NEW CALEDONIA

The Loyalty Islands (Ouvea, Lifou, and Mare) balance Grande Terre on our map of New Caledonia. The Isle of Pines is the southernmost island of Melanesia, while 400-km-long Grande Terre is the largest island in the South Pacific outside Papua New Guinea. New Caledonia is a large French colony east of Australia. The territory's two barrier reefs are second only to Australia's Great Barrier Reef, while Lifou is the largest uplifted atoll in the world.