Kayaking Kanakyland Kiwi Style - Canoe & Kayak

Feature
Georgette Nonke and
her gift of sugar cane.
grand thatched roof of the guest house. “ The best part of the whole trip”,
declared Francesca (13 ).
The Kanaks are the indigenous people of New Caledonia, and although
supposedly not a sea-faring race, they certainly treat the reef as a food
source. They own much of La Cote Oubliee. Often we saw their camps
and gravesites, and spotted individuals way out on the reef with nets or
spears. Run-abouts seemed the way to get about.
On leaving Chez Georgettes, our two fairly normal, but now travel
stained, NZ families were out to bag a rest day, and an island.
Menyuru lay a few kilometres away, a low lying area of heavily
forested paradise. Here we pursued individual activities,
entertained by lurking hoards of hermit crabs who pounced on
any scrap of unattended food. Kirk (11) had a hermit crab race
course – no need for digital entertainment here.
Every day we saw elusive turtles and occasionally, when
snorkling, we saw sharks. Often under water there was more
beauty than in the world above. When the morning was calm
and the sun was shining kayaking over the shallow inner reef
revealed beauty almost as well as snorkling.
Cloud cover, and an opportunity to use a tail wind to Tupeti
Island, caused us to cut short our 7 th July rest day. At 2 pm
we abandoned the kids huts and rafts, packed and paddled
the 8 kms. We camped with a backdrop of dense bush and a
roaring Rusa stag. Large bats flew into the trees. The 2 metre
tide, which peaked at 6 pm, left sufficient dry sand for Adele to
prepare a fire.
‘Woomph!’ On our last kayaking day a coconut shocked us
awake. It had fallen10 metres right beside our tent. Any closer
would have been dangerous! In drizzle we paddled a mangrove
lined channel to the Tribu of St Roch. It was pouring with rain
when we found a large picnic shelter which provided perfect
cover for our tents.
Exploring, we discovered a very simple but beautiful church, the
Tribu’s malfunctioning public phone and Rastafarian influence on
Kanak lifestyle.
All too soon our kayak trip of the Forgotten Coast was over. It had
been a privilege to share in our two families’ adventure and experience of
French and Kanak culture.
Tarn departing Quinne early Day 3
Photo Al Rynn.