We have spent a week on the marina here in Port Moselle in Noumea waitng to have a broken shroud fixed before we do the last crossing over to Coff's Harbour in Australia. It's now been done and we're ready to go when there is a good weather window. Andy's been a bit unwell with either Tongan Tummy or Vanuatu Belly this week so we're having some quiet days not straying too far away from the boat. The we plan to go out to a couple of anchorages nerby which sound really good. New Caledonia has the second biggest reef in the world after the Great Barrier Reef and we should find some good snorkelling.

We're enjoying New Caledonia more than we thought we would. It's another ex-French colony like Tahiti and so very expensive but, unlike Tahiti, the locals are really friendly and even appreciate it when you try to speak French!! Might be because the French used this as a penal colony when the Brits were sending their convicts to Australia! They don't have the French 'hauteur' that we found in Tahiti (and most of France, of course!) We re very near the market here where every fruit or vegetable you could want is for sell (except chillies, strangely. They're out of season!) There is also the fish market near where, I'm ashamed to admit, I bought some fish not something we've had to do lately. Two minutes away is the best boulangerie where they sell dozens of different breads and cakes that are impossible to ignore. I tried my best French in there. "Bonjour Madame, je voudrais deux eclairs cafe et deux baguettes, s'il vous plait" "Brown or white" she said! Hurumph!