I have spent the last few days doing some exploring of the island. I thought at first that it must be a huge offshore gambling place as there appeared to be Casino’s everywhere – until I foolishly realised that that’s the name of their version of Tesco! It’s a very neat, very well manicured place and it looks on the surface (and I have no reason to believe otherwise) that it’s a very prosperous place too. There are lots of greens, parks and open spaces, all beautifully looked after, tidy, clean beaches with showers, benches and picnic tables dotted about. It has a very different feel to the other Pacific Islands – it feels much more European. The other islands seem to keep some of their local culture nearer the surface – all the floral leis, Polynesian music, local costumes, but there is none of that here. Just modern buildings, cars and roads as well as marinas full of very expensive looking yachts. The island itself is very beautiful, with narrow golden beaches around the many inlets, and some rather high, dark mountains up the middle The mountains look very like the Scottish ones - dark and forbidding, but I suppose that's where the "Caledonia" bit comes in - makes sense, I knew it couldn't be because of the beaches! It’s history is very similar to that of the other islands with European colonisation in the 1800’s, starting as a French penal colony and then moving to a more respectable French settlement. And the treatment of the indigenous population managed the same as everywhere else – really badly. But there are no “cultural nights” on offer here, the only place you seem to be able to find anything of that is in the very impressive cultural centre I went around today. It’s a very modernistic group of buildings that looks like metal (see pic) but actually they are made of wood. Inside were pictures, artefacts and videos with the history of the local people and how the island has developed to what it is today, in particular the two World Wars and the infrastructure development as a result of the Americans here in WW2. There was also a “village” - a group of three of the traditional houses that were interesting that you could go and sit in. It has been a really hot and humid day, but inside these really tall thatched huts it was amazingly cool. Nice and interesting as it was, it felt a bit like the culture of the island had all been tidied away neatly into this small area too to match the rest of the place. The island is nice, but somehow feels soulless, more a place to live but not that much of real interest to a visitor. The town is not what I expected – for some reason I think I was expecting to see a miniature Paris in terms of architecture but no – just the normal little shopfronts in a town planned on a grid system. There are a few more local people in the town than there are in the beach area, and the fashions here are also less Parisian. The women wear those rather large, colourful cotton frocks with frills around the neck, sleeves and hem, not flattering, but as they cover a multitude of sins, I may have to invest in one or two! I have also to report that for men at the beach, Speedo’s are de rigueur – regardless of age, size or shape – that, together with the leather look tan (very Euro) is definitely the look to go for…. And the weather has finally settled, the wind really has dropped a lot and it has warmed up in the evening too, so I don’t need a cardi sitting out on the balcony writing this – but the downside of that is that the pesky little South Pacific mozzies have again found their favourite food – moi!
