Australia and Oceania

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25.11.2012 4:50, Romyald

Fate-destiny doesn
't know where the next throw is.
Toli lost forest,
Or sparsely populated island?
Wherever the order is given
, our special forces will infiltrate.

In search of phasme and the tin woodman.
Just over 240 years have passed since James Cook discovered the island of New Caledonia. And how everything has changed! Roads appeared on the island, a stormy life began to boil, people began to come there for a good rest. But that wasn't always the case. In those early years, there was a fierce struggle for the island. Traces of these battles remain to this day, many monuments of those terrible years are scattered along the coast. Thanks to the current authorities and the local population for not forgetting their history, taking care of them, showing them to tourists.
We live in a golden age, friends! Now, to visit any corner of the earth, you do not need to sail to distant islands for years, now you can get to any point within a day. You just need to have a desire. But any entomological trip is still an expedition, because it is very different from a trip along an already worked-out route, you should always remember this.
Moscow-Helsinki-Osaka-Noumea (New Caledonia), that was my route. The entire flight is quite long and grueling, but the game is worth the candle. This time my expedition consists of me, my generator and a net. The purpose of the expedition is to get acquainted with the endemic flora and fauna of the island.
On the evening of October 30, I set foot on this island for the first time. Well, hello New Caledonia, the island of burning Sun, temperamental wind, red dust and endemics, the territory of non-industrial collection of insects, the territory of entomological special forces.
Although I made up the entire trip plan at home, carefully thought through everything, booked a hotel, a car, but in reality everything turned out differently, and I had to correct the problems that arose on the spot. With the car, as always, I was immediately impaled, despite the fact that I booked a car through the subsidiary, Moscow office, of this company. I was never able to correct this fact, instead of Suzuki Jimmy, I was given a Peugeot 206+. I had to accept it. There were no problems with the hotel, the reservation worked exactly on target. In general, I didn't need it, but I arrived late at night, and decided to get a full rest after a long march. I will immediately note that New Caledonia is an overseas territory of France, and is considered the safest place in terms of the number of crimes, but there are always exceptions to the rules and you need to be on your guard. The cost of hotels on the island is quite high, but the service is not at zero. I don't recommend leaving my valuables at the hotel, as I'm having a bit of trouble. I was careless enough to leave an electronic translator at the hotel. Later, when I came back for it, they didn't give it to me, so I left it under the blanket, in a hurry to get ready in the morning. In principle, he is to blame, but a decent hotel will always return the things left behind, because reputation is more important. This was the first and probably the only loss in the entire course of my trip.
In the morning, I was expecting new problems. I found a supermarket for buying food quickly. In principle, prices are almost like in Russia, only for some groups of goods the price is simply cosmic, for example, the price of onions per kilogram is comparable to the price of a kilogram of fresh tuna, which is insanely expensive in Moscow. But with the connection in New Caledonia full W.... My connection to Moscow has already disappeared in Japan (the land of ubiquitous robots and buttons). At first, I didn't really bother, but later on, because of this problem, I had to significantly change my routes. It is impossible to buy a SIM card in Numea, it is sold only to those who have a local residence permit in their passport ( complete idiocy). I was offered to use the Caledonian telephone company Izy, through which I was never able to get on the right air. Even an employee of the company could not help me with this, every time I dialed the phone number of a Moscow subscriber, I was greeted with a pleasant answer at the other end – Ui ( French for Yes). All roads in the French territories lead to PARIS – that's what I had to learn. All that remained was to use the Internet, which I did with great difficulty. It's hard to find an Internet cafe because it doesn't have anything written on it. It is also impossible to ask passers-by, only one out of 10 French people knits bast in English, and the density of such Internet cafes is also low. From one to the other is at least 100 km, because all major cities are located on the west coast, and insects live in the forest, on the east coast ( there are only small towns where sometimes gas stations do not even work). I managed to contact the mainland only once, and even then, thanks to our international forum – molbiol. I also failed to log in to my email, either the keyboard is to blame, or my hands, in general, through our colleagues ( Many Thanks to Them!!!) I sent a message home.
As I have already written, I carried out the entire trip plan at home. Using Maps Gogl, I have identified large woodlands, Nat.Parks, and although there is no GPS navigation for New Caledonia ( another idiocy), the map, my Garmin perfectly helped me with bindings. In 22 days, I entangled 19,000 square kilometers( more correctly, the eastern and partly central parts) of the island with a fairly significant web, marking it everywhere for further navigation. There are plenty of places to collect insects during the day, but the night is really bad, you can get up, but only on the road, and Papuans, who are really sleepless people, sneak ships there from dusk to dawn, just like wind-up toys. Seeing a white man on the road is completely exotic for some of them ( the French rarely move at night). Just imagine, there is a white man standing on the road, shining all around on the slopes, and even not shisha does not speak French? In general, after two days, I got tired of showing photos, but explaining on my fingers with English overtones- " What kind of masquerade is this?", and I decided to look for more secluded places. These places were, as always, Nats. Parks and private territories. But even there I was not at ease. In The Park (La Rivier Bleue) I decided to hide at all, and go fishing at night, it's too luxurious places there, but was