Information Office Point I : Just 50m. in front of the church, in the village square, Vao, is Point I. It is staffed by a well-travelled Kunie, Marie-Jeanne, who, in addition to her own native language, speaks English, French, Italian, Czech and Polish.

Office hours are from
8-11.30am and 2-4pm, Monday to Saturday.

• BAKERY

A new page has begun for the island’s bakery: new managers, new products and extended opening hours.

To the delight of residents and holiday-makers alike, the bakery (situated 1km north of Kuto Bay) now produces not only French baguettes, but also brioches, croissants and various small cakes and tarts on the weekend.

Opening hours now include Sunday morning from 6-10.

Be advised: ‘the early bird catches the worm’.

• ISLE OF PINES – Scene of ‘French Survivor’ Series

This beautiful island has recently been the setting for the total production of the next ‘French Survivor’ television reality series, Koh-Lanta 5.

Based on the original ‘Castaway’ program, the full-scale production entailed agreement with island, governmental and financial authorities before the long process of selecting 16 contestants from the original 20,000 applications, bringing them in secrecy from France and filming their survival on 2 outlying islands for 40 days.

Come rain and come shine, 70 camera and production crew and 80 Isle of Pines people worked round the clock to complete 1400 hours of film for 13 episodes to be shown on TF1 in France mid-year.

An estimated 6-9 million viewers are expected to watch each episode, discovering only in September, who is the survivor and winner of fame and fortune.

Will the island with the reputation ‘the closest to Paradise’ possibly become new terrain for film productions, the way New Zealand has blossomed ?

KOH - LANTA is a trademark of TF1

• BACK TO SCHOOL 2005

Dressed like new pins, shiny satchels on their backs, little ones barely 3 years old, started kindergarten school on Isle of Pines on February 25th.

Felicienne, Lenka, Lou, Chelsea, Marcellin and others joined more than 500 Isle of Pines youngsters who began the new 2005 school year. As elsewhere in New Caledonia, the school year corresponds with the Southern Hemisphere seasons.

Three schools on Isle of Pines, all run by the Catholic Education Department, offer practically free schooling to the children from kindergarten through primary to lower secondary. The good fortune continues : classes average 20 pupils ; the majority of pupils receive a grant for a 3-course lunch in the school canteen four days a week and, while most of the children walk to school, 88 young ones are picked up by a council bus from outlying tribal areas.