South Pacific Stories and Tips

Quote: Where are these islands?The Cook Islands are a group of fifteen tiny islands in the Pacific Ocean, north-east of New Zealand. Although there are only fifteen islands and they are all quite tiny they are spread over 2.2 million square kilometres of ocean. The islands…

Quote: Avarua, the capital city of Raratonga and the whole Cook Islands:Avarua has to one of the smallest capital cities I have visited but when you realize the entire population of the island is only 14,000 by comparison, Derby has a population 0f 220,000 it is…

Quote: Tourism in New Zealand is a funny, double-sided thing (and by the way, if you just want the practical tip, just skip to the next section past the three stars). On one hand, it's an industry par excellence, generating close to 10% of the country's…

Quote: Country: Independent Samoa formerly known as Western SamoaCapital: ApiaLocation: 13 .5 S & 171.5 W, in the South Pacific between New Zealand and HawaiiTime: GMT-12hours – though they have started day light saving to keep with New Zealand time zonesLanguage: Samoan, EnglishPeople: PolynesianCurrency: Samoan…

Quote: JetStar is the budget subsidiary of Qantas, and one of several low-fare, no-frills airlines that operate in Australia and Oceania. Although JetStar has its own livery, separate ticket desks at the airports and own planes, the Qantas website shows the regular Qantas flights as well…

Quote: Can you imagine camping in a luxury six berth motor home along the most beautiful stretch of coast in Australia for three days without paying a penny for the hire, and in fact with a quarter of the fuel money thrown in? Would you like…

Quote: Great Southern Rail (GSR) is probably the best known if possibly the least used by the Aussies of the Australian train companies, and it runs three long-distance interstate services, of which the longest is the Indian-Pacific, crossing the country (and the continent) between Sydney on…

Quote: Australia, this is really a destination of many wonders. And for a country so small, it definitely provides backpackers with places worth visiting. That said, it would be next to impossible to take pleasure in taking a trip to Australia in a day or two,…

Quote: Like every traveler, I have a mental list of dream destinations, dream vacations, and dream accommodations. But I’d trade them all in for my airline dream to come true: that Air New Zealand would start flying from New York to, say, Boston, or between any…

Quote: The day has finally come when I get to hold a Koala Bear and see some Kangaroos!I had been to Australia once before while on my very first home exchange in December 2006 to this very same place on the Gold Coast, Surfers Paradise. But…