 | | |  | | NEWS | | • WHAT'S
NEW ?
The "Web'zine" of Isle of Pines |
• Kuto, the main tourist area of Isle of Pines, is putting on a new face for visitors. | And,
since mid-December, Kanumera Bay has become a little more user-friendly, featuring benches and tables, a petanque square, as well as impressive wooden carvings forming a veritable public art gallery in the open. The carvings are the result of months of work in a project encouraging several young men from the local tribe, Comagna, to hone their skills and demonstrate their talent. More works are in the making to enhance neighbouring Kuto bay.
An
occasional colourful market for local produce and crafts, as well as lunch snacks takes place on some Saturdays or Sundays, at the little wharf, Kuto, in line with the schedule of the Betico (pron: Betty-cho) ferry, the maritime passenger link between Noumea and Isle of Pines.
The activity has come about thanks to dynamic collaboration between the ferry company, and the South Province Tourism Office.
To
learn more ... 
| | | | • 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,... | | | | | • Free WI-FI access is available
at the Convenience Store,
Curios
Maliska - north of Kuto
FREE
WI-FI... | | | | • In search of publishers ...
The
author of several books, Hilary Roots, has lived on the island since 1975. A New Zealander by birth and journalist by trade, she continues her research and writing about her adopted island.
For more information contact ... | |
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| WHERE IS ISLE OF PINES ? Known
as Kunie to its Melanesian inhabitants, the island is part of the French-Pacific territory, New Caledonia. Situated at the southern tip of this archipelago, it sits almost astride the Tropic of Capricorn at 167¼ longitude and 22¼ latitude south.
Island panorama... | |
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| | | DISCOVER
THE ISLE OF PINES No
stress, no night life, a relaxed pace and with time of little significance ... that’s island life, island time ! Forget
your usual ways and the demands of a busy existence, let yourself be part of an unhurried world, surrounded by natural beauty - your stay will be refreshing and memorable. To
be kind to yourself and make the most of Isle of Pines, you should consider staying at least 3 days. If
you like discovering nature, taking long walks, swimming, snorkelling, diving, meeting local people or simply lying on magnificent, deserted, white sand beaches, then you could easily spend 5 to 10 days here and still find plenty to do.
Tourist
activities ... |
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| | | INHABITANTS
- THE KUNIE PEOPLE
(kanak web site) Olobatch,
a traditional dance group formed from the combined Kéré-Comagna tribes, is the island’s ‘star’ group at present. Its dancers, some 30 children and adults, have become roving ambassadors for the island. Since the 8th Pacific Arts Festival held in Noumea in 2000, they’ve danced at the 9th same festival in Palau, Micronesia in 2004 ; they went to Paris in 2005 and on a two month tour of Europe in June-July 2006. The
island is less populated than previously and
remains extremely protected by the tribal system. After
such a turbulent history, it’s understandable the Kunies guard their land closely. Isle of Pines has become an indigenous reserve and the land is neither for sale nor for rent. |
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| | | | | | | | | “ The most beautiful island on the planet” !
“ Such a lovely spot of God’s creation ” ! ... | | |
| | | | | | | | |  | | Extravagant
claims one might say, surely advertising pushed to the limits. But no. The
first enthusiastic words came from Guiseppe Ambrosino, the Italian captain of a large cruise ship, The Fairstar, that spent more than two decades sailing the South Pacific from the 1970s to the 90s. The
second line, uttered under completely different circumstances, was the journal entry of Andrew Cheyne, the first British sandalwood trader to reach Isle of Pines’ shores in 1841. No
matter what period of history, such praise is still valid even today. Japanese
people know the small 14 X 18 km island as ‘the island the closest to Paradise’, thanks to a film based on a book written by Katsura Morimura in 1964. | | | Kuto
Bay © Photo Pierre-Alain Pantz | | | | | | | Closer
to the present, world champion wind-surfers of both sexes from such diverse origins as the United States, East and West Europe, Australia and New Zealand, were competing on Isle of Pines and suddenly dropped their sails, literally stopping their race, to wonder in awe at the beauty of the water and the surrounding islets. Two
thousand years after the birth of Christ, in the age of rapid air travel, commercialism and the internet, is it really possible that a beautiful and yet accessible land can still exist unspoilt ? This
web site leads you to discover a truly privileged spot in New Caledonia, where nature is the master of dreams. | |  |
| | Kanumera
Bay & Kuto peninsula © Photo Pierre-Alain Pantz |
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| © idp |  | | | 08/23 | . | |
