Pacific | Ramblings

Tonga in pictures

May 2, 2020July 11, 2021 pdg 0 Comments Ha'apai Islands, Neiafu, Nuku’alofa, Tonga, Tongatapu, Vava'u Islands

Unspoiled beaches, decrepit ferries, spontaneous schoolkids and a slow-paced way of life in one of the world’s last absolute monarchies.

Pacific

The Pacific’s forgotten slave trade

April 1, 2020July 4, 2021 pdg 0 Comments Australia, blackbirding, Port Vila, slave trade, slavery, Tanna, Vanuatu

It’s Australia’s shameful secret: A human trade in which tens of thousands of Pacific Islanders were kidnapped as labour for Queensland’s sugar plantations. Their descendants’ calls for an apology have so far fallen on deaf ears.

Pacific

Another Samoa: Tramping in the tropics

November 15, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 0 Comments American Samoa, hiking, Pago Pago, Tutuila

Hikers’ haven American Samoa is home to the only US national park in the Southern Hemisphere.

Pacific

The Birdman of Atiu

November 8, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Atiu, conservation, Cook Islands

Birdman George has made it his life’s mission to save the feathered creatures of Atiu in the Cook Islands

Pacific

Bushwalking in the Grampians

November 6, 2018October 14, 2019 pdg 0 Comments Australia, Grampians, Grampians Peaks Trail, Halls Gap, hiking, kangaroos, Victoria

Wildlife abounds in the Grampian Mountains of northwestern Victoria.

Pacific

Five things to do in Australia’s Grampians

November 6, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Australia, Grampians, hiking, Victoria

Hiking, wildlife spotting, Aboriginal culture and wine — a few of my favourite things in Victoria’s Grampian Mountains.

Pacific

Fiji’s Sawa-i-Lau Caves: ‘Swim towards the light’

November 1, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Fiji, Sawa-i-Lau Caves, Yasawa Islands

A trip to an underwater cave in the middle of an island pushes the author’s most basic fear buttons.

Pacific Photos

Vanuatu in pictures

October 16, 2018October 16, 2018 pdg 0 Comments Ambrym, Efate, Maskelyne Islands, Port Vila, Tanna, Vanuatu

Vibrant coral reefs, lush rainforests, other-worldly landscapes created by active volcanoes, extraordinary homegrown religions untouched by missionaries, and some of the happiest people on Earth – welcome to Vanuatu.

Pacific

15 things to do in American Samoa

September 22, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 4 Comments American Samoa, Aunu’u Island, Fagatogo, Ofu Beach, Pago Pago, Tisa’s Barefoot Bar, Tutuila

American Samoa is just a short hop from Apia in the other Samoa, yet it’s so far off the Kiwi traveller’s radar it might as well be on another planet. But if you do end up in the only US territory south of the Equator, what can you do there? I decided to find out.

Pacific Photos

American Samoa in pictures

August 9, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 9 Comments American Samoa, Pago Pago, Tutuila

American Samoa is so far under the radar even well-travelled friends looked at me blankly when I told them where I was going.

Pacific

Walking with koalas

July 7, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 4 Comments 12 Apostles, Australia, Great Ocean Walk, hiking, koala, Victoria

Koala love-calls provide the sound track along the coast-hugging, 100km Great Ocean Walk in Victoria, Australia.

Pacific

A walk in another world

June 19, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 6 Comments Anetakitaki Cave, Atiu, caving, Cook Islands

Most Pacific islands lure visitors with promises of sun-soaked beaches — but on Atiu one of the biggest attractions is a place where the sun never shines.

Pacific

Samoa on two wheels

May 28, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 0 Comments cycling, fa’a Samoa, Saleaula, Samoa, Savai’i

A guide to cycling around Savai’i, the bigger, less developed and more chilled-out of Samoa’s two main islands.

Pacific

Uncovering Aitutaki’s hidden past

May 21, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Aitutaki, Cook Islands, Punarei Culture Tours

One man has made it his mission to revive knowledge of pre-Christian ways in the Cook Islands.

Pacific

A toast to the Walking Dead

May 20, 2018December 28, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Atiu, Cook Islands, tumunu

On Atiu, in the Cook Islands, resourceful locals brew their own beer from oranges and socialise in bars hidden in the bush.

Pacific Top stories

One foot in paradise

May 17, 2018December 28, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Aitutaki, Cook Islands, One Foot Island, paradise

I’d only been on Aitutaki, a series of atolls sprinkled around a picture-postcard lagoon in the Cook Islands, for a few minutes when Captain Terrible ruined my plans for this story.

Pacific

Twin peaks: Walking Vanuatu’s volcanoes

May 17, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Ambrym, hiking, Vanuatu, volcano

Craters of boiling lava, lush rainforest, bizarre landscapes and charming Ni-Van guides make the walk over Ambrym’s twin volcanoes one of the best overnight hikes in the Pacific.