Pacific Islands

[HenrikCWT]

Hi,
I have found out that there are many islands in the Oceania region. I am quite interested in visiting some islands like Samoa, Tonga etc.
I would like to enquire which islands are worth visiting and what are the cheapest alternative to go to the islands from NZ?

[Elaine_NZ]

Isle of Pines (New Caledonia) has great beaches suitable for swimming - I loved it there. Cook Islands are convenient because of the language and currency used and popular for snorkeling, not so much for swimming. We were there in October last year and had a week of non-stop wind, never got to enjoy the ocean, flights by Air NZ were timed horribly as well, arriving in the middle of the night.
I've also briefly seen Lifou, not much going on there. Mystery Island (Vanuatu) was a great 1-day experience. Visited these islands on a cruise ex Sydney.
Airlines have regular 'pacific island' deals, it's worth keeping an eye on Air NZ website (they also have an email alert service for price drops), I also follow Harvey World Travel, Flight Centre, Student Flights and Air Tahiti Nui on Facebook.

[HenrikCWT]

Isle of Pines (New Caledonia) has great beaches suitable for swimming - I loved it there. Cook Islands are convenient because of the language and currency used and popular for snorkeling, not so much for swimming. We were there in October last year and had a week of non-stop wind, never got to enjoy the ocean, flights by Air NZ were timed horribly as well, arriving in the middle of the night.
I've also briefly seen Lifou, not much going on there. Mystery Island (Vanuatu) was a great 1-day experience. Visited these islands on a cruise ex Sydney.
Airlines have regular 'pacific island' deals, it's worth keeping an eye on Air NZ website (they also have an email alert service for price drops), I also follow Harvey World Travel, Flight Centre, Student Flights and Air Tahiti Nui on Facebook.

hi, thanks for the information!
Do you island hop? what are the travel means for island hopping?

[jawnbc]

I've been to Fiji, Cook Islands, French Polynesia. I go back to the Cooks frequently: it's close, affordable (compared to French Polynesia in particular) and reliable. I find the easy to get to parts of Fiji not very nice, and the costs and time required to get to the outer, much nicer bits, not worth the trouble. Others love Fiji.

[Carey]

Tonga can be cheaper to fly to than other islands....we went in July school hols and it was significantly cheaper then. Lovely if you like a quiet holiday, resorts are very low key and you can find simple fales to rent right on the beach, ( from where you can watch whales). Can be extremely windy which means noisy as palm trees everywhere. Snorkelling good, reef walking good, food pretty basic as in not much choice. We loved it!

[HenrikCWT]

Tonga can be cheaper to fly to than other islands....we went in July school hols and it was significantly cheaper then. Lovely if you like a quiet holiday, resorts are very low key and you can find simple fales to rent right on the beach, ( from where you can watch whales). Can be extremely windy which means noisy as palm trees everywhere. Snorkelling good, reef walking good, food pretty basic as in not much choice. We loved it!

Hi, can I ask which airline have the cheapest rates to Tonga?

[HenrikCWT]

I've been to Fiji, Cook Islands, French Polynesia. I go back to the Cooks frequently: it's close, affordable (compared to French Polynesia in particular) and reliable. I find the easy to get to parts of Fiji not very nice, and the costs and time required to get to the outer, much nicer bits, not worth the trouble. Others love Fiji.

I would love to go to Cook Island