We docked in Noumea this morning (Monday), the capital of New Caledonia, named by James Cook in 1774 as it reminded him of Scotland. (WTF?) New Caledonia is a French administered territory of many beautiful islands. There are three provinces : North, South and Loyalty Islands. The Kanak people are pro-independence and were involved in quite violent uprisings in 2024. They were eventually settled after the French Government scrapped a contentious bill and many French settlers left the islands at this time.

New Caledonia is an idyllic island archipelago and Noumea seems to have a thriving economy.

We had a walk around in the city area and then took a fantastic tour on the open air Green train which took us all around the city sights. It was surprisingly fun.