New Caledonia is a collectivity of overseas France in the southwest Pacific Ocean, south of Vanuatu, about 1,210 km east of Australia. This Melanesian archipelago includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Chesterfield Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of Pines, and a few remote islets. The Chesterfield Islands are in the Coral Sea. French people, especially locals, call Grande Terre “Le Caillou” (“the pebble”).