Sat-nav didn’t know about the
Ouaième ferry. Us - 1 Technology - 0
run to NZ$110 whereas a mid-range café could
easily double that price. The cost of groceries
and eating out was something we’d been warned
about, but it was still a surprise more than once.
Day four saw us heading towards Sarraméa. Google
maps resolutely wanted to route us inland but
we’d decided that it was more interesting to stay
coastal as long as possible and that decision led
us into that nickel mine madness. New Cal is one
of the world’s major sources of nickel and multi-
nationals have been digging very large holes in it
for a long time. Go check out Google Earth and
it’s not hard to find the massive red earth scars
of the open mines dotted around Grande Terre.
Nickel prices tanked back in the first decade of
the century and that led to a number of the mines
being moth-balled. What we didn’t realise was
that we were about to ride through the middle
of one of these dead, Mars-like landscapes.
The treeless, winding nature of the road meant
that I could usually see a good 200-300m ahead
and with very little other traffic and perfect weather
conditions it was a bit of a no-brainer to have some
fun. It was an unforgiving environment, an off would
put you into (at best) a rock field or (at worst) a
nose dive that lasted several seconds and ended
badly... but the quality of the road surface and the
poise of the bike just made for an exhilarating half
an hour or so of corner carving. There were a few
moments where I had to wash off speed quickly as
a precaution because the road surface was
compromised, but the Streety was so well balanced
that it just sucked it up and kept on rolling.
Sarah took the Streety back after we emerged
from the mine and the roads that followed
comprised more endless kilometres of small
sweepers on a road that hugged the rolling hillsides.
Towards the end of this section, she endured one
of the roughest sections of road, a few kilometres
of washboard surface that was a little unpleasant,
but completely safe. We were both glad to
reach the hotel and kick back for the evening.
The last day of the road trip took us from Sarraméa
back towards La Foa and Nouméa. It was pretty
uneventful and low key compared to the previous
ew days, but dropping off the Streety back at
Nouméa Rider, we agreed that five days was a good
amount of time to explore the island and that the
route we’d selected had been the best one.
KIWI RIDER 63