A bit of a post TR follow up:
Money in New Caledonia/Noumea.
It's Pacific Francs in New Caledonia, designated XPF or CPF. And sometimes just F or FRS in the shops. I paid pretty much for everything by card. I only used cash for public bus tickets and to buy small things like a single baguette. There were enough ATMs around. I only needed to withdraw XPF 2,000 ($24.60). The smallest ATM withdrawal amount was XPF 1,000 ($12.30). The ATM fee per withdrawal using an ING Bank card was $5 which ING Bank refunded me as I had qualified for 3 x free international ATM withdrawals.
NOU airport departures.
I have a few photos of it. It's a small, modern airport but pretty low key. There's not all that much there.
The check-in area:
View attachment 286854
The air-side public area food and drinks:
View attachment 286855
There's also a duty free and a shop or two but I didn't go in ...
The Hibiscus lounge and food:
View attachment 286858
View attachment 286856
View attachment 286857
Not shown is the quite good range of drinks in the Hibiscus lounge. There's a coffee machine as well as tea and quite a range of soft drinks and alcoholic drinks (including Champagne).
At either place, public or lounge, it's probably not a great idea to plan to eat much there.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And a slight correction to an earlier post:
I added the food tax (6%) to the glass of wine cost and vice versa. It should read:
Fish (local): 3,000 ($37). One glass wine: 1,332 ($16). No tip requested or necessary. So not much different haha
At the bottom of each receipt is a LOT of numbers! But thankfully the marked prices both in shops and restaurants includes the appropriate taxes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And finally, while in the "gritty" CBD of Noumea, I found a Chinatown. I had some lunch there in a Chinese restaurant called "Fin Valab". It was a random choice. Not at all fancy but I enjoyed it:
View attachment 286859
It can be interesting to see if different countries have done local variations of Chinese food. But I was a bit surprised when on the first page of the menu I found this:
View attachment 286860
Haha. But I thought it looked pretty good value for steak, chips and salad - just $21.
I went for a more familiar Chinese dish:
View attachment 286861
And I managed to drink a whole bottle of wine with it!
View attachment 286862
I actually couldn't eat it all. Not bad for $20. And the whole bottle of wine was 25cl. haha.