Chaud, tres tres chaud .....

The weather has turned very, very hot in Noumea in the past week which has meant resurrecting last year’s paddling pool, fruity icy poles and trips to the beach to cool down. Don has been traveling in Micronesia, so Jack and I have been hanging out and trying not to melt. Here Jack and his friend Zara are enjoying their icy treat after dinner.

Guess who turned 3....

Although this news is a few weeks old, I wanted to include some photos from Jack’s birthday party. He turned three and the theme was ‘pirates’ – he had a great time with all his friends and was particularly pleased with his new bike and pirate-ship cake!

Yum, yum – later that night he said to me ‘thanks, mommy, for the great cake!’

The new bike - a flash red BMX

Everyone lining up to ‘walk the plank’

The treasure!

18 months in one post!!

We've been living in New Caledonia for more than 18 months now and I can't believe its taken me that long to catch on to the idea of having a 'blog'. So I thought for my first post I would provide a gallery of pictures, including a few of the highlights from our time here - and there have been many. What a change to our lifestyle a move from chilly Canberra to sunny, sub-tropical Noumea has made!

Our first island-camping getaway! Noumea is in the hazy background - how beautiful to spend a night on an uninhabited island and go for a swim just as the sun is setting....

'Jack in a box' - when we first came we didn't have many toys until our container arrived from Australia so Jack had to improvise.

Our first trip to the beautiful Iles des Pins (Isle of Pines), we didn't have the best weather but we loved it so much we have been back three times and are planning another trip this Christmas with family!

This is what a beautiful sunset looks like on Iles des Pins (and this was our rainy trip - I'm sure you can now understand why we love this place!!)



Camping at Port Boise - Jack loves to camp and this time he made friends with a hermit crab which made him especially happy.

This is my last photo for this post - but what a way to end! Have you ever seen water look more enticing? This is on Lifou, the middle of the three Loyalty Islands to the east of New Caledonia. We spent a very special week there last Christmas, and we would love to go back ........