The Edge of The World

Reaching the edge of the world isn't our claim but the translation of the name of the Bar/Bistro next to the Port Moselle Marina. After we'd cleared in, celebrated and had a big night of sleep we headed in from the Baie D'Orpheliant by dinghy to treat ourselves to a mighty 'Petit Déjeuner' at Le Bout du Monde!

Dinghy jetty beneath the Bistro

We lingered over our omelette, fried eggs and jambon (no bacon here but the ham is devine), cut up baguettes plus several cups of coffee that were so smooth and yummy that The Bloke didn't even require any milk. In a short time we were joined by Julianna and Hugh from Sans Souci plus their sister and brother-in-law crew. Spirits were sky high even if we'd not had much luck logging into the internet hotspot. This pointed to a pressing need to locate SV Tauranga and together visit the Post Office nearby to obtain a local SIM card. This would enable local phone and internet services. We weren't so much after phone services since our Telstra phones are not actually disconnected and can receive calls, plus we have  the Iridium satellite phone. We did however want to be 'www' enabled. It costs 400 XPF (around 6AUD) for a 24 hr connection (unlimited download) or 100XPF (about 1.25AUD) for 1hr.

Hugh, Julianna, The Bloke, me, Josie, and Greg

The trip to the Post Office was interesting. All comers were required to take a ticket and wait their turn; the local French, Kanak and Islanders alike. There were a few instances where locals were not having anything of this ticket taking business but they were very quickly sent to the ticket dispenser in a flurry of protest.

The Bloke specifically asked if the SIM card would work in our Telstra modem." Non"! was the end of the matter even though he'd bought it along. The SIM was popped into the Bloke's iPhone instead with instructions how to request the internet time. The girl across the counter was helpful and gorgeous and The Bloke came away semi-triumphant. The new SIM locked up his phone however, which might not have been 'untethered' from Telstra so the euphoria was short lived. We then decided to resurrect my old iPhone 4 which we'd kept for just such occasions and hoped to use it as a hotspot. Possibly an operating system incompatibility made this a dead end too and the SIM was too large for my phone. With nothing to loose and everything to gain The Bloke put the SIM in the Telstra Modem. Oh, Happy Days!! Although it's a bit of a fiddle to activate the internet via a TXT message on the old phone and then take out the SIM and stick it in the modem, we do at least have a result..... and that's how we roll at the edge of the world!

The dinghy jetty revealed that there were some inventive scrimpers among the live aboard community that we'd observed just outside the marina.