Wednesday 28th August

Phare Amedee

What a great day the kids had today!  It wasn't sunny the whole day but still warm for us and there was no hesitation from the kids to don snorkels and masks and go for it.
Firstly we were welcomed or rather serenaded on board the boat and settled in to our spot on the top deck.

                                                           Views as we left Noumea

As you can see, there are many boats here. Apparently the estimation is that one in every ten people own one. The marinas hold a range of them, from the average family runabout to yachts of all sizes some of which would be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The sea was choppy but the Catamaran is really big and is a brand new one added to the Mary D fleet so it seemed to cut through the chop and the ride was still reasonably smooth.  It is much faster though so the trip was only 30mins instead of the usual 45.
As I said above, the kids couldn't wait to strip off and immerse themselves!

They were so excited to see so many turtles up close when they were out there and were able to touch them. To swim alongside these creatures is a thrill the kids are amazed by and thrive on every year.  When we went out on the glass-bottomed boat over a reef later in the morning, we saw the biggest turtle I've ever seen there.

Phare Amedee is home to many green sea turtles.  Many are born in breeding grounds north of  Noumea, but this area is a 'nursery' for juveniles of up to about 15 years of age. It is a marine reserve and prolific in sea grass, which is very similar to our ordinary lawn grass, and is what green turtles feed on.  A few of these turtles would have been born in Queensland too but when they are 20 - 25 years of age, they mate and then wend their way back to the beach they were born on to lay their eggs.  The years spent in this nursery area though, just fattens them up for their long journey, during which they don't feed at all. Apparently their body fat at this stage is green because of all the feeding on  sea grass, hence the name green sea turtles.  We were told that the large one we saw in the boat would have been about 15 years old, and would typically eat 40kgs of grass daily!

When we first arrived at our spot on beach to put all our gear down, I happened to look up and here was this little fella enjoying the sunshine in his web under the umbrella! The photo doesn't show how HUGE he was! He was about 7cms in diameter all up!  Needless to say we all kept a wide berth!

  Washing feet before beginning the climb up the lighthouse - 246 steps in a spiral staircase.

 There had been many maritime disasters around Noumea in the late 1800s so Napoleon 111 of France commissioned a lighthouse for this spot. It was the first metal lighthouse built in France and after a world exhibition it featured in, the whole thing was dismantled piece by piece, packed into crates then began a 3 month sea voyage to Phare Amedee. Then convicts from the mainland spent 9 months putting it all back together again and so it began its job of warning ships of the dangers of the reef here.

Pics from our glass-bottomed boat tour of a reef close to shore.

After the glass-bottomed boat tour we had our tropical feast! There were mussels, prawns, raw tuna salad, about a dozen different salads, veal (which they eat a lot of here) with olives and cooked in red wine, barbecued tuna steaks, beef, rice, potato gratin then a selection of desserts as well as fresh fruit - it truly is a feast! 

Below is the entry to the restaurant.

After the meal we were treated to a cultural concert.  The songs and dances are french Polynesian rather than Melanesian for some reason but very beautiful. After their performances they have a bit of fun with the audience and teach selected members of it. Our girls learnt a dance and weren't too bad at the hip swaying!

Each year they ask a male member of the audience to come up too and teach him to swing his hips etc, then slowly they remove his tee shirt as they dance around him and it all begins to look a bit provocative!  It's all hilarious for the kids but Hannah's face was classic sitting across from me as they were laughing like mad and then it looked as though they were going to continue undressing the guy and Hannah looked at me as if to say ' this really looks as though it's R18 and should we even be here???"  Of course they go no further except to put a pair of coconut bras on him to complete the dance.  All good fun.

Very beautiful, graceful dancing - the boys' eyes were on stalks!

I can't believe I haven't a photo of the snakes to show you.  I only have videos but I cannot load them onto the blog. Rest assured, the kids will have hoards of them for you!

Yes, a fantastic day on the island  resulting in some tired kids again. The weather was much much better over there than in Noumea and once out from the island a bit we fair rocked and rolled our way home. I must say I don't enjoy those conditions but the kids loved it.

Baz and I were home by 5.30 and I am sitting with a smooth Bordeaux beside me and sampling the creamy brie we have that smells like old socks but tastes divine! When in Rome, do as the Romans do I say!

Au revoir until tomorrow evening.