discovered by a security officer ( they have walkie-talkies, and track all visitors by the log, just like in the army), and was forced to abandon this venture. In another place, not far from the highway exit, I spent a long time explaining to a local Aboriginal what I was doing on his territory, although it was not marked in any way (at least with an inscription). He was well treated by a Japanese man (damn, how cute these Japanese people are: they don't be rude, they don't shake their heads like sheep, and most importantly they know languages) to whom I explained everything in a popular way. He just asked me what magazine I was doing a photo for (I didn't even stutter about catching insects). It was a good thing that I was wearing a branded T – shirt with the inscription-molbiol ( everything looked quite convincing) . He looked at the inscription, said OK, and I continued my work (molbiol helped me a second time. And again thank you to him). Well, the Japanese have not yet learned Russian! After all, I had entomological special Forces written on my back.
In general, it's fun to go in, pay for a subscription to visit the park with such an ominous inscription on the back, just a pleasure, you feel like you are part of a real, official expedition. That's just on Rivier Bleue I was again stuck in the z..... y, I couldn't even sleep at night, I was developing a plan for covert penetration into the park (in principle, it's real, but I will have to conduct a heavy ground operation), the slopes are too good there. The forest is primitive, old, without obvious human intervention. I don't know at all, did anyone manage to fish there at night? I don't think so. The forest has good mammalian wildlife ( Deer, wild boar, various birds, parrots and of course, the most important lord of the forest night-the dragon Gecko-Rhacodactylus ciliates, which I was able to photograph). But not everywhere was so bad. In some parks, I still managed to fish at night. Fishing in private areas without asking ( and there was no one to ask anyway, except for a large coffee-colored owl that flew around its property ten minutes before dark). In general, if someone wants to feel like a Tarzan of the twenty-first century, then welcome to New Caledonia. Here you will find the clear waters of the Ocean, and a clear, cool Jacuzzi bath made from mountain fresh water, the murmur of a stream and beautiful birdsong, a calm sunset and a fast dawn, perhaps you will meet face to face with a wild animal, and so on.everything that can only be seen in a dream. I even managed to witness an incomplete solar eclipse!( I'll post a photo).
With the summer of insects, I was not so lucky, out of the 22 days that fate allocated to me, I only fully collected 10 days of "unbroken day", and a super night. At the same time, at night I managed to catch only up to 11 o'clock, because after that, the moon came into its own. After the new moon, the weather on the island seemed to change, at first, the nights became too windy and cold, then frequent rains began. The insects I had caught the previous day did not come across in the coming day. It didn't change the situation and my lightning-fast throws from north to south and back. I just spent expensive gasoline on changing fishing spots without changing its composition. I had to change the tactics of my stay, because I had "cut down"enough night and day. So I decided to devote the remaining 10 days to collecting and exploring hidden material, what is in the ground, on trunks, branches, leaves, etc. natural material. After all, there was plenty of it, it was only necessary to narrow the viewing angle.
That's why I called my report that way, I caught the Tin Woodman, but I knew almost nothing about him, I didn't even notice how he flew up and sat on the screen ( at that moment, the owner of the territory, a local resident, just came in, and while I was "talking" with him, the beetle made a silent flight). landing). I didn't find any stick insects, either, and they had to be here. In general, the second half of my expedition was no less, or perhaps more interesting, than the first.
Well, I've stretched my report to three pages again! But what about without it? After all, some of you might be interested in this small and beautiful place on planet Earth?
What about Brachysoma, you may ask. After all, it's not on your photos. What about Brachysoma? She remained in her homeland, in one of the New Caledonian forests – I will answer you. After all, there must be something left that I must return for.......
This concludes my report. In conclusion, I would like to thank our colleagues from the forum for sending a message home, One Two Trip, for convenient and inexpensive selection of flight routes, Finnair, Aircalin, for excellent customer service, Casino French supermarket, for the highest quality of food, all residents of the island of New Caledonia for their hospitality and kind permission to stay on a private island the territory, and indeed New Caledonia itself, so small and so beautiful, for the pleasant moments of relaxation in its arms.
La Nouvelle-Caledoni. Novembre 2012.

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25.11.2012 5:31, Romyald

La photo silvouple.

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25.11.2012 5:53, Romyald

La photo silvouple.

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25.11.2012 6:21, Romyald

La photo silvouple.

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25.11.2012 7:03, Romyald

At first, I do not immediately recognize the approaching object as a deer, but the object gradually grows, and now it is very close. I thought it was a dog, but hell, it's a big dog, and it runs with a limp.
The deer dug in right next to my car, I was sort of standing across the road, and the animal stopped in indecision. I saw the wounds on his body were bleeding. Most likely, the deer just broke off from a small slope, and trotted along the road as quickly as possible, taking its feet somewhere. I slowly brought the camera in and took a couple of bad pictures. Then the deer still decided to break through and swept right next to me. I raised my camera and tried to take more pictures, but I immediately lowered it. The animal got hurt, and I'm trying to film the show! I couldn't do anything to help him, I just had to wish him well as soon as possible.
So spider-man, or airplane man, is everything for the time being. You should always be too careful, because even deer and mountain goats sometimes make mistakes.

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