We Have Arrived!

Bill and I are both on our laptops working with the sliding door wide open as the warm evening air wafts in!  Darkness arrives very quickly here and by 6pm it was black outside. We are looking out over the lights reflected on Anse Vata Bay - it is lovely to finally be here.

Well for those excited students who had never flown before, they are now well and truly initiated!!  We had a bumpy ascent out of Auckland which caused a few shrieks and then was OK until we hit the turbulence midway!  As Bill has just said, he kept looking towards the window thinking that they were at a very odd angle as we tossed and shook and lurched through the air! A few enjoyed it (or pretended they did) but we were sure some were just trying to 'fit in' and be brave.  Chloe was sitting in front of me and turned around looking a bit stricken and asked quite seriously if the plane was supposed to be doing this!!  I assured her with as good a relaxed face as I could muster, saying all was fine and it would all stop as soon as we got out of these clouds!  Of course that is just what did happen and they were all fine. No-one was sick which is always good, and they all  tucked into their meal which had been delayed because of the turbulence.

One of my favourite parts of the trip is listening to them talk amongst themselves as they notice things and pass comments. They were so excited as we came in to land - a very smooth procedure I am happy to say- and then we watched their reactions as we walked through the airport and they surveyed their surroundings. The cops made an immediate impression with guns on hips. The airport has undergone huge renovations lasting about six years! Instead of a third world, basic open air structure, it is now a modern, beautiful building.  Our brightly coloured Amedee bus was waiting for us outside and we were soon on our way in to Noumea.

There has been a huge protest in Noumea over the last fortnight with main roads in the city and access roads in and out of the city all blocked by large mining trucks - nobody protests as well as the french do!  New Caledonia produces 1/4 of the world's nickel and it is their largest export, earning millions of dollars for them and for France.  This would be one of the main reasons the french don't want to grant independence to New Caledonia. The protesters were all from an Australian company with mining rights here and they are demanding more money from the government for the nickel. Schools were closed yesterday because of the mayhem but they took the trucks away yesterday and the roads are back to normal.

The bus took us in to the Jean Mariotti school where parents were waiting to collect their billets. Our kids were so good, greeting their families politely in the french way and all went off happily with their new 'families'.  We will see them all in the morning before we have our welcome breakfast at the school and then head in to the Melanesian Museum.

Until tomorrow then, I will bid you all au revoir!