New Caldonia - Part of the French Commonwealth

After almost 48 hours at sea, we arrived in New Caldonia about 3 in the afternoon. (Earlier in the day, bright and early, I was able to catch the sunrise!  The views are just getting better!)  We arrived later than anticipated, so some of the shore excursions had to be cancelled. As the ship was tied to the pier, we had some 'native' dancers welcome us.  Did really well, but it was weird being in this industrial area and then the dancers... Oh well, still a fun welcome!

Language here mostly French, the native folks are part of the Melanesian gene pool.  Darker skin, but lighter hair colors sometimes... even blonde.  And no, it wasn't from the GI's that were here during WW2.  Also, the island is not too far east from Australia... A pic shows it... I never realized that... Geez... where was I in class during the geography lessons... I'm sure I was sitting there... 

We opted  to go to the WW2 Relic Museum. Caldonia played an extremely important role in the war, yet no battles were fought on the island.  It proved to be a most effective home base and hospital for the US and other allied countries.  The population on the island went from 17000 to triple that in just a couple days.  All in all, over a million soldiers touched foot on the island.  They even had a ‘Pentagon’ located here.

As for the museum… well, this is part of the French Loyalty Islands, belonging to France, the main language is French… hence, museum, mostly in French.  Note to self, check that out in advance!  Still, had some English interspersed and we could sorta get the idea of what they were talking about.  The Museum was located in an old Quanset (spell check won’t give me the correct spelling!) Hut left over from that time.  It had been refurbished with air conditioning, etc for today’s use!  Here in New Caldonia, they also interned the Japanese and even sent the men of the families back to Japan.  Families were separated and it, here, was a sad action.

 

Went for a bit of a drive to a point where the Ouemo Canons (which were never used, just for viewing) that was gonna offer views.  And, it didn’t disappoint.  One of the folks offered to take our pic!

Headed back to the boat.  We had every intention when we left earlier, to go back into town.  Sun had set by now, so we opted to get a nice meal on the boat in the “Red Ginger” and it did not disappoint.  As a matter of fact, I tried to type this last night, and feel asleep during the process

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Good Morning Sunrise!