling but the whole place is meant to be a diving paradise, even the aquarium at Noumea for such a small place was one of the best I’ve been to and I think thats mainly testament to amazing marine life available around New Caledonia.

The wild northern coast of grand terre. Actually copper mines but really pretty.

We also did a bit of a self drive to lesser travelled parts of La Grande Terre and took in some deserted beaches and the Ayers Rock esque northern wilderness which is very mountainous but has been mined for copper for ages so the mountains are all red. Its probable this was all joined to northern Australia at some point so its not surprising in some ways that its the same geological make up!

Moorea beach at high tide

Tahiti was similar in culture in to New Caledonia being a French colony. Being Polynesian rather than Melanesian the indigenous people were quite different and had a lot in common with Hawaii actually (out taxi driver had been living there) as there seems to be quite a traffic between the two places and the US in general.

We found Papeete to be a little bit unnerving arriving late at night (as most flights do to Tahitis main airport) and after a bit of a wander in town decided it

“Waka” practice on Moorea!

was not much to write home about and maybe even a little dodgy. Ive heard similar things about Nadi in Fiji for example, see my point about main cities/airport cities! The next day we took the 45 minute ferry to Moorea and the difference was remarkable. This is where you get the perfect white sand beaches (Papeete is mainly dark sand) and also the ubiquitous overwater bungalows in the 5 star hotels. We stayed in a cheaper/better value hotel and even with this werent disappointed!

The seas in the South Pacific are some of the clearest I have seen and this is the draw. The food is great in Tahiti and New Cal as standard because it is French but its expensive and this is the other downside to a land based holiday in these places. All the nations down here are small islands and have got varied/minimal infrastructure and agriculture of their own so without exceptions most of the food is imported, especially to the tourist standard. So really any of the islands out here you’d expect to pay quite a high price for a restaurant meal and we certainly did. The fish is amazing though, I had raw mahi mahi tartare with salt and lemon, which is a local delicacy in Tahiti so seafood is definitely the way to go if you can afford it if you want to try something local.

Moorea lagoon

All in all I feel very glad that I’ve travelled down to French Polynesia and New Caledonia as I’m unlikely to do so again and for most people it would surely be a bit of a bucket list destination. If you get the chance go but either do it on a cruise or take a fair bit of money would be my recommendation!

My Tahitian beach hut