Noumea has no shortage of exciting adventures and P&O plays host to many of them with its long list of shore tour options on a Pacific Island cruise. To see what’s known as the Paris of the Pacific’s more playful and unconventional side, take a leaf out of P&O's book with four of the most weird and wonderful tours to embark on in the New Caledonian capital.
The Tchou Tchou Train
A quaint and wonderfully odd way to get a great tour of Noumea is on a petite Tchou Tchou Train. The Tchou Tchou travels through the city centre and up to Notre Dame de Pacific lookout point, where you can see the old colonial houses of Faubourg Blanchot. The train continues on to Cote Blanche and then Ouen Toro Lookout, before finishing up at the beautiful Anse Vata Beach and Lemon Bay.
The Tchou Tchou Train chugging along Anse Vata Beach. Photo: P&O.
Tree To Tree Adventure
Make like a monkey on this off-the-beaten track activity, climbing through the treetops of Noumea’s Koghis Forest. The Tree To Tree Adventure sees the bold climber go from two to 20 metres off the ground in some stages of the 1.5-hour climb.
The safety-harness course includes an adrenalin-pumping Nepalese Bridge, The Tyrolean, Tarzan’s Jump, the Monkey’s Bridge and multiple swing ropes. The climb also offers a unique, bird’s-eye view of Mount Koghis’ lush forest.
Climb through the tree tops of the Mount Koghis rainforest. Photo: P&O.
More New Caledonia inspiration:
Spotlight On New Caledonia
An Endless Summer In New Caledonia
Parc Zoologique et Forestier Segway Tour
One of Noumea’s top attractions is its Parc Zoologique et Forestier, where you can get up close to wildlife including the cagou, an endemic flightless bird and symbol of New Caledonia; as well as roussette, notou pigeon and various parakeets. One of the lesser-known and more eccentric ways to tour the park is by Segway, the two-wheeled, self-balancing motorised scooter.
P&O guests on the tour receive a return transfer from the wharf to the Parc Zoologique et Forestier, along with a guide and safety briefing. If you hear any dogs barking while on your tour, don’t worry, you’re not hearing things. It’s just part of the tour’s weird and wonderful nature – the cagou’s call is often mistaken for that of a barking dog.
Zoom around Parc Zoologique et Forestier by Segway for an eccentric adventure. Photo: P&O.
Wine Cheese and Highlights of Noumea
If you think this sounds the most tame of the four tours, you would be mistaken. Featuring one of the most obscure attractions of the island, the wine and cheese tour includes three stops, allowing just enough time to work up a healthy appetite for the final wine tasting leg. Preceded by the wine tasting is a stop at Ouen Toro lookout to see the stunning sunset on Noumea’s Anse Vata beach.
The first stop on this tour, however, is what sets it up for a weird and wonderful ranking. On top of one of the hills surrounding Noumea’s Anse Vata Beach is the Ava Maria statue. The statue is said to grant miracles, with recorded miracles immortalised in plaques at its base. Not content with simply granting miracles to the New Caledonian locals, Ava Maria takes her holy status to a whole other level by also lighting up and spinning at night, because why wouldn’t she?
