New Caledonia is made up of the large island (Grand Terre) which is the fourth largest island in the Pacific after New Guinea and the North and South islands of New Zealand; and then several other island groups to the East and South.
It is said the large island rifted from Australia 65 million years ago and as such is a bit like the Galapagos in that much of the plants and wildlife are endemic. The island is made from the earth's mantle and is rich in mineral deposits such as nickel, whereas the outer islands are coral reefs or volcanic in origin.
As we traveled around the southern part of New Cal, we passed one of the several active nickel mines. The terrain is quite mountainous with some beautiful views. We stopped for lunch at a nice waterfall, explored the large man made lake and the damn and then made our way back to Noumea.
Yesterday was Thanksgiving which we celebrated with two Canadian couples. We had a great dinner finished with a fantastic homemade pumpkin pie courtesy of Sarah.
We're pretty much done with our visit and ready to sail to Brisbane today. We will do the clearing out process by visiting first the immigration office, then the customs office and lastly the port captain. This should take us about three hours since all the offices are about a 30 minute walk from the marina. Then we will top up fuel and be on our way!! Brissy ... here we come!
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