Happy Birthday Mum!!!

Location maps at 5.15 and 6 am and sunrise

I had a bus tour of Noumea and a visit to the Aquarium. First stop was to a lookout dedicated to the Virgin Mary, who looks after the large Catholic population of New Caledonia.

Our guide talked about many things, including the education system. High school students attend daily from 7 am to 5 pm. They have 2 weeks off after every 6 weeks of classes with 2 months for the long break. Primary schools are 8 am to 4 pm. English is a mandatory lesson and most students go to France for their university courses.

Next visit was the Aquarium, very nice it was too, so lots of fishy pictures. I do feel a bit sorry for the inhabitants though, sort of like birds in cages! A skate, 2 seahorses, pipe fish, sand-eels (these were funny, they just kept going up and down in the sand!), a banded shrimp and a peacock mantis shrimp.

There are 6 bays that the city is built around so the tour took us around all of them. Then up to another lookout. I didn’t get out as I was feeling rather stiff from getting up and down the bus steps!

Back at the ship I had lunch and then back to my room for some rest and relaxation, LOL. Here’s a panorama off my balcony. It was scenic on the otherside of the port works!

Port Vila, Vanuatu tomorrow, but there weren’t any tours I liked the sound of and as it’s a tender process again, I probably won’t go ashore this time.

Hope you had a pleasant day Mum, xoxo