How much spending money? Noumea, Isle of Pines, Mare

Hi all,

I've searched the boards but haven't found current answers, so hoping someone here can offer recent advice! I'm traveling to New Caledonia for the first time in a few weeks and wanted to plan ahead on currency. I have heard from several sources including boards here that the locals are appreciative of local currency, so I'm hoping to plan for that. Two questions though:

1 - how much local currency would you recommend for a family of four? We would probably get a few small souvenirs, something local/handmade/authentic if possible and would like to enjoy some of the local food. We'd like to take the HOHO bus or the tourist train in Noumea, unsure of other options in other ports. I just don't have any current idea of how much those things might cost in port, so any current remembered prices would be really helpful!

2 - Where would you recommend getting currency? I can order from my bank ahead of time or get cash at an ATM in Noumea (first stop) and suspect they might be the best exchange rate. I gather you get hosed in the exchange rate anywhere near circular quay and on the ships.

Thanks very much!

Hi, we are going on cruise in September 2017 and would appreciate any feedback you have from ur holiday as we too are interested in ur question😀

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Hi Deb and John,

Enjoy, I'm jealous! It was a fabulous holiday, just what we needed and such a beautiful country to visit.

In the end, we brought some Aussie currency (about $150 and aimed for small notes) and visited the ATM at Noumea as soon as we arrived for local cash. We took 15,000 xpf out at the atm and it worked out to $180 Australian once that was exchanged by our bank.

I found there were some places where you were at an advantage to spend francs (for example, one of the beach stalls on Mare charged $3 for a cake or 200 xpf, some of the little stalls on isle of pines were similar that way), some places where it didn't matter but I preferred to spend local just out of respect for turning up in someone else's country (e.g. the tourist info centre at Noumea had a smaller hop on hop off bus that visited the areas we wanted to see, it was $42 Australian for our family or 3500 xpf and that exchange rate is spot on). There were other places where you really had to have francs. We went to a beautiful boulangerie for lunch on Noumea and it was francs only, same with admission to the aquarium and most of the market stalls at Port Moselle. There were also lots of places where it was better to spend AUD because they used an exchange rate that actually favoured our dollar (an even 1000xpf = 10 AUD), most of the beach stalls on Mare were that way.

The amount we had was just about right. If we had more, I would have bought more souvenirs and things but we didn't need more. I'm not a big shopper, though. We spent on a gift for my dad that was the equivalent of about $25AUD, a few little souvenirs like a pair of clay earrings and some stubbie holders, a small gift (around 500 francs each) for a few people at home, lunch for four in Noumea (4 eclairs, four bottled soft drinks, and 4 filled baguettes), admission to the Aquarium, hop on hop off bus tickets in Noumea, lunch, drinks, coconut and hair braiding in Mare, and my kids spent some of their souvenir/entertainment budget on the islands, about $80 between them. If you were buying lots of souvenirs you'd probably want more, and if you wanted some of the lovely dresses and sarongs and things you'd probably want more.

Oh, and the ATM was definitely the best value way for us to get the money out, especially for a reasonably small amount like that. Many places including the aquarium had credit card facilities available so you could get around without local cash if you wanted to, just check first especially in Noumea.

Hi Deb and John,

 

Enjoy, I'm jealous! It was a fabulous holiday, just what we needed and such a beautiful country to visit.

 

In the end, we brought some Aussie currency (about $150 and aimed for small notes) and visited the ATM at Noumea as soon as we arrived for local cash. We took 15,000 xpf out at the atm and it worked out to $180 Australian once that was exchanged by our bank.

 

I found there were some places where you were at an advantage to spend francs (for example, one of the beach stalls on Mare charged $3 for a cake or 200 xpf, some of the little stalls on isle of pines were similar that way), some places where it didn't matter but I preferred to spend local just out of respect for turning up in someone else's country (e.g. the tourist info centre at Noumea had a smaller hop on hop off bus that visited the areas we wanted to see, it was $42 Australian for our family or 3500 xpf and that exchange rate is spot on). There were other places where you really had to have francs. We went to a beautiful boulangerie for lunch on Noumea and it was francs only, same with admission to the aquarium and most of the market stalls at Port Moselle. There were also lots of places where it was better to spend AUD because they used an exchange rate that actually favoured our dollar (an even 1000xpf = 10 AUD), most of the beach stalls on Mare were that way.

 

The amount we had was just about right. If we had more, I would have bought more souvenirs and things but we didn't need more. I'm not a big shopper, though. We spent on a gift for my dad that was the equivalent of about $25AUD, a few little souvenirs like a pair of clay earrings and some stubbie holders, a small gift (around 500 francs each) for a few people at home, lunch for four in Noumea (4 eclairs, four bottled soft drinks, and 4 filled baguettes), admission to the Aquarium, hop on hop off bus tickets in Noumea, lunch, drinks, coconut and hair braiding in Mare, and my kids spent some of their souvenir/entertainment budget on the islands, about $80 between them. If you were buying lots of souvenirs you'd probably want more, and if you wanted some of the lovely dresses and sarongs and things you'd probably want more.

Thanks so much for ur feedback really appreciate it, did you see any turtles or do u know where the best 0lace would be to see?

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We did see some at the aquarium on Noumea, they actually run a rehabilitation program there from what I understand, but of course that's in a tank.

In the ocean, I know Duck Island has some nearby and we'd planned to snorkel there but the weather wasn't good for it (very windy and rough at the surface all around it on that day). Amadee Island is meant to be really excellent and there are usually shore excursions from the ship, I didn't look to see if the tourist info centre offered them specifically but they seemed to offer nearly everything the ship did. Wish I could be more help!