Here’s another gem we spotted on Flat Matters for you to check out. This time around, we have a video from Sebastian Grubinger documenting his recent trip to New Caledonia! I’ve never heard of this place, but it looks amazing! Take a look!

“About 3 years ago Michael Husser told me he is going to live in New Caledonia. First thing I did was to check on the web. I had no idea where it’s located and found out it’s an island in the South Pacific Ocean – far away!
Since Michael moved there he kept telling me over and over to visit him. The pictures he sent were simply incredible. Paradise!
Well, from Austria it’s not a weekend trip so I wasn’t sure if I will ever make it.
Finally me and my girl, Simone, decided to go on bit longer holidays than usual and we ended up booking our flights: A 30 hours trip from Vienna to Sydney and finally to Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia.
In Sydney we stayed a few days with Paul Chamberlain, his wife Jenny and their daughter Bea. Thanks a lot for your hospitality and being perfect tourist guides! We enjoyed it a lot!
The real adventure started with leaving Sydney to Noumea. We didn’t really know what will come up but finally the whole trip exceeded all our expectations.
New Caledonia belongs to France, there is hardly any tourism. I think without Michael’s and Maguy’s help we would have been kind of lost. Thanks so much!
They supported us to plan our time there: the trip around the main island, the trip to Ile des Pins, a smaller island close to New Caledonia and the weekend on that tiny, lonely island which was as big as a proper contest flatland spot. Everything turned out crazy good!!!
Every place we went to was amazing. We got to sleep on the most beautiful beaches on small camp grounds, spent a weekend on a tiny island hunting, grilling and finally eating fish and lobster. We swam in the clearest water with white sand beaches, snorkelled at crazy places and enjoyed pure nature.
And most of the time we were alone! No other people at the camping, nobody at the beach, and also nobody on the island.
Nature is wonderful, it’s something very relaxing which gives lots of energy. To hang out on the beach, walk in a forest or simply be surrounded by palm trees and other exotic plants frees my mind. It has similar effects on me as riding has. And riding on a spot surrounded by beautiful nature is something even more special, something beautiful for me!
But now imagine an island with all its amazing beaches, exotic plants, lakes, kind of jungles, dirt roads… imagine a natural paradise!
Only a small number of population, hardly any tourism, no big hotels, not that kind of supermarkets we are used to, no parking, bumpy streets…
Where can you ride?
This edit is not about “hardcore” flatland or new tricks. It’s about a trip, an adventure, to a diverse island where I also found a few places I spent time on with my bike.
Some of them I usually won’t ride. They were too small or very bumpy, some I wouldn’t even consider being a flatland spot.
But I felt like riding and the ambience of these places made this feelings even stronger. So I rode what I found and I enjoyed it a lot, even if it was hard sometimes to get a clip!

This is my “SPOT QUEST IN PARADISE”..” — Sebastian Grubinger

FILMED: SIMONE JUNGWIRTH & SEBASTIAN GRUBINGER
EDITED: SEBASTIAN GRUBINGER
MUSIC: DJ BUZZ – THIS, THAT AND THE 3RD – LONG WAY TO GO INSTRUMENTAL“