This will be our ‘home’ for the next 8 nights – Lemon Bay.

Our flight across to New Caledonia went very well – with the actual flight time taking only 90 minutes, which was just enough time to be served some lunch and a glass of wine by the Qantas staff. It was definitely not enought tiome to watch the movies we had selected.

We were met at the airport by a smiling woman who was holding a sign with my name on it. It is always a relief when things go to plan. She could speak no English, so this gave us a chance to practise our French.

The drive to the Baie des Citrons took us through quite a bit of countryside at first, and being a Saturday, there was not a lot of traffic on the roads. Or maybe it is always like this.

This map shows where we travelled – it took around 45 minutes (or half the time it took to get from Brisbane to the New Caledonia!!) to get to our accommodation. And by this stage, we were feeling a little weary. The first day of any trip we find is quite tiring – what with getting to the airport and parking, catching the shuttle bus to the terminal and then checking in and going through the ‘customs’ procedures before actually finding the gate, boarding the plane and finding our seat. By now, we are ready for a nap.

So, once we were checked into our apartment at Casa del Sole, Mick and I went exploring to see if we could find an ATM to get some cash out as we had read that cash is preferred over card.

It was almost sunset as we headed off, and Mick was ready for a beer. There was a row of restaurants, bars and cafes open and doing a busy trade. We selected a bar that claimed it was a micro brewery, but when Mick asked what beers they had – they were mostly Belgium – not one locally-made beer was for sale. And it was here that we got our first lesson is using the currency and working out how much things cost.

Mick ordered a 500cl beer and I had a glass of red wine. The beer cost 1050 XPF (or $14.50AUD) and the glass of wine cost 1200 XPF (or $16.60AUD). Both prices were slightly more than we would expect to pay in a similar venue at home, but we had also read that New Caledonia is quite expensive. I was glad that while Mick waited for our bags to appear at the carousal once we landed, I bought two bottles of Bordeaux wine at the Duty Free Shop, which now look like bargains.

We ate out at a restaurant specialising in beef – Mick’s choice – and he had a fillet steak with garlic-ladened green beans, and I had the fois gras maison. We were both happy.

As it turned out, paying by card is quite acceptable, and even preferred. Unlike in France, tipping is not expected in New Caledonia, it is more like at home in Australia where tipping is used to recognise excellent service.

We had an early night, in bed before 9pm (which was really our 8pm) but we did not care. We’d called it a day.