I touched down from my flight with Air Calin today just before midday after spending a working week in Nouvelle Caledonie, otherwise known as New Caledonia where I had been working at the Goro Nickel Project site on an engineering consultancy job.
While I could rabbit and rave on for quite a while of the experience, I won't. There is a lot of observations and stories I could tell but I think it would be better to save them for the personal re-telling if you are unlucky enough to hear about it.
A few things. This project site is huge, possibly one of the largest in the world. The sheer size was staggering and far exceeded what I thought it would be like. To say the least, no-one walks anywhere, they all hop into 4WDs and drive around to different departments and parts of the site to do their work. To put this into some perspective perhaps, during peak construction, they had 7000 staff working on site each day. It has been scaled down to 3800 right now as construction is nearing the end and commissioning of the modules involved begins. The on-site accommodations for the workers is a complex itself and when you consider that the maximum number of people allowed in each housing apartment unit is four, and the senior staff and management have their own single person unit, and that the maximum height of the buildings is two floors for the small set of shipping container-like apartments (for the engineers only), that is a lot of accommodation. So big that they have three mess-halls to be able to fit and feed everyone at the same time during meals.
The conditions are quite challenging. Five meters of rainfall a year, it can rain at any time, during the year, without warning, and the humidity often reaches saturation humidity especially after rain. The ground can dry very quickly bringing up a very iron rich and acidic dust that covers *everything* and when I say everything, I mean *EVERYTHING*. The heat is also quite moderate being a pacific island climate.
New Caledonia itself is also an expensive place to live, the XPF (currency) is at a reasonable exchange to other currencies but the prices are staggering, two to three times the prices you could expect to pay in Australia for most things.
New Caledonia is also like an impovrished French province. The main language is French, and the atmosphere is very peculiar indeed being European but in the middle of the tropical climate. There are local islander populations of course, and well, a lot of them don't appreciate the French at all. Nor any foreigners or progress, trade, tourism... anything really that disrupts their tranquil island.
The Ramada Plaza Hotel, rated to be a Four Star Hotel, isn't. I'd say it'd be a two and a half star hotel and when you read scathing reviews about their service and facilities, I'd agree significantly. I would not choose to stay there if I visited on a holiday with my own funding.
As a honeymoon destination, don't stay in Noumea. Yes, there are nice beaches and views, but it is quite a run-down town. I'm sure there are much better picturesque locations in New Caledonia, just as expensive too no doubt, but Noumea is a 1-2 day staying location, evidenced by the cruise ships (two P&O, one other) that only stayed for twenty-four hours before departing. I was told that going to Vanuatu is a better deal for your money and they actually want you to visit.
Finally, if you dislike beaurocracy and red tape, stay away. This place runs on red tape and without it, I think there would be a lot more very unhappy unemployed people around.
If you want to hear more, just find me in person LOL
While I could rabbit and rave on for quite a while of the experience, I won't. There is a lot of observations and stories I could tell but I think it would be better to save them for the personal re-telling if you are unlucky enough to hear about it.
A few things. This project site is huge, possibly one of the largest in the world. The sheer size was staggering and far exceeded what I thought it would be like. To say the least, no-one walks anywhere, they all hop into 4WDs and drive around to different departments and parts of the site to do their work. To put this into some perspective perhaps, during peak construction, they had 7000 staff working on site each day. It has been scaled down to 3800 right now as construction is nearing the end and commissioning of the modules involved begins. The on-site accommodations for the workers is a complex itself and when you consider that the maximum number of people allowed in each housing apartment unit is four, and the senior staff and management have their own single person unit, and that the maximum height of the buildings is two floors for the small set of shipping container-like apartments (for the engineers only), that is a lot of accommodation. So big that they have three mess-halls to be able to fit and feed everyone at the same time during meals.
The conditions are quite challenging. Five meters of rainfall a year, it can rain at any time, during the year, without warning, and the humidity often reaches saturation humidity especially after rain. The ground can dry very quickly bringing up a very iron rich and acidic dust that covers *everything* and when I say everything, I mean *EVERYTHING*. The heat is also quite moderate being a pacific island climate.
New Caledonia itself is also an expensive place to live, the XPF (currency) is at a reasonable exchange to other currencies but the prices are staggering, two to three times the prices you could expect to pay in Australia for most things.
New Caledonia is also like an impovrished French province. The main language is French, and the atmosphere is very peculiar indeed being European but in the middle of the tropical climate. There are local islander populations of course, and well, a lot of them don't appreciate the French at all. Nor any foreigners or progress, trade, tourism... anything really that disrupts their tranquil island.
The Ramada Plaza Hotel, rated to be a Four Star Hotel, isn't. I'd say it'd be a two and a half star hotel and when you read scathing reviews about their service and facilities, I'd agree significantly. I would not choose to stay there if I visited on a holiday with my own funding.
As a honeymoon destination, don't stay in Noumea. Yes, there are nice beaches and views, but it is quite a run-down town. I'm sure there are much better picturesque locations in New Caledonia, just as expensive too no doubt, but Noumea is a 1-2 day staying location, evidenced by the cruise ships (two P&O, one other) that only stayed for twenty-four hours before departing. I was told that going to Vanuatu is a better deal for your money and they actually want you to visit.
Finally, if you dislike beaurocracy and red tape, stay away. This place runs on red tape and without it, I think there would be a lot more very unhappy unemployed people around.
If you want to hear more, just find me in person LOL
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