Arrival Lifou — Loyalty Islands


MS Oosterdam  Arrives Lifou

MS Oosterdam Arrives Lifou

Cruise ships arriving to Lifou anchor in Santal (Sandalwood) Bay.  From there passengers wishing to visit Lifou must tender into port, meaning that they most board one of the ship’s tenders and ride it to shore.

Tendering into Lifou from MS Oosterdam

Tendering into Lifou from MS Oosterdam

As with Nouméa (see last week’s posts), the island of Lifou is also part of New Caledonia.  Lifou, neighboring Tiga, and several other smaller islands make up the French commune (administrative division) of Lifou, which in turn is part of the Loyalty Islands archipelago.

Lifou

Lifou

One of the first things that you’ll notice are the bright sand beaches and crystal-clear waters with saturated blues.

Lifou

Lifou

To the west of Santal Bay is a tall spit of land projecting out into the sea.  We’ll take a walk over there on Wednesday and look around, but if you look at it in the photograph below you’ll see a white structure.  That is the Notre Dame de Lourdes Chapel, which we’ll also tour on Wednesday.

Lifou

Lifou

Until then, enjoy today’s gallery.  Click on any image below to bring up the slide show:

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Fun Photo Friday — Time to Reflect on Sydney


The Sydney portion of this post was originally scheduled for an earlier date.  Alas, that conflicted with my Halloween short story.  So, I’m combining today’s last Fun Photo Friday look at Sydney with our goodbye to Nouméa.

For this first part of today’s Fun Photo Friday it’s time . . .

Looks to be about 20 minutes past March

Looks to be about 20 minutes past March

. . . to reflect . . .

Reflecting on Sydney

Reflecting on Sydney

. . . on Sydney with one last look.  Hope you enjoyed the tour.

Part two presents one last look at at Nouméa with some of my favorite photographs from there:

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Nouméa Cathedral and Chinatown


Nouméa Cathedral

Nouméa Cathedral

Now for some points of interest from our foot journey around Nouméa, capital city of New Caledonia.  One of those sights is Nouméa Saint Joseph Cathedral.  And while it may not look very opulent by European standards on the outside . . .

Nouméa Cathedral

Nouméa Cathedral

. . . it is nevertheless impressive on the inside:

Nouméa Cathedral

Nouméa Cathedral

Nouméa Cathedral

Nouméa Cathedral

Northwest of Nouméa Cathedral is Nouméa’s weekend gathering place, the Place des Cocotiers, or Coconut Square.  Place des Cocotiers is a large, lush central-city park.

Place Des Cocotiers

Place Des Cocotiers

Your foot tour will also reveal some exquisite examples of colonial-style architecture with sweeping verandas.

Colonial architecture

Ursula and I also found the shops quite charming and often colorful.

Nouméa store

Nouméa store

The foot route from Place des Cocotiers to Port Moselle will take you through Nouméa Polynesia Chinatown.

Nouméa Polynésia Chinatown

Nouméa Polynésia Chinatown

You’ll know it when you get there.  The entrance is quite unmistakable.

Nouméa Polynésia Chinatown

Nouméa Polynésia Chinatown

It couldn’t be better marked.  You also find here a statue dedicated to Vietnamese immigrants

Chân Dăng Vietnamese statue

Chân Dăng Vietnamese statue

Of course, Chinatown anywhere wouldn’t be Chinatown if it were festooned with colorful lanterns and other bright adornments.

Nouméa Polynésia Chinatown

Nouméa Polynésia Chinatown

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