A collegue of mine is currently on a cruise to New Calendonia (lucky bastard). he visited Noumea today and emailed me back some pix.

http://webperso.easynet.fr/~eschall/www/image/nc/nea.jpg

for those who arent familiar with islands in Oceania, New calendonia is located 2000kms from the Queensland coast.

They have a skyscraper!! im going to add it to ss.com in Oceania section.

The 14storey SOCIETIE GENERALE
http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/5357/noumeaskyscraper9wl.jpg

CHURCH

http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/7627/noumeachurch7qo.jpg

I have been there, it's a very intresting place. The locals are pretty friendly, the French colonials are very snooty, and it's wierd seeing all the French signs, etc in a South Pacific Island.

Any pics of the Tjibaou Cultural Centre by Piano? It's really hard to find any decent images of that building.

yes the piano designed centre is amazing architecture. almost organic
the 10 houses range in height from 22m-33m.
http://members.optusnet.com.au/cameronb/sport/sailing/cultural-1.jpg

http://geo.ya.com/travelimages/new-caledonia4.jpg

http://www.elcroquis.es/elcroquis/Imagenes/92/jeanmarietjibaou.gif

http://www.publishedart.com.au/images/architecture/big_tourrenzopiano.jpg

Thanks. I've never seen them from behind. I love the use of materials and the simplicity behind it. Renzo discusses in his notebooks how "building the house" is every bit as impotant as "the finished house" in Kanak architecture.

What a gorgeous place Noumea is! I went there a couple of years ago, and it was fantastic. It is an amazing mix of polynesian and french culture. I really didnt expect it to be so french, to the point that French is more widely spoken than english and so many people not able to speak english at all, and yet surrounded by english speaking countries. I was there for work and holiday, and even for us to do business there was difficult, with really strict customs regulations to protect local industry unless its a french import.

Landing at the airport and the hours drive to Noumea is very scenic. I have to agree with Aussie Bhoy about the people, the french are quite snobby, but the locals are really friendly. During the 3 hour lunch break they have the locals all hit the beach and the night markets are full of character.

The french are all very fit and all day there are people running and riding around the coastline at the club med end of the city. There is some amazing residential architecture from old rundown housing to modern apartments, mansions and marinas.

Well worth the visit but empty your credit cards first cos its not cheap.