Last night I had beef ravioli from a can, I had to ask another guy in the hostel to translate the instructions for me. He didn't speak much english, but we got through it.
Up at 9:30, got groceries, then back to the hostel and ate. There's no milk here, not that I could find anyway.
I took the bus to the beaches, a few km. south of the city centre. They're in the Noumea suburbs. Got off the bus at Ansa Vata beach, walked around to Club Med, then walked back to the beach at Baie de Citrones (Lemon Bay). Stared at topless bathers for a while, then walked back to the hostel (and me feet were killing me!)
It was rather coolish today, the wind off the ocean was cool, but when you were shaded from the wind, and the sun was out, it was flippin hot. Because of the wind, there were lots of parasailers and windsurfers at Ansa Vata beach, which isn't protected at all. There was no one swimming, though. At the beach at Baie de Citrones, it's in a cove, and protected, not windy, and there were a few people swimming.
French is definately the backpacker language here. On the bulletin board at the hostel, all information on "things to do" is in french, with just a few in french and english. All the guests are french as well.
And expensive internet, it's about $13CDN/hour! Once I realized how much I spent the first night there, I didn't use it after that.
I also found out late today that I've been an hour fast. I actually went to bed about 9:30 last night and got up about 8:30 this morning. Stupid AirCalen was informing us that there was no time difference between NZ and New CAledonia.
After getting back from the beach, I went to my room, and I have two more people in my room. The girl walked in, and I said hello, and she stuttered and said, "You don't speak french!!" She was so happy to meet someone not french. Her and her boyfriend are from Switzerland, but not the french speaking area. She knows some french, but finds it difficult. We started talking and her b/f came in, she's all excited, and telling me all about their travels in New CAledonia. They've been here two weeks, and spending two more weeks, because it's so nice. They've been all over, to the little islands as well. She showed me the shells she's collecting, and told me about the aquarium and how beautiful the south islands of New Caledonia are, and she wouldn't shut up. She was asking if I could get my flight changed, so that I could spend more time in New Caledonia and see it all (the real New Caledonia). Anyway, I suspect the non-french guests are being segregated and stuck in a different room than the rest of the guests.
I had supper (two frozen cheeseburgers, they were gross), then I walked downtown to find a bakery or something. Nothing open, but they were open last night. I actually felt unsafe walking around Noumea at night, a lot of locals eyeing me up and some drunk, stumbling thru the streets and pissing in gutters. I wandered into the more rundown are of the city too, and that's especially spooky.
At the Place de Cocotiers (main square in the middle of downtown, kind of a large park area), they have all kinds of kids carnival rides setup. I guess Monday is a holiday in France (and here as well), so they're celebrating it all weekend long.
Lots of people at the hostel are families and/or older couples. The mothers (or wives) are in the kitchen cooking up gourmet meals for their families, and here I am deforsting my frozen cheeseburgers.
Later in the evening, I talked with the Swiss couple for quite a while, then went to bed sometime after 11:00.
The currency (bills) here are HUGE! The 5000 franc bill (about $63CDN) is probably twice the size of a normal size bill. Needless to say, none of the money will fit in my wallet.
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