II. Noumea, New Caledonia

Our first stop of the Cruise was at Noumea, New Caledonia. At dinner the night before we had become friends with two other couples from Sydney. Kat and Ben from Penrith and Joelle and Keegan from the Hills area. We had a stupidly big night the night before. Tequila shots were had, red wine was drunk and I arrived at Noumea painfully hungover. When we got off the ship we booked a hop on hop off bus to travel around Noumea. Luke and I had booked a tour before we met everyone so we headed off on that tour and planned to meet up with everyone later at Duck Island. Our tour was the Aquarium and Lemon Bay.

. Get extremely drunk one night

The Aquarium was pretty impressive, especially the enormous tanks.

This was Luke's favourite tank because of the sharks. His last name is Sharkey. 

We spent about 15 minutes watching the turtles eat squids. In Thailand Luke and I fell in love with elephants. I think our favourite animal for this trip were turtles.

I cannot stop laughing at photos like this. Fish literally have the funniest faces ever.

This was my favourite tank.

The Nautilus is the main attraction at this quaint little aquarium. It's pretty impressive considering how long it's been on this earth. But the whole time I couldn't help thinking that it looked exactly like a pokemon that I just can't remember.

This image is from the website. I couldn't get a decent photo because it just kept circling around the tank. We ended up bailing on the second half of our tour because it was taking too long. We walked down to the water taxi bay for Duck Island to meet our friends.

. Celebrate Two Year Anniversary in New Caledonia

We couldn't find them on the Island so we just kicked back and relaxed. It was a pretty nice place, apart from the pointy coral close to the water. 

The hills of Noumea.

Our friends arrived shortly after we did. And after we all found a decent spot we were straight in the water to start snorkelling. Luke and I had decided to buy a set of snorkels for both of us, which was actually the best decision we had made that whole trip.

So fogged up. Not enough spit. But seriously how embarrassing do people look in snorkels. Enjoy my embarrassing snorkel selfies over the next few blog posts, they are kind of hilarious.

. Snorkel in New Caledonia

These photos are all taken on the GoPro HERO 3+ Black Edition.

Not going to lie, I could spend hours doing this. Maybe I was meant to be a mermaid. But seriously watch my hair colour change over the next few blog posts. I am like one of those Barbie dolls that you could change their hair colour. Mermaid edition.

Fish looking directly at you. Never gets old.

These are the amazing people you will be seeing a lot of over the next few posts. We ended up becoming really close with them all considering we were pretty much with them all the time. I actually miss them so much. I miss having Special K with them every morning and warm melting chocolate cake every night. From left: Ben is an electrician who used to play footy heaps until he was injured, Kat is a beautician with horror stories that will make you laugh and maybe gag a little. Next to Luke is Joelle who has a body to die for. She competes in Bikini competitions, I think they are called IFBB or something like that. She is training at the moment for upcoming competitions in America. And Keegan is becoming a personal trainer. So they are basically the ultimate gym couple. I miss going to the gym with them all.

The rocky/ corally shores

. Visit Duck Island

The spectacular view of Noumea from Duck Island.

Our first day in paradise was amazing! If you are going on a cruise I would recommend not booking shore excursions on the boat. Especially at Noumea. The tours were really cheap and easy to book on the island. So much cheaper then on the boat. Follow Keegan's advice, find a local and get them to tell you where to go. I regret booking the tour to the Aquarium but at the same time I'm happy we went there. It was a really amazing day. I am still so surprised we found each other with no phones or anything. It was so nice not having internet or phones on the trip. I always wondered how people lived without phones to call eachother. But somehow it just works. Tomorrow we stop at Lifou, New Caledonia.

#CarnivalCruise

#HappyTwoYear

erica