Lonely Planet Guide to New Caledonia- my comments

Having just comprehensively toured around Grande Terre with the LP guide, I thought it would be helpful to comment on it's usefulness. Sorry I did not go to Loyalty Islands so no comments on that section.

I am the sort who likes to have the LP guide as a bit of a help, without treating it as if it were the Bible- however, in a very small country with a small population, and with a relatively thin guide book to match, it's enevitable that over the course of the trip you eventually read every page, and that every town of even small size is mentioned in the book. The LP NC guide is perhaps a quarter of the thickness of the China guide, but the population is only 200,000, so coverage is relatively intense.

Although four years old, the present 2001 edition is pretty much up to date. Inevitably I noticed that the odd resturaunt had closed down or whatever, and some roads described as dirt roads now have bitumen, but no changes at all really substantial enough to be worth mentioning. The Noumea bus system, being totally re-jigged as the book was written, has turned out to be pretty much how the authors anticipated it, so no real worries there. The exchange rate is listed in the book as 67 Francs to the Oz Dollar. It's now actually about 70.

I found the book useful in a technical sense in relation to the practical things (ie getting an idea of where to stay, shop etc) and the general information facts for the visitor etc. It can generally be relied upon, even though slightly outdated, if you are in a fix or are the sort of traveller who is happy to plan your trip by the LP guide. ONe thing it is dead accurate on- it repeatedly warns that NC is very expensive and everything you buy is poor value for money. I can assure you that it's spot-on there!

What I could not agree with the authors on were in many cases the value judgements about what places are nice. For example the book lists the town of Borail as a highlight excueding character. To me it was probably the ugliest, dirtiest and most characterless town on the whole island, only matched by Kone. Conversly, Poum got a very negative write up- I was enchanted with the place, a real tropical paradise even though not much there. It may possibly have improved since the book was written. Thio is described as a 'gritty mining town' but is actually quite nice. The authors make so much of the erosian from mining that has scarred some parts of the island as to make them sound like they are not worth visiting, but these parts are visually spectacular even if you don't approve of the mining. I did agree with the authors though that the north east coast is the most charming and nicest part of the island.

In summary, the book is good for the practical things, but don't be swayed by its judgements on the niceness or character of places- visit and judge for yourself.

A good review and I agree with most of it. The currency conversion quoted however is not right. The A$ has gone up even more , making NC a MUCH less expensive option than it has been. According to the currency conversion site here is the rate of conversion today-

1.00 AUD Australia Dollars = 75.4689 XPF

1 AUD = 75.4689 XPF 1 XPF = 0.0132505 AUD