What an incredibly long series of flights to get to New Caledonia. As a first time international flyer, I found 24 hours of flight time to be quite tasking. New Caledonia is beautiful when you fly into Noumea's airport, flanked by mountains on one side and water on the other. The airport terminal was small and getting through customs, baggage claim, and out the door took all of 50 feet. H1N1 is a big concern in the area and all incoming passengers are screened via a thermal imaging device that looks at the eyes for elevations in internal temperature.
From the airport it was an hour's drive into the actual city of Noumea through some of the 1500 odd mountains in New Caledonia. The city itself is very busy, filled with a quite diverse mix of poorer Pacific Islanders, Chinese and Japanese business owners, and well-to-do French citizens. Everyone speaks French and touring the city has been quite the challenge being on the other side of the language barrier.
On our first day, the U.S.N.S. Richard E. Byrd moved from anchor in one of the bays to portside at the cruise ship marina. This ship is humungous! It has been drawing quite the crowd from the locals and to get back to the ship with a taxi driver all I've had to say was take me to the big American ship.
Tommorrow, Monday, we are leaving port and getting underway to the Solomons. We've been hearing about the impact John Nett (Big John) and John Hammill (Little John) have had on the missions thus far and we are very excited to begin our work in 3 days times.
Time to try and get on this sleep schedule….
Stephen-Glad to hear you made it safely. Dad and I are looking forward to reading your posts. Enjoy your time there and many learning experiences. We will try not to miss you too much!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to reading about the last leg of the journey!
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