From Round to Long

I always though Viti Levu, Fiji was the largest island in the South Pacific (outside of New Zealand of course), but I was wrong. It is Grande Terre, New Caledonia that wins that prize. What fooled me was the shape. Round and fat is not always bigger than long and thin. Remember that.
We spent three days in the country, moving from remote Lifou island, to nearby and thus more prosperous Isle des Pins, to the Grande Terre itself, and its capital city, Noumea, smack dab in the centre. These islands are quite a bit different in appearance to our previous islands. They are drier, with generally scrubby foliage. Towering Norfolk Pines on Isle des Pins make it unique. The earth is red, and looks wonderful where it has been tilled. Yams are the largest crop and the small islands’ biggest export, and even figure in marriage ceremonies (best not to ask). They also grow other root crops: taro, manioc and sweet potatoes. But Grande Terre’s real value is deeper in its soil; nickel.
New Caledonia contains anywhere from 25-40% of the world's nickel resources. That enormous amount has both helped and hurt the island.

The country was named by Captain Cook because it reminded him of Scotland. Now, Captain Cook is one of my all-time favourite guys, but either he only saw it from far away or he had spent way too long at sea, because any resemblance to Scotland is minimal. Squinting at it over the horizon it was all soft mountains without big trees – but up close there ain’t no heather on those hills!

Looking on while Britain scooped up Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, etc. etc. as colonies and/or territories, France decided it was time to get in the game and took New Caledonia for itself. It became a penal colony for both rough and tough criminals and political intellectual opponents.  Once the prisoners had completed their sentences, they were given land to colonise the islands. It must have been interesting seeing those disparate groups now trying to life together! Many of these had been deported from Algeria, primarily men, who intermarried with the French women prisoners, so have developed a distinct ethnicity

The original peoples, Kanaks, were pushed off the best bits of land, which only became worse once valuable minerals were found. Open pit mines litter the countryside, and gave New Caledonia a larger economy than that of New Zealand, although income inequality and social imbalances are significantly higher in New Caledonia. Financial support from France represents more than 15% of the GDP, and most activities on the island, not relating to mining, add only minor support – like small-scale construction, manufacturing and a naissant tourism sector. The land doesn’t really allow for a lot of productive agriculture, and there are only a few cow and pig farms. Fruits feature less highly in New Caledonian cuisine than in other Pacific nations, instead relying on rice, fish and root vegetables. Their main dish is Bougna, which is fish, taro, banana and seafood wrapped in banana leaves, buried with hot rocks to cook, then dug up and eaten.

Ethnic Europeans gradually increased and Indigenous Melanesians became a minority, although they were still the largest ethnic group. Wealth followed this same trajectory. This caused problems, with serious, bloody ramifications in the late 20^th century. Independence was squelched severely, with the UN stepping in and declaring New Caledonia was to be included in its list of non-self-governing territories. A referendum on independence followed and in May of 1998, the Noumea Accord was signed, outlining a 20-year transition period to full independence. All things going well, that means there will be a mighty big celebration here next May!

France has not had a great record in helping its colonies and territories (the former of which is New Caledonia) achieve independence successfully. But from what we saw, there might be hope for this one. New roads, electricity plants and streetlighting, schools, clinics and pharmacies. Not much in the way of solar or wind or other renewable energy though. Lots of European cars. Socially, those Caloches (descended from original European stock) have rights too that may clash with the Kanak traditions. The difference between moneyed Noumea with its Hilton and Le Meridien hotels, and the islands with their hardscrabble existence off a primarily unproductive land is stark. However, the Kanak culture is holding strong and I hope it regains itself along with land ownership and shared financial gain.

There might be a new name. There is already a new flag, although it flies in duality alongside the French tricolour at the moment. The decision to use two flags has been a constant battleground between the two sides and led the coalition government to collapse in February 2011. Oh these symbols of ours and how much meaning we place in them!

New Flag

But it won’t take much time to develop tourism. Isle des Pins is already well on the road to getting it done well. A group of young men greeted us with a traditional dance display for donations. Locals set up little kiosks to sell fresh coconuts, bougna and skewers of seafood and vegetables on little grills. Girls braid hair in corn rows or give shoulder massages. A few clothing items are designed and/or fabricated on the islands. A guy with a van will take visitors out for a tour of the island, and will accept Australian dollars as well as his own currency. Snorkel gear can be rented.

Kanak women in their usual large, loose dresses.
Many wear headresses made of flowers or palm fronds as well.

And Noumea itself is very cosmopolitan, reminding one of the south of France with its tower apartments, restaurants and night clubs along the beaches, which are terrific. There is an excellent Aquarium devoted to local reefs, with everything really well marked. It rehabilitates fish and tortoises damaged by plastic or other man-made obstacles, and there is a large research wing. There are two museums, french shops, and wonderful french food in amongst the traditional, carb-laden Kanak fare. After touring the aquarium we had a lunch in the Annexe, right in the middle of a lovely square, Place des Cocotiers: carpaccio and red wine for Maman, Croque Monsieur and salad pour moi. We both had excellent coffee, another item being grown now on the island. You could buy proper baguettes and croissants along with Tahitian cake and local doughnuts.  Appliqued quilts are sold next to jewellery from shells.

I got to trot out my French and found myself not only understood, but easy to understand as well, as the accent is clear and easy to follow. Impossible to speak in the kanak tongue though – there are some 28 different indigenous languages: several on Grande Terre and one each for the other islands. They originated as one language but have evolved into completely new forms that are only understood by the individual speakers. Thankfully for me, French is pretty uniformly spoken. There is more English there than I expected, probably as a result of tourism taking hold, but I got a lot of good conversations in French that would have been impossible to get otherwise. And it was helpful if we were being shortchanged, which was tried a few times. One of the negatives of the kind of tourism being developed: large cruise ships or resort-style.  

But for us, it was few days of tropical heaven. A cold coconut macheteed by a beefy woman in a flowery dress, a hot pile of deep fried plantain chips, beach time on white sand the consistency of talcum powder, touring and talking with locals, seeing the colour and diversity of coral reef life.