This week’s small pleasures #370 (or New Caledonia part 2)

Thistles and Kiwis

This week’s small pleasures are all to be found on our recent trip to Nouméa in New Caledonia, as you might expect if you have already seen part one of our trip in this post here. It was just the rest and relaxation we needed, and have come back full of holiday cheer. Anyway, to this week’s small pleasures….

Aquarium des Lagons Nouvelle-Calédonie

We decided on Thursday to pay a return visit (our third – we have gone each time we have been here) to the Aquarium des Lagons Nouvelle-Calédonie. The aquarium was opened in 1957, and is home to a wonderful array of sea creatures, including phosphorescent corals, that live in and around the coasts of New Caledonia. The institution carries out a lot of conservation work, and also has a care centre for creatures such as turtles which may be injured or sick. It is a fun place to visit, and as ever with these things, you never know quite what you will see on the day you visit.

I could have watched these little jelly fish for hours, as well as the tanks with fish of every colour and shape imaginable, strange sea creatures and of course colourful starfish.

There is also a garden with an large area dedicated to turtles. This has recently been renovated and reopened, so we were glad to be able to see several of them (including a giant one that I was unable to get a good photograph of) swimming around, and coming up for air. I loved this fancy looking groper too.

There is also a fantastic view from the top of the hill there over the bay. The yellow line you can see is to mark off safe swimming water, a shark demarcation line!

Parc Zoologique et Forestier Michel Corbasson

On Friday we headed over to the Parc Zoologique et Forestier Michel Corbasson. Opened in 1972, the park was created to protect one of the last areas of forest within the city of Nouméa. It is home to a number of species endemic to New Caledonia, and covers an area of 36 hectares.

One of the birds we were lucky to see is the cagou or kagu, a crested, long-legged, and bluish-grey bird. These are kept in a special area within the park, with excellent viewing opportunities. Regarded as the national bird of the country, it is flightless and currently endangered due to the introduction of pests like rats. We also spotted lots of emerald doves, but again, my photos were not good enough to post here.

As well as native species, the park is home to a lot of peacocks, which wander around the pathways, and housed parrots and other birds from Australia and Africa. There is a lake in the middle, home to a variety of ducks and other water fowl, and some fantastic views and walkways. I have included a picture of a little lizard, running up a tree too, as growing up in the cold climes of northern Europe, seeing these creatures in the wild always make me stop and look.

Food

No Small Pleasures post would be complete, of course, without mention of food. Probably one of the best things I ate was the one pictured top left, some gorgeous garlicky prawns with rice and salad at a place in Baie des Citrons one evening. Actually, I ate a lot of prawns and seafood when we were away, not being able to resist. Anyway, after our visit to the aquarium, we were in needed of refreshment, and this pineapple juice was so perfect on a hot day. A few lovely salty olives went well with it. Karl had another croque monsieur that day for lunch, and I had a rather good panini with salad. Yes we did enjoy more ice cold beer – well, we were on holiday! I had a very good duck breast salad, served with a potato, egg and lots of greens one day for lunch and a very cheesy vegetable quiche, again with a good salad, for Saturday lunch.

Back to the Market

On Saturday morning, we popped back to the market, which was buzzing with activity. I found a couple of t-shirts for 2 of my great nephews, before we headed off for lunch. Trocas, I believe, is a variety of sea snail.

Bonus kitties

While I was eating my favourite prawn dish, a little black cat with a little white ‘bow tie’ appeared, miaowing loudly and clearly expecting a little bit of seafood. His big eyes looked at me, he miaowed again, and so I succumbed and gave him a small bite. His friend appeared, though he was less vocal and clearly following Sir Bow Tie (as I called cat number one). After a couple of bits of prawn, and realising I had finished, he lay down for a quick nap before spotting someone else to look at cutely and demand a bit of prawn. I spoke to the waiter about him and he said that cat could smell prawns from kilometres away! They both looked well cared for and clearly liked to visit the outdoor restaurants along Baie des Citrons.

Simple things

  • Taking life easy for a few days.
  • Reading without feeling I should be doing something else.
  • Wearing shorts, no make up, and tying my hair back.
  • Eating a lot of prawns! Me and Sir Bow Tie obviously share the same tastes!
  • Surprising myself with how much French I could remember and being equally appalled at how much I had forgotten.
  • Looking out at the blue ocean.

We are now back in Wellington, with Karl heading back to work today and me on Thursday.

What were your small pleasures this week? Here are some other blog posts from a few fellow bloggers looking at the good things in life.

Thistles and Kiwis is a Wellington, New Zealand based blog written by Barbara, who likes cats, summer, good food and pretends to garden.

You can find Thistles and Kiwis on Facebook, and also on Instagram @thistlesandkiwis. If you want to get in touch, email me on lofgren@thistlesandkiwis.com

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Published by Thistles and Kiwis

Loves summer, sunshine and cats. Beginner gardener, likes eating, cooking and reading about food

45 Comments

  3. Sounds like a wonderful break. The scenery is stunning. Isn’t it amazing what lives out there in the oceans? And why does just reading always feel like a guilty pleasure?

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  7. What a beautiful place! The prawns—or shrimp as we call them—look very tasty indeed. But oh the pineapple. I have never had really fresh pineapple, and I am told that the taste is so sweet and good. The ones I have had tend to be tart.

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    1. It really is a beautiful place to visit and for us in the South Pacific it isn’t too far to visit either. We weren’t able to taste these particular pineapple, but fresh pineapple is a delight.

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  10. I love watching jellyfish in aquariums, not so much when I am on the beach. I’ve found live cams online where you can watch jellyfish to your heart’s content. I love your photos…all of them very interesting. Great for a snowed in winter day here in NJ.

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  12. I sat and watched jellyfish for ages at the SeaLife centre on the Sunshine Coast over Christmas and loved their easy floating movement, I found it quite relaxing to be honest! Sounds like a lovely trip away and that photo of the beach and ocean is just gorgeous!!

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  13. It sounds like a wonderful trip. I enjoyed all the pictures. We have two aquariums fairly close to us. I could spend hours there, well actually I have. All of the food looks so yummy. It sounds like a very relaxing time.

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  14. I am jealous you saw a Cagou in the wild. How lucky. I used to go there a lot, and over to ile des pins (and up north once – Heingene (?). I really love it. But not been since the 90’s. Was toying with the idea of going again but not yet. Are the beaches still closed for swimming? Where did you stay? Lovely, lovely pics!

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  17. The aquarium, the park and food all look amazing. How wonderful that you got to see the cagou. Thank you for the mention and for your weekend coffee share.

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