We had a family vacation to New Caledonia last week. When my wife suggested it, I had to look it up because I had no idea where it was. Here it is:

The capital, Nouméa, at 22 degrees south latitude, was just starting to enter its summer.

It's a bit more well known in Japan due to a well-known travelogue, 「天国にいちばん近い島」 ("The Island Closest to Heaven"), published in 1966. The book was also made into a movie.

Minimal research before I left told me it's a French Republic with, like so many islands in the Pacific, a marginalized indigenous population.

A lot of creative answers have come in on my bicycle-sign "What am I?" quiz, but "creative" doesn't always mean "correct", so I thought I'd post a wider view of the scene, in case it might help answer the question "what does the sign mean?"

Driving around during our vacation in New Caledonia, I came across a number of road signs whose meaning was not intuitive to me, including the one above. I thought it might make a good "What am I?" quiz.

The sign obviously doesn't mean "No Bicycles Allowed" or I wouldn't be posting it here.... unless, of course, I'm doing the whole reverse-psychology thing to fake you out. But then again, I may well be doing the whole reverse-reverse-psychology thing to fake you into thinking I'm trying to fake you out.

Frankly, I'm so confused now that I don't even know. Anyway, [...]

I found a place to rent a bicycle here in Nouméa, New Caledonia. It turns out that they had only junk mountain bikes. Paid 40% extra to get a helmet. Went out this morning for most of the AM, and ended up riding about 76km (47mi) all around hilly Nouméa. It really made me appreciate my bike.

To be continued...

We took a drive away from tourist areas of Nouméa, deep into the unpopulated interior. Having looked at the map of the area, I'd been thinking to rent a bicycle and ride there, but I wasn't able to find one to rent. Instead, we all took a drive there today, and I'm glad I didn't try to ride there unprepared. We went hours and hours without the slightest sign of civilization other than the road. No stores, no gas stations, no houses, no farms, no commerce or human presence of any kind except the occasional Provincial nature area (devoid of [...]