After being on the ship for 3 days it was exciting to be able to get off the ship onto land for a while.
We arrived in Noumea and docked at the big port there and were shuttled by bus from the ship to the Cruise Ship Terminal where you could organise some tours if you wanted to.
We had done some research before we left on our trip and we had decided on a few things to do while we were in Noumea.
The first thing we did was purchase our tickets for the ‘Choo choo’ train. There are two choo choo trains, a green one and a yellow one. The green one got better reviews so we opted for that one.
We also purchased a ticket for the Hop-On Hop-Off bus.
While we were waiting for the Choo choo train we wandered across the road to the supermarket to have a look around.
The Choo choo train was packed! It was very squashy and because it was very warm it was very uncomfortable. There is also a guide talking through a microphone about the various highlights as we pass them but quite frankly she had such a thick French accent and with all the noise around us as we were travelling along I couldn’t hear a word she was saying! Which was really disappointing.
So according to the Green Train website the first stop on the train is a view of the lace des Cocotiers (Coconut Square). then onto the peninsula of Nouville.
Then onto lookout where you can view the peninsula of Nouville.
There was a building here with a cool mural on it.
Faubourg Blanchot with it’s colonial houses, a suburb dating back from 1874, then continue to promenade Pierre Vernier.
Then to the highest point of Ouen-Toro one of the most beautiful lookouts in Noumea,
where we watched people para gliding.
The hilltop lookout is topped with two superb cannons, installed by the Australian army in 1940.
From up there you can take in an unparalleled view of Noumea and its surrounding region.
After that the train crosses the bay of Anse-Vata, Baie des Citrons to return to the Cruise Ship Terminal.
We may have seen all the places mentioned above but as I said I couldn’t hear the commentary so don’t know which place was which!
Once we arrived back at the Cruise Ship Terminal we got straight onto the next available Hop-On Hop-Off bus.
Note: When you purchase a ticket for the Hop-On Hop-Off bus you receive a wrist band of a particular colour. This determines which bus you get on when you leave the Terminal, which meant we had to wait a while for the next bus of our particular colour wrist band to arrive.
On first stop on the Hop-On Hop-Off bus was the Municipal markets. Because these markets are only open until mid-day by the time we got there it was about 11.30am. All the fruit and veg stalls had closed by this time so there was nothing we could grab for lunch.
There is a little cafe within the building that houses the fruit and veg and we grabbed a coffee but it was not nice at all. Don’t bother wasting your money!
The markets also have various clothes and souvenir stalls but I found all of these to be very over-priced. And again they were packing up so there wasn’t much to see.
Note: Maybe get to the markets earlier? Not sure if there is really that much to see.
By now it was lunchtime. As Chloe is gluten-intolerant we had to find something that she could eat. We ended up at Lemon Bay, which is very expensive. While the people in the restaurants along this stretch spoke English it was very difficult to make them understand what gluten was and if their food had any of it in it. We eventually had lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant. The food was ok but very expensive. For four adults it ended up costing us $100!
