Lifou Things to Do

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Baie de Jinek is a great, sandy beach, about half way from the place where you will get out of the tenderboats and the chapel "Notre Dame de Lourdes"
You will find some facilities on that beach, like changing-rooms, toilets and a small tent with refreshments. No entrancefee to be paid, just come and take a swim or sunbath, everybody is welcome there. The clear water is also great for snorkeling !

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I have never seen so many butterfies in a single place like in Lifou / New Caledonia. Maybe it was the time of the year (Beginning of November, that is early spring in that part of the world), maybe it is a lack of natural enemies on this quite small island in the Pazific Ocean.
In my 2nd photo you can even see 3 butterflies next to each other, they always had to fight for the best places to get their food.

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Dont miss to take a look at the cemetery of Easo as well, when you visit the church there. It was interesting to see some different styles of graves there and also the idea to have a hat on top of the grave, like you see it in my 2nd picture here.
I also saw some woodcarvings, that might have been a cross once, but I am not sure about that (my last 3 pictures)

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When you get to Lifou by cruiseship you will see this chapel on top of a hill already from a large distance. Walking there is quite easy and will take about 30 minutes one way: fist it is an asphalted street and at the end there are quite steep steps uphill, but it was worth the trouble for some great panorama-view. Unfortunately the chapel was under restauration and it was impossible to take a look inside, except through one of the windows, but the church was totally empty.
When you want to see another church, walk into the other direction and see my next tip !

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You will find a traditional hut in the garden of most modern houses in Lifou, and while you are mostly not allowed to take a look inside of them, I found this one on my way to the chapel of the Mother of God, a signpost invited tourists to come in and take a look and leave a donation (see the signpost in my last photo).
This is how I was able to make these pictures without any timepressure and also without any further informations given. The owners of this hut had their modern home closeby and did not care for the tourists.

My plan to hire a car in Lifou fell flat when I found that a place described in Lonely Planet as 'Five minutes from Easo beach' turned out to be 20kms away.

So, my wife and I were rather late looking for an alternative, most of the cruise ship tourists having boarded mini-buses and departed by now. We wandered around the small market place and found a lady offering short and longer tours, the longer being 2 hours. We signed up for this tour and found that the tour consisted of the two of us and the driver. He spoke very little English, we spoke very little French. We had a great time!

As there were only the three of us we didn't feel self-concious having a go, and we ended up communicating really well. The driver (Jean) turned out to be the Pastor of the church in the next village - he only told us that after we had told him that we are both atheists! We wandered round the vanilla plantation and drank vanilla coffee with only two other tourists (French teenagers), then wandered down the cliffs at Jokin without anyone else around. On the way we had learnt a lot about the way of life, driving habits, wild animals (pigs mainly) and lots of other interesting information. On the way back we asked Jean to take us to his village to see his church, which he did even though it wasn't on the tour route. He then, much to our surprise, took us into his house to meet his wife and daughters.

After dropping us off at Easo Jean told us that he had really enjoyed himself, and my wife and I had a ball.

So, my tip is, hang back until the mini-busses have gone and get a personalised tour.

How much? Mmm, bit of a problem there, can't really remember if it was $30 for the two of us or $30 each. Either way it was worth it.

THis tour should leave you time for snorkelling just over the headland by the white church. My wife saw a sea-snake ...but that's another story.

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The walking paths and tracks, to the churches, beaches & lookouts are great, with some smooth roads and a few 'bumpy' uneven paths, so take good walking shoes, or wear your 'reef/aqua' shoes. The humidity makes it a bit of a hard slog, at times, but the subsequent views are well worth it. Make sure you take a bottle of water with you (must keep re-hydrated) and try and carry your stuff in a back pack, or sling bag, so your hands are free to take fabulous photos!