Panasonic LX100 at an effective 38mm — ¹/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Hint
wider view of the traffic sign in question, in Nouméa, New Caledonia

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?”

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 46mm — ¹/200 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
What Do I Mean?
クイズ：このニューカレドニアの交通標識はどういう意味でしょうか？
road sign in Nouméa, New Caledonia

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, what do you think the sign means?

As is usual with these quizzes, I'll hold all guesses privately until I publish the answer in a day or three.

UPDATE: I've posted a hint here.

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — ¹/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Kilometer #59 Rest Stop
of this 76km ride

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...

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — ¹/1600 sec, f/7.1, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Returning from Lunch
sitting on the bow of the boat with Anthony
returning from Green Island, Bourail, New Caledonia
taken while being King of the World at 13 kph (8 mph)

Note to self: coral is hard and in a scraping situation vs. your knee, you will lose. Avoid when possible.

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — ¹/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Not the “New Caledonia” One Normally Finds
in the tourist books
Deep in the South Province interior.

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 people, vending machines, etc.). It was eerie.

Not until we made a loop all the way around and approached Nouméa again did we start to find a human presence.

On a bicycle, I couldn't have carried enough water for the trip, so I'm glad I didn't try. I also appreciate all the more the abundance of drink vending machines in Japan.

In the photo above, there seems to be a particularly bright area in the dirt around the shadow of my head. The dirt seemed to be particularly reflective, so it's reflecting the sun (which is directly behind my head from the vantage of that area of the photo) back into the camera.

Oddly, when I turned around, the dirt, which appears reddish-brown when facing away from the sun, appears almost perfectly black when facing the sun. I'd never seen anything quite like it... as we passed, it morphed from black to the rich rust color seen above.

The area is apparently known for its nickle mines of yesteryear. It was beautiful and it's hard to imagine why it's not home to a thriving population, except to imagine that the economy of the nation simply can't support enough people to have bothered spilling over from the coasts into this area.

With proper planning, I'd love to ride some of the roads we drove today. Some of the mountain hills were brutal, such as this one. Maybe next time.