Our last port of this cruise is today...Noumea, a French-speaking tropical island closer to Australia. First stop, the Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception, perched upland a bit in the hills out from the city. And wonder of wonders...an air -conditioned bus! Figures...it's much cooler today with low humidity. Church has memorabilia from many miracles said to have occurred here. There are many plaques of marble placed in memory of them..some old, some newer. The island is primarily Catholic and Methodist.
Second stop is a beautiful high hilltop with one of the prettiest views we've seen so far...Noumea has the largest natural lagoon in the Pacific Islands and a coral reef to boot. There are small islands dotting the turquoise waters making for a gorgeous setting. The hilltop is graced by a couple bright yellow Tchou Tchou Petit Trains which transport tourists and locals up the steep slopes to enjoy the views, especially Amedee Island, a World Heritage Site out on the reef.
Last stop is the Aquarium of the Lagoons, down the hill nearer to the city centre. It's a small but charming and adequate endeavor featuring many Pacific fish species, sea snakes, reef sharks, sea horses, and some pretty creepy other things that look like bionic sea bugs that resemble huge cockroaches sitting on the sea bottom. There was also a black light room featuring glowing corals. The last exhibit held the awful crown of thorns starfish which are destroying parts of the Great Barrier Reef.
We managed to do some shopping, very specific this time, and found Jeff's fav patisserie for yummy chocolate eclairs and chocolate croissants...to go...for later.
Jeff had one evening show of British Invasion, we grabbed a quick bite to eat, then rushed over for evening trivia. Our little team has managed to stay in the top two to four (out of 25+- teams) most nights. But we are craving a top winning night and given there are other shows tonight we figure there might not be quite so many good competitors ...it might just be our night! Subject was supposed to be "entertainment" so we were ready, especially with Jeff on our team! They switched the subject to "general knowledge" at the last minute, but we drafted a math, physics, army guy who said he didn't know anything! Great! Well, he saved our @$&'s with four answers we had no clue about...krypton, some odd sort of tool, a martial art thing, and a tricky math problem...we won! Our team of four won! Pens and wee flashlights! Now we are planning for the Around the World team...figure we need to draft another librarian, a math teacher, some sport enthusiast and an Aussie or two...we might have a chance!
It was a very good day!
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