Happy Talk (Sydney to Nouméa)

Well hello dear reader. Yes, I'm back with another series of posts in the 'year of the holiday'. Sadly, our last for the year. It has been wonderful: The Cook Islands, Hamilton Island, the Kimberley expedition cruise and now New Caledonia, specifically Nouméa. It's only a brief sojourn - we will be back in Sydney next Tuesday. Long enough to avoid a significant birthday, unwind and enjoy French food and wine with a south Pacific twist. A segue to today's title, Happy Talk from the musical South Pacific.

A nice way to begin the holiday

Flying around lunch time is the thing. There were no queues. Anywhere. We left home at 10am and were seated in the Qantas First Lounge enjoying a glass of Perrier Jouet before 11am. Nice. Just when you think things can't get any better, one of the wait staff appears with a fruit platter, a chocolate muffin and a chocolate 'happy birthday' sign.  Awesome. A pity we're flying economy, but it's less than 3 hours.

I visited Nouméa about 45 years ago as a 15 year old captive on a cruise with my parents. Too young to hang with the adults, too old to be with the kids and girls my age were not interested. Fun times. To add insult to injury, the ship went through the tail end of a cyclone throwing the schedule out and inducing sea sickness, for the only time ever. We arrived late in Nouméa. Siesta time. We went to the aquarium and looked through shop windows because they were closed. The shops re-opened and life resumed as we boarded the ship. It was such a magical experience that I wouldn't attempt a cruise again for 45 years.

And here we are, sitting in the lounge enjoying our champagne and fruit platter when another of the wait staff suggests we should move to the 'restaurant area' for lunch. Menus were produced. Hmm, salt and pepper squid, duck, lamb, salads, chips ... way too much choice.

The salt and pepper squid was beautiful, perfectly accompanied by a Yarra chardy for Jayne and a pinot gris for me. The lime chilli dipping sauce was very tasty and something I will attempt to replicate when I return to my other life.

Birthday messages everywhere

The flight was uneventful which was fortunate because there were no screens to distract our attention had something gone wrong. It was only 3 hours, but that is a long time to be a seat captive without something to watch. Thankfully the lunch and wine we had made me drowsy and I napped part of the way to Nouméa.

The airport is 42km from the city. When you add peak traffic flow, that translated into an hour on the coach. Le Meridien is the last drop-off point because it is the last hotel on the point. As we are only staying for a short time I upgraded our room and as it is my birthday, they made sure we scored the best of the upgrade. We arrived after sunset so you'll need to wait my dear reader for shots of the view, but the suite itself is beautifully appointed and everywhere I look there are birthday messages.

The lounge looking into the kitchenette

Yes, you guessed it, the bedroom

Dinner tonight was at one of three restaurants, Le Sextant. A seafood buffet. Oh yeah. You name it they had it and they catered across the continents too. The oysters weren't up to Sydney rock standard, but the prawns, sashimi tuna and king fish, plus hot dishes, just yum. All washed down with a nice Sancerre white and some sparkling water. There was also bread. French bread ... I'm in heaven ... and a dazzling array of desserts. All in all, a very tidy way to conclude the day.

Except it wasn't over. We needed to drink our complimentary champagne and eat the birthday eclairs in the fridge.

What was it Ned Kelly said? Such is life.

à demain