Ouvea, a tiny slip of an island: I saw bats and spiders the size of my face, but it was paradise

So on Ouvea I stayed with a wonderful friendly couple from hospitality club (another online site). they lived in what i tend to think of it as a magical beach forest kingdom hidden beside the "top" end resort on the island. Their house consists of 4 structures made out of natural materials and white coral and shell pathways to each. It was really something special like out of the Blue lagoon or something. The structures or dwellings are traditional style homes that usually need to be rebuilt (by a communal effort) every 3-5 years or so depending on the dwelling. This couple like the ones also on Mare live on land owned by the tribe; which I think is a really nice thing; that from what i could see, the tribes own their land in most situations; just to know that much of the land I was walking on was the tribe's and that they benefit (hopefully anyway)from that not some European company and the land was really maintained using natural solutions which was just such a nice thing to see, like instead of a metal fence, there was natural wood or coconut trees creating a organic barrier instead. the entire magical beach forest dwellings were made from trees, it was just so nice to see and experience.

Aika and William were really such amazing hosts. Aika is from Japan and William is from France but they have lived on this island for years. The first night was a birthday party for William; which was really a fun experience where I got to meet many of their friends...and I saw tons of bats flying through the night sky illuminated by the full moon. trippy....The next day I chilled at the beach and once again I had the family dog, Vicky join me, she was also a great host. It was nice to see a toilet seat. For some reason many of the toilets in New Caledonia are just the bowls sans seat...go figure, maybe it is a waste of plastic..or just too expensive...I donno, but anyway funny thing is that William and Aika had the toilet seat over the hole in the bench that sits over the bucket. Yep you got it, there is no running water in Ouvea so it is very au natural...but really it was great, the composting toilet, the shower area, the mats made of leaves, even the hairy brown spiders sleeping over my head (I didn't notice till day 3)everything was just so special. And riding on the back of the moped with Aika has me convinced that I need to get a moped. I loved it. Merci mes amis!!!!