We got to New Caledonia a week to the hour after leaving NZ, making landfall at Isle Amadee just inside the NC lagoon. The wind was right for an exciting sail through the pass from the rollers of the Pacific Ocean into the instantly flat waters of the lagoon. On the island is a huge lighthouse:

 

 

This was prefabricated in France in 1862 during the reign of Emperor Napoleon III (who lost his throne in disgrace in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 a few years later). It must have been quite amazing to the native kanaks to be annexed by France and then be thrust immediately from the stone age into the nineteenth century with this enormous cast iron lighthouse. Talk about culture shock – which continues to this day, I fear.

 

Anyway, the Blog has now made it to June; I’m only a month adrift now. Watch this space